Rowing Advances to Finals at Southern Intercollegiate Rowing Championships
4/17/2010 12:00:00 AM | Rowing
OAK RIDGE, Tenn. - The Alabama Rowing team advanced to the Grand Finals of all three of its Saturday races at the Southern Intercollegiate Rowing Championships being held on Lake Melton in Oak Ridge, Tenn., this weekend.
"We did what we set out to do which was get all our boats in the 'A' final, which we weren't able to do last year," UA head coach Larry Davis said. "Now it's a matter of going out and doing the job tomorrow and seeing if we can't bring home some championship hardware."
Alabama's Varsity 4+ boat won its preliminary heat and advanced directly to Sunday's Grand Finals. The Crimson Tide outlasted Indiana, finishing eight-tenths of a second ahead of second place Indiana and posting a 7:39.1. Oklahoma was third in the tightly contested race at 7:41.8.
"In the Varsity 4+, our ladies really kept their composure and kept nice, long strokes and really powered it down the race's course and had things well in hand," Davis said. "Even though it was close at the end, I think they had more left in the tank if they'd needed it. "
Alabama finished third in the preliminaries of the First Varsity 8+, crossing the finish line at 6:40.5, just three seconds behind Oklahoma and two seconds back of Indiana. To advanced to the Grand Finals, the Tide won the semi-finals with a time of 6:37.0, two seconds ahead of runner-up Tulsa and well ahead of the rest of the field.
"Overall, all our boats showed a great deal of composure out on the course and did a nice job," Davis said. "I look forward to seeing what they can do tomorrow in finals."
The Tide's Second Varsity 8+ boat advanced to the Grand Finals after clocking a time of 6:51.6, behind Indiana and Tulsa.
Two of UA's crews, the First Novice 8+ and Second Novice 8+ will race in timed finals on Sunday against a field that includes Indiana, Purdue and Tennessee.
