MILWAUKEE, WI - The Marquette Rowing team opened up the 2016 fall season with a race on the home course. The Milwaukee River Challenge is the one local regatta the entire team competes in during the year, and attracts other major collegiate programs such as Purdue, DePaul, and the University of Wisconsin. The US National team also rowed two exhibition boats stacked with former Olympians and Olympic hopefuls down the curvy course,. Friends of the program gathered at The Harp to cheer on the undergraduate and alumni boats racing through the city on a beautiful Saturday.

The Women's Open 4+ event started the race day, with Marquette fielding three undergraduate entries and an alumni entry. The boats finished 11th (20:33), 13th (20:43), and 23rd (22:29) in the largest open event of the day. The alumni posted a time of 22:12 to land them in 22nd.

The Open 8+ followed the women's fours, with the men rowing first. Two Marquette men's boats took the the water - the undergraduates and the alumni. The friendly competition ended with the undergraduates taking the alumni by 19 seconds, putting them at 7th overall and the alumni at 9th. The Marquette Women's 1V and 2V took to the river next. Both boats had solid races and finished 10th and 12th respectively in the event.

The highlight and only medal of the day came at the end of the regatta with the Men's Open 4+ event. The first Men's Open 4+ flew down the course with a time of 17:34, earning them the silver ahead of Purdue and cross-town rivals at the Milwaukee School of Engineering. The second Men's Open 4+ finished 18th.

Following the races, the team hosted the annual dinner event at the Twisted Fisherman Crab Shack on Canal St. Families, alumni, and supporters of the program gathered to kick off another exciting year for Marquette Crew. A big thank you to all that came out to support us!

The team hits the road to DePere for the next fall regatta, the Tail of the Fox on October 2nd.