Rowing: WVU Completes Weekend at Knecht Cup
April 11, 2010 08:07 PM | General
April 11, 2010
MORGANTOWN W.Va. - The West Virginia University rowing team completed the Knecht Cup Regatta today, with four boats competing in the Grand and Petite Finals.
The top performances of the weekend were the Varsity 4+ and Novice 8+ boats, which each finished fifth in their respective ‘A’ Finals.
The Varsity 4+ boat started off the weekend placing second behind UMASS (7:59.74) with a time of 8:08.63 The boat advanced to the semi-finals, where it placed second (7:57.29) behind Colgate (7:40.42), landing a spot in the Grand Finals.
The Varsity 4+ team of Caroline Rettig, Lauren Washabaugh, Jenelle Spencer, and Jeannine McCarty, with coxswain Amanda Mahasky, fell behind at the start of the final race, then gradually raced its way back into the middle of the pack. The boat crossed the line in fifth-place with a time of 7:50.44, among the 30 crews that entered at this year's regatta.
"I'm pleased with the performance of our Varsity 4+ boat because its first row together was to the starting line for its morning heat on Saturday,” says coach Jimmy King. “As hoped, the crew improved with each race despite the challenging weather conditions."
The Novice 8+ crew of Devin Milsop, Katie Leljedal, Ashley Dolan, Megan Neckelmann, Hilary Meale, Katie Moore, Jordan Burns, and Brittany Doss, with coxswain Ellen Shular also raced their way to a fifth-place finish (7:24.73) in the Grand Finals among 22 entries.
The Novice 4+ and the second Varsity 8+ boats qualified to compete in the Petite Finals. The Novice 4+ teams raced in the ‘B’ Finals, where team ‘A’ captured a second-place finish (8:19.43) and team ‘B’ placed sixth (8:49.92) to finish eighth and twelfth among 33 entries. The second Varsity 8+ boat had an impressive fifth-place performance with a time of 7:13.08, capturing an eleventh-place finish out of 18 entries.
The Varsity 8+ and the second Varsity 4+ boats did not qualify to continue after placing fourth (7:03.89) and fifth (8:22.34) in the first round of the competition.
"Our overall performance was a bit disappointing this weekend,” adds King. “There were definitely some positive notes, but there were too many inconsistencies in our racing throughout the weekend. We will address those points during this week's training, then look for improvements in Saturday's race.”
The Mountaineers will continue action Saturday, April 17, as they play host to George Mason in a home-race on the Monongahela River.
