Rowing Earns Top-Half Finish at Head of the Charles
10/22/2006 12:00:00 AM | Rowing
The Alabama Rowing team made a splash in its first visit to the fabled Head of the Charles regatta, the largest regatta in the world, including a top-half finish in the Collegiate Eights Women's race this weekend.
Alabama finished 27th out of 57 boats in the Collegiate Eights. The crew of Sarah Beaver, Bryn Crawford, Victoria Croy, McKenna Frease, Leigh Ann Lazarus, Marley McKenzie, Jennifer Rankin, Margaret Strojny and coxswain Caitlin Bonner posted a time of 18:17.40, less than 15 seconds off a top-20 finish.
"I had to make a couple of disciplinary adjustments to our lineup, so our lineup for that boat was missing two regulars, and with only one practice to get use to the new lineup, I thought we did real well," head coach Larry Davis said of the Collegiate 8s race. "We were within seven percent of the winning time, and we had a goal of 5-percent. I'd say considering the changes we made we did really well."
To gain an automatic entry for next year's Head of the Charles, a team has to finish within 5-percent of the winning team's time. As a first year program, the Tide's top half finish may have surprised some observers.
"We were within 15 seconds of being of our goal and we beat a lot of team that I'd imagine were surprised we beat them since it was the first time we've been up there," Davis said. "There were a lot of good crews up there."
The Crimson Tide had two boats in the Head of the Charles, rare feat for a first year program. Alabama's other boat competed in the Club Eights Women's race on Saturday, which included collegiate and club crews. The weather on Saturday was rough for rowing, with strong winds making it tough going for a young crew like the Tide's.
"I thought the ladies handled the conditions really well," Davis said. "It was probably the toughest conditions that our crew has ever rowed in and again, I thought they handled it extremely well."
The Tide crew of Katie Allaway, Rachel Justiss, Erin Linsin, Cristin Liveoak, Rebecca Moore, Kelly Parker, Laura Stumbo and Kathryn Tippey along with coxswain Stephanie Rainey took 39th place out of more than 50 boats with a time of 21:20.10. Of the collegiate crews in the Club Eights, the Tide finished ninth.
"It was a really good experience for the ladies and I think it showed them who is out there," Davis said. "We rowed tough with some of the big programs like Princeton and some of the others. I think we grew up some this weekend in a couple of ways, not just in competing, but also in terms of traveling as a team and keeping ourselves organized and focused on the task at hand. It was a good experience for everyone."
Alabama returns to action in two weeks at the Head of the Hooch Regatta in Chattanooga, Tenn.
