The Virginia crew team closed out its fall season optimistic with the progress it has made in a little over a month of competition.
After losing to Ohio State by 12 seconds in the Head of the Charles regatta on Oct. 21 in Boston, Virginia's varsity eight closed the gap on the NCAA powerhouse by finishing six seconds behind the Buckeyes for second place in the Rivanna Romp Regatta yesterday. The Cavaliers had a strong first half of the race and kept pace with the Buckeyes, but faltered in the second half to give Ohio State the win with a time of 12 minutes, 44 seconds. The Cavaliers finished the race in 12:50, followed by Clemson at 13:11.
"The first half of the race, we did what we wanted to do," Virginia varsity eight rower Jennifer Reck said. "In the second half, they just walked through us. They made a move, we reacted really poorly to it, and allowed it to disrupt the rhythm of our boat, and kind of fell apart the second half of the race."
Virginia's "B" boat finished four seconds back of the Tigers for fourth place and its "C" boat finished seventh (13:37).
The Cavaliers were able to avenge their varsity eight finish against Ohio State in the varsity four and quad races. In the quad race, which pitted the top four Ohio State and Virginia rowers against each other, the Cavaliers scored a three-second win over the Buckeyes by crossing the finish line in 13:43. Duke's "A" boat finished 1:04 behind while its "B" boat rounded out the contest with a 15:57 for fourth place.
After winning the quad race, the varsity four race yielded the same result for the Cavaliers. Virginia pulled ahead of Ohio State and maintained a steady rhythm to take first place with a time of 14:04. Ohio State finished six seconds back with a 14:10, followed by Duke (14:24).
"The four race was kind of the opposite of the eight," Reck said. "It just felt more controlled and powerful. It was definitely redeeming. Ending the season with the [varsity] eight race would have been disappointing. Coming back out with the win at the four was encouraging."
Virginia's "B" boat finished sixth (14:38), its "C" boat finished eighth (15:02), its "D" boat finished 13th (15:29), and its "E" boat finished 16th (17:19).
"We made a couple of changes from the Princeton Chase [on Oct. 28] that were beneficial," Virginia coach Kevin Sauer said. "I think we closed the gap on Ohio State from the Head of the Charles from the end of October to now."
Virginia's showing against Ohio State's varsity eight, varsity four and quad boats is even more impressive when you consider the international flavor of the Buckeyes' rowers, according to Sauer. Only one of Ohio State's top eight rowers is American. The rest are either German, Czechoslovakia, Australian or Canadian.
"It seems like [Ohio State has] a little bit of an European all-star team there," Reck said.
Virginia also had a strong performance in the novice eight by placing second and third behind Duke. The Blue Devils won the race with a time of 13:48, following closely by Virginia's "A" (13:51) and "B" (14:19) boats. Virginia's "C" boat placed fifth after crossing the finish line in 14:52. Sauer indicated that he was pleased by Virginia's performance in the novice eight.
"Duke's novices are very good," Sauer said. "We had three rowers in our novice eight that started rowing in September."
According to Reck, this last race of the fall season gave Virginia a positive outlook for the spring season, which is when the bulk of their racing occurs.
"We had a successful, but not stellar fall," Reck said. "We know we have a lot to do over the winter and we have confidence heading into the spring."
The Cavaliers will be going for its sixth straight NCAA tournament appearance when it returns to the water in the spring.
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