Friday, May 11
Philadelphia, Pa.
All Day
University of Massachusetts Lowell
at
Dad Vail Regatta/NCAA Division II Qualifier
UMass Lowell's women's eight: 'Historic' run at the Dad Vail opener Friday.
Rowing: UMass Lowell Advances to Grand Final at Dad Vail Regatta
5/11/2012 4:09:00 PM | Rowing
River Hawks finish third in group heat to advance to Grand Final
Friday's Results
The UMass Lowell Varsity Eight rowing team placed third in its heat to advance to Saturday's Grand Final Friday morning at the Aberdeen Dad Vail Regatta on the Schuykill River.
UMass Lowell covered the 2,000 meter course in 7 minutes, 34.1 seconds and placed behind Nova Southeastern University (7:03.97) and Barry University (7:13.95), currently the Nos. 3 and 6 teams in the latest CRCA/U.S. Rowing Division II poll.
Charleston (W.V.) came in fourth place with a time of 7:49.58 while Franklin Pierce took fifth in 8:04.40.
The feat is believed to be the first time since 1986 that UMass Lowell's varsity eight advanced to the Grand Final at the Dad Vail, at which they placed second in 6:44.1 and went on to win the title in 7:24.0.
“This was a historic race for us,” said head coach Veronika Platzer. “This is a big leap forward, especially since we finished last in both races a year ago.”
UMass Lowell's varsity eight includes senior coxswain Irene Cassidy (Methuen, Mass.), along with seniors Amanda Murray (West Newbury, Mass.) and Kerry Siebert (Byfield, Mass.); juniors Kim Haskins (Taunton, Mass.) and Melinda Neale (Plaistow, N.H.); sophomore Bridget Mahoney (Dracut, Mass.) and freshmen Jenna Bueno (Methuen, Mass.), Rachael Piela (Amherst, Mass.) and Erinn McLaughlin (Lowell, Mass.).
Last year – their first year at the Dad Vail since the 2000 season – the River Hawks finished fifth out of five in their heat (7:36.28) and fourth among four in the Petite Final (7:30.31).
In the other Division II heat Friday, No. 4 Mercyhurst took first in 6:57.59 while No. 5 Central Oklahoma followed in 7:02.46 and Grand Valley State in 7:05.54 to advance to the Grand Final. No. 7 Seattle Pacific took fourth in 7:12.33 while Florida Tech finished fifth in 7:23.04.
The Grand Final is slated for Saturday at 4:00.
UMass Lowell jumped out to the lead off the bat but was overtaken by Nova Southeastern about 300 meters into the race. The River Hawks established a comfortable lead on Charleston and went nose-to-nose with Barry until the 1,000-meter mark when Buccaneers pulled away.
“We had one of our best starts. But Nova, who was the class of the group, took over,” Platzer said. “We were overlapping with Barry. We knew we had to shut down Charleston early, and we did that.”
Alas, UMass Lowell's time of 7:34.1 was not what Platzer had in mind, especially since the eights rowed 7:05 in a 2,000 meter time trial earlier this week.
“I think we got stuck in a lower gear because we knew we got it done,” she explained. “But they're young, and good for them that they advanced. But they've got to step it up for tomorrow.”
Friday's conditions on the Schuykill were windy and choppy, even causing whitecaps. “I think the times were down across the board because of the wind,” Platzer noted.
UMass Lowell and Grand Valley State are the only teams not ranked in the CRCA/U.S. Rowing Division II Poll in the Grand Final.
“We know we can run with these teams, but we know that we have to row like we did two days ago in the time trial,” said Platzer. “We're all happy, but we didn't come here for this. We came to race the very, very best on all cylinders and that's tomorrow. We have to execute the game plan.”
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