Rowing Earns Bronze at Season Opening Chattanooga Head Race
10/11/2008 12:00:00 AM | Rowing
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - The Alabama Rowing team earned a pair of bronze medal finishes in its season opener at the Chattanooga Head Race on the Tennessee River Saturday as well as seven top-10 finishes.
Head coach Larry Davis brought his entire Varsity squad to Chattanooga, racing three 8+ boats and four 4+ boats as well as a doubles scull. With a very young squad, nearly half of Alabama's varsity have just two semesters of rowing experience, Davis is still experimenting with his lineups.
"Unlike last year, for right now, we don't have a definitive A, B or C boat," Davis said. "You could see that most of our crews are pretty close together today in regard to time because of that. They were still able to battle to get in the top 5 and the top 10 I thought that was a good indication that even though we're young, we have the potential for greater speed this year than we did last year."
In the Collegiate 8+ race the Crimson Tide's "B" boat took third place with a time of 17:19.3 while the "A" boat was fourth at 17:27.6. Alabama's "C" boat was seventh with a time of 18:24.6. Tennessee went one, two in the Collegiate 8+, turning in times of 16:28.9 and 17:13.6 respectively.
In the Collegiate 4+ race Alabama's "C" and "D" boats finished very close together with the "C" taking third place with a 19:53.8 and "D" boat grabbing fifth at 19:55.0. The Tide's "B" and "A" boats were close together as well with the "B" crew turning in a 21:23.0, good for ninth place and the "A" boat finishing in 11th with a 21:26.0. Tennessee again took the top two spots, with its "B" crew crossing the line at 19:27.9 and while UT "A" boat clocked a 19:37.8.
"In the Collegiate 4+ race, three of our four boats finished in the top 10 and the fourth was 11th," Davis said. "That shows me that we've got some really good potential, we just have to keep working on developing it. We haven't spent much time to this point rowing our 4s, so I was pleased with our results."
The Crimson Tide will split its team next weekend, sending some of the varsity to the venerable Head of the Charles with the rest of the varsity along with Alabama's novices in their season debut heading to the Hobbs Island Regatta in Huntsville, Tenn.
