2016 ACRA National Championship

Marquette Crew had four boats attend the ACRA National Championship on Lake Lanier down in Gainesville, Georgia this year. The team sent the Varsity Men's 4+, the Varsity Women's 4+, the Novice Women's 8+, and a Women's Double. The squads have been rowing two a days since the Dad Vail, and have all made tremendous strides. The team left to drive to Georgia on Thursday, and arrived in the very early morning on Friday. After some much needed rest, the team drove to the Olympic course to rig boats and get one last practice in before race day.

The next morning the team woke up and drove to the course for our first race of the day which was the Women’s Double. This was the first time Marquette crew has raced a double at any major regatta this year, and the girls represented well. The next race was the Novice Women's 8+ and our girl’s rowed well against teams from across the country, where they finished fourth in their heat. After them came the Varsity Women's 4+, who raced in the fastest women’s 4 heat of the day, and placed fourth with a time of 7:46.51. The following race was the first heat of the Men's Varsity 4+, which had our boys in it. The men rowed well, placing fourth and posting a time of 6:57.031. All of our squads advanced to reps.  

Reps started with our Women's Double taking to the course again and racing well in their heat against seven other boats. The Novice Women's 8+ followed them, where they placed fourth with a time of 7:29.373 just missing a spot in the Grand Final, but advancing them to the Petite Final. Up next was the Varsity Women's 4+, who had their chance to prove themselves for the Grand Final and did just that by placing first in reps and advancing. The final race of the day for Marquette crew was the rep for the Varsity Men's 4+. Our men placed 2nd in their heat by only three seconds and advanced to semi- finals.

The next morning the Varsity Men's 4+ had to be on the course bright and early for their semifinals race.  This was an incredibly close race where our boys battled for one of those top four spots. Our boys put up a time of 6:51.945 just a 1.5 seconds behind fourth and 1.75 seconds behind third. After that came the Women's Double, and Senior and Co-President Hannah Mullett's last race. They raced well and represented Marquette crew proudly. Following them came the Novice Women's 8+ Petite Final, where our girls placed third and posted a time of 7:33.462, finishing the season at 11th in the nation. We are excited for these girls continue to improve and move up to varsity this fall. Shortly following them came the Varsity Women's 4+ Grand Final. The women were able to come out of lane 1 and shock the field placing third in the nation. They are the first boat from Marquette to ever medal at ACRA. This was also senior Jenn Varallo’s last race, and she made us proud to call her a Marquette Crew Alumni. After them came Marquette Crew's last race of the weekend, the Varsity Men's 4+ Petite Final. The men started off slow in this race but were able to crawl back through the field and take first in their heat. Placing first in the Petite Final makes them the 9th best club Varsity Men's 4+ in the country, beating out 22 boats of the 31 boat field, to claim that title against the largest event of the weekend.

Marquette Crew had several firsts this weekend such as first women's double, first medal, first men's sweep boat, and highest finish for several squads. As always, a huge thank you goes out to the parents who came out to support our team. If it wasn’t for you there is no way our team would have been able to compete at this high of a level. Have a great summer and we hope to see everyone back out on the course next year!

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