Fall Season Concludes with the Bald Eagle Collegiate Invite
INDIANAPOLIS, IN - All squads packed up and headed to Indianapolis, Indiana for the Bald Eagle Collegiate Invite this weekend to wrap up fall racing. Flat water, beautiful scenery, and 45 degree weather resulted in perfect conditions for racing.
Race day began with coaches and coxswains meeting at 9 AM, while the rest of the team unloaded the trailer and began to rig boats. The first race of the day was the Varsity Women's 4+ - A event, where the women started the regatta off right with a third place finish and a time of 18:26. Both the B entry and C entry competed in the Varsity Women's 4+ - B event, finishing with times of 18:15 and 19:43, respectively. The Novice Men's 8 - A event was up next with the men coming through the line with a time of 18:19. The Novice Women's 8 - A had a solid finish earning third place over Illinois and DePaul in their event with a time of 18:16. Additionally, our Novice Women's 8 - B also brought home some hardware with a second place finish and a time of 19:01. Up next, the Men's Varsity 4+ - A boat overcame some stiff competition from crews, and pulled through with fifth place finish to edge out Notre Dame, and with an overall time of 16:06. The Men's Varsity 4+ - B boat finished with a time of 18:30. The Men's Novice 4+ pulled together to finish with a time of 19:49.
After a short break, racing resumed in the afternoon with the Novice Women 4+ event. The Marquette Novice Women brought home silver in the 4+ event with a time of 20:45. The last races of the day were the premiere events - the Varsity 8's. The Marquette Varsity Women had three entries. The Varsity Women 8 - A put up a competitive time of 17:13. Both the Varsity Women 8 - B and C placed second behind Purdue in their respective races with times of 17:57 and 17:59. To finish off racing, the Men's Varsity 8 - A and B event, saw some thick competition with the A boat coming in with a 15:18, and the B boat finishing with a time of 19:05.
The program had a successful day, with the women's team finishing third overall for the Women's Points Trophy. The team finished fourth overall out of eleven programs for the Team Points Trophy.
All in all, Marquette had a great time at our last Fall race of the season, with many of our boats going home with medals! A big thank you to everyone who dedicated their time, kindness and support to make this season possible for all of us; especially our MU Crew coaches and parents, we could not have done it without your guidance and assistance. We are already counting down the days to see everyone back in the spring!
Marquette Crew Competes at Prestigious Head of the Charles
BOSTON, MA - This past weekend, the team loaded up and headed to Boston, Massachusetts for the 52nd Head of the Charles Regatta. This prestigious regatta has been around since 1965 and is by far the largest two-day regatta in the world, where more than 11,000 competitors, and 800 clubs come out to compete. The 3-mile course consists of six bridges, making it vital for coxswains to know the course extremely well in order to execute each unique bridge, and turn as precisely as possible. The team arrived in Boston on Friday afternoon, eager to get on the course and be able to practice one last time before the big race. This year we had four entries competing on the Charles. Although Saturday started off rainy and cold, the regatta went on with our first boat racing in the Men's Club 4+, which was stroked by Brennan Dougherty, followed by Vincent Wirth, Nathan Desutter, Patrick Knapp, and coxed by Katie Fletcher. The men powered through and finished in 39th place, with a time of 19:41.63. Later that night, the entire team and families that were in town headed over to Jacob Wirth for a delicious German dinner.
The conditions for Sunday proved to not be much better with lower temperatures and strong gusts of winds that were up to 40 mph. Nonetheless, the team remained in high spirits in anticipation for the other three events being competed in that day. The first race of the day was the Men's Collegiate 4+, which was stroked by Adam Kobiela, followed by Rick Kaufmann, Stephen Pleasant, Cristian Kuang, and coxed by Ale Tomasino-Perez. The men really came together, pulled their hardest, and their efforts showed finishing in 16th place with a time of 18:48.94. Placing 16th, out of 43 boats entered in the event, landed them in top half, which then secured their spot in the event for next year! Marquette also had a boat competing in the Women's Collegiate 4+ that was stroked by Lauren Daly, followed by Sarah Reis, Kelli Kennedy, Erin Zinkula, and coxed by Andrea Matsudaira. The women passed several crews en route and clocked a time of 22:18.03, before incurring a one-minute penalty and placing 23rd overall. The last race for the day was the Women's Lightweight 4+, which was stroked by Bridget Moffett, followed by Anna Kratzke, Karina Folliard, Molly Merrion, and coxed by Lynn Nguyen. These women faced fierce Ivy League competition, and pushed through every stroke to finish in 9th place with an overall time of 21:45.02. Overall, the Head of the Charles was a success and a once in a lifetime experience that will be engraved in our memories forever.
Looking forward, Marquette will wrap up the fall season on November 5th with the Bald Eagle Collegiate Invite in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Strong Showing for Marquette Crew at Head of the Rock
ROCKFORD, IL - This past weekend, the team loaded the trailer and headed to Rockford, Illinois for the Head of the Rock regatta, one of the largest head races in the country. On Saturday, the crew arrived at Danny and Denise Wood's home, where they hosted the entire team for a delicious dinner. Once dinner was over, we loaded back into the buses and headed to the Rockford YMCA to spend the night before the big race. Both squads had their Big/Little reveal at the YMCA as well!
The next morning the team woke up at the crack of dawn, ready to race and rock the Rock. After the trailer was unloaded, the Novice Women's 4+ was the first event of the day. The Novice Women's 4+ A pulled a 21:16 and the Novice Women's 4+ B was not far behind with a 21:22. The Men's Novice 8+ was up next. The boy's 1F 8+ boat finished with a time of 17:17, and their 2F 8+ boat with a time of 18:18. Up next was the Men's Varsity 4+, whose A boat finished with a 15:32, placing 5th overall, and the B boat finishing with a time of 17:12. The Women's Open 4+ was packed with four different Marquette boats. The Women's Lightweight 4+ placed 6th overall, closely behind Division 1 programs Wisconsin and Drake, with a time of 17:22. The Lightweights finished as the top club boat in the open weight event. The Women's Open 4+ A posted a time of 18:25, the D boat with a 19:20, and the C boat finishing with a 19:30 time.
Afternoon racing kicked off with the Novice Women's 8+ event; the 1F boat finished 7th overall, and was the fastest club boat in the event with a time of 18:23. The Novice Women's 2F boat rowed a strong race, and finished with a time of 20:08. The Novice Men were up next in the Novice 4+ event; their A boat came in at 18:46 and their B boat at 21:45. The last two races of the day were the Varsity Men and Women's 8+. The men pulled their hardest and finished with a time of 15:01. There were two boats in the women's event, with stiff competition, the women pulled through with the 1V 8+ boat finishing with a 16:49 and the 2V 8+ boat with a 17:29.
All and all, everyone had a blast this weekend. It was also extremely humbling to have a huge crowd of Marquette parents and alumni cheering for everyone throughout the entire day; it made the difference. Up next, we have the biggest race of our Fall season: the Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston.
Marquette Crew Dominates at Tail of the Fox
DE PERE, WI -The first weekend in October, the team traveled to De Pere, Wisconsin for the Tail of the Fox Regatta. Some of the athletes left earlier on Saturday in order to take a tour of the entire Green Bay Packer stadium that afternoon, and later all got together at the Dougherty's residence for a huge dinner! The men's team ended up spending the night at the Dougherty's, while the women stayed with the Van Eperen's.
The team started the next morning with coaches and coxswain's meeting at 7:30AM, while the rest of the team started to unload the trailer. Although we all expected much colder weather, the day turned out to be beautiful and a lot warmer than anticipated. The Novice Women made their racing debut with two boats in the 4+ event; their A boat finished with a time of 18:25 and their B boat with 19:45. Next up the team had two back to back events finishing in 1st place. First, the Varsity Women's 1V 8+ earned their winning title with a time of 14:13. Second, came the varsity men's 4+ also winning 1st with a solid finish of 13:25, and the 2V finishing with a time of 15:11. Up next, the Novice Men represented Marquette for the first time with two boats in the 8+ event. The Novice Men's 1F 8+ boat placed 2nd with a time of 16:24, and the 2F boat finished with a solid time of 18:59. The Varsity Women then competed in the 4+ event with all 3 boats coming in one after the other; the A placed 2nd with a time of 16:33, our B boat 3rd with a time of 16:36, and our C boat finished 4th with a time of 16:48. The Novice Men were then able to race in the 4+ for the very first time; the A boat and B boat finished with times of 17:06 and 20:37, respectively. As for the Varsity Men, they finished 3rd place in their 8+ with a time of 12:24. The team finished the day off strong with two 1st place finishes. The Varsity Women's Lightweight 4+ won their race with a time of 14:50, while the Novice Women's 1F 8+ won their race with a time of 16:11, and the 2F boat finished with a solid 3rd place finish of 17:25.
The day finished with everyone being fed, courtesy of our awesome Marquette Crew parents that spoil us with delicious treats, medals, and cox tosses! The team looks forward to another solid week of training before driving south for Head of the Rock next weekend!
Marquette Crew Opens Fall Season with the Milwaukee River Challenge
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.