Rowing: Novice Squad Shines at Murphy Cup
March 29, 2009 06:52 PM | General
By Kelly Tuckwiller for MSNsportsNET.com
March 28, 2009
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - The West Virginia University rowing team completed its first race of the spring season on Saturday, March 28, with a good showing at the Murphy Cup hosted by Temple on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia, Pa.
The Novice 8+ squad highlighted the event with a sixth-place finish in the grand finals with a time of 7:23.68. The team of Amelia Nelson, Alexandra Flavion, Melissa Shaver, Anna-Claire Bowers, Caitlin Murphy, Shannon Gribbons, Jeannine McCarty, Lauren Washabaugh, and coxswain Amy Cheung, qualified with a first-place finish in Heat 1 (7:16.00).
“The novice squad had the better performances of the day at the 27th Murphy Cup Regatta,” Coach Jimmy King says. “The Novice 8+ team began WVU's day of racing by winning their heat to advance to the grand finals later in the day.”
The Mountaineers also saw good performances from both the Novice 4+ entries, as Team A qualified for finals, but was not able to compete due to scheduling constraints. Team A placed second in Heat 1 behind Bucknell (8:00.39), while Team B finished second behind MIT (8:15.82) in Heat 3.
The Varsity 4+ team ended the day with a third-place finish (7:59.80), behind Loyola (7:45.60) and Villanova (7:51.14), but failed to qualify for the finals.
“The varsity squad began its day in the Varsity 4+ event,” King says. “Despite having not rowed together prior to race day, the crew placed third of six in its morning heat. Although their time was not sufficient to advance, the crew performed quite well under the circumstances.”
The Varsity 8+ also failed to make the finals as they placed sixth in Heat 1 (7:07.07).
“In the Varsity 8+ event, the crew placed a disappointing fifth of six, failing to advance to finals,” King says. “While the team did perform well in certain technical aspects of their rowing in the season's first race, they did not compete at the level they expect of themselves. We'll shake-up the lineups this week as we work to improve and prepare for next weekend's competition.”
The Mountaineers are set to return to competition with their first-ever home race against Dayton, Duquesne and George Mason on Saturday, April 4.
