Rowing Opens Postseason with Southern Intercollegiate Rowing Championships
4/16/2010 12:00:00 AM | Rowing
OAK RIDGE, Tenn. - With the regular season in its rear view mirror, the Alabama rowing team begins the postseason Saturday at the Southern Intercollegiate Rowing Championships in Oak Ridge, Tenn., on Lake Melton.
Head coach Larry Davis took five crews to the championships, considered one of the South's premiere events, arriving Friday afternoon and taking the opportunity to get a practice in on the SIRA course.
"It was a little breezy on the lake today, but it wasn't too hot even with the sun out the way it was," Davis said. "We rolled in, got some things done, had a good practice and now we're set for tomorrow."
The Crimson Tide will compete in the Varsity 8+, Second Varsity 8+ and Varsity 4+ races on Saturday while the Novice 8+ and Second Novice 8+ crews get things underway Sunday.
The Tide is returning to action following a weekend off from competition after finishing the regular season in a tri-meet with Oklahoma and Old Dominion where Alabama won three of five races.
"Just getting more strokes on the water has helped," Davis said. "The weather has been good and we haven't missed any practice time on the river, so we've been able to work on polishing our races and becoming a little more efficient in our execution."
This weekend marks the second time this year the Tide has competed on Lake Melton. Alabama closed out the fall season at the Secret City Head Race where the Tide finished in the top three of all its races, a program first.
