Rowing Opens Season with a Pair of top-3 Finishes
10/13/2007 12:00:00 AM | Rowing
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - The Alabama Rowing team opened up its second season as a varsity program with a pair of top-3 finishes at the 15th Annual Chattanooga Headrace in near perfect conditions on the Tennessee River.
"The conditions were very good," Alabama head coach Larry Davis said. "Our times were faster than a year ago at this meet. All the girls really brought it up a notch and performed well."
In the Collegiate 8 race, Alabama's "A" boat took the silver medal with a time of 17:15.5, finishing up one place from last season. Tennessee's "A" boat finished first with a time of 16:41.7.
"We had a goal of putting all three of our boats in the top-5 in the collegiate 8 and we just missed out on that with all three boats in the top-6," Davis said. "We moved up a place in the standings from last year, earning silver with our "A" boat and we were closer to Tennessee than we were a year ago. So overall, I was very pleased with how we rowed in the 8s."
Alabama's "B" and "C" boats finished fifth and sixth respectively. The "B" boat crossed the finish line at 18:15.8 while the "C" boat turned in a time of 18:30.0.
"In the fours our goal was to put all our boats in the top-7, which we did and to move up again, which we didn't do, but we did medal, earning a bronze," Davis said. "One thing that was encouraging was that we don't row the 4s a lot, probably only two practices, and yet we accomplished our goals by-and-large and were very close together in terms of times."
Alabama's "A" squad took third in the Collegiate 4s race with a time of 19:25.9. Tennessee's "A" and "B" boats were first and second. The Tide's "B" boat was fourth with a time of 19:35.3 while the "C" boat was seventh at 20:01.6.
"This was a really great start for the fall season," Davis said. "All our women performed well and it looks good for us as we head up to Boston. We have goals of being able to get into the medal contention up in Boston and we are looking forward to coming back here for the Head of the Hooch and seeing how much progress we've made."
Alabama returns to action in Cambridge, Mass. Oct. 20-21 at the venerable Head of the Charles Regatta.
