May 10, 2009
WORCESTER, Mass. - The Navy men's heavyweight crew team delivered three top-10 finishes during the finals at the Eastern Sprints Championship on Sunday at Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, Mass.
"Today was a good day of racing for us," stated Navy head coach Rick Clothier. "Our first varsity, first freshmen and second freshmen crews beat their seedings and we were able to trim down a lot of the time deficits from earlier in the year."
Navy's first varsity crew, which came into the race seeded 14th, claimed the final spot in the petite final with its fourth-place time during the morning heat with a 5:51.591 showing - which was 0.249-second ahead of 11th-seeded Princeton. Later in the day, the Mids posted a time of 5:55.189 to finish fourth in the race and 10th overall - 1.080 seconds in front of 10th-seeded MIT.
"I am really pleased and proud of our guys on the first varsity crew," said Clothier. "The conditions were tough on the outside lane, but they competed and were able to finish four notches ahead of our seeding coming into the weekend with better times than two teams seeded higher than us."
The petite final of the first freshmen event proved to be an exciting one on Sunday, as the top-three boats all finished within 1.5 seconds of each other. Fifth-seeded Syracuse placed first in the race with a time of 5:56.263, with the ninth-seeded Mids finishing 1.040 seconds behind the Orange with a 5:57.303 clocking - which was good for eighth overall and enough to edge MIT by 0.468-second.
"I'm also proud of the performance by our first freshmen boat," stated Clothier. "Their eighth-place finish is the highest by our plebes since winning the petite finals in 2005."
Navy's highest finish came in the second freshmen race, where it advanced to the grand final. The Midshipmen placed fifth with a time of 6:27.833, with top-seeded Brown winning the race with a 6:09.832 clocking. The Mids earned a spot in the grand final by its third-place time in the opening heat - 1.85 seconds ahead of Boston University for the final-advancing slot.
The Mids also finished 14th overall in the second varsity event with their second-place time in the third-level final, prior to which the third varsity crew placed fourth in its heat to just miss advancing to the afternoon final.
Navy landed in 11th place among the Rowe Cup team standings with nine points on Sunday. Brown took home the hardware with a total of 41 points, followed by Harvard's 33 points and Wisconsin's 32 points.
The Midshipmen will conclude their season when they head to the IRA National Championship on June 4-6 in Sacramento, Calif.
Navy at the Eastern Sprints Championship
• Heats •
First Varsity - Harvard 5:44.278, Northeastern 5:46.256, Columbia 5:48.954, Navy 5:51.591, Princeton 5:51.840, Holy Cross 6:04.478
Second Varsity - Brown 5:48.556, Boston 5:51.022, Syracuse 5:55.866, George Washington 6:00.940, Navy 6:06.040
Third Varsity - Harvard 6:01.544, Yale 6:06.554, Syracuse 6:11.393, Navy 6:13.624, Dartmouth 6:28.298
First Freshmen - Cornell 5:59.097, Yale 6:02.843, Navy 6:04.688, Northeastern 6:07.600, George Washington 6:36.537, Columbia DNF
Second Freshmen - Brown 6:16.592, Cornell 6:21.511, Navy 6:28.713, Boston 6:30.563, Rutgers 6:39.857
• Finals •
First Varsity (Petite) - Columbia 5:50.954, Syracuse 5:51.014, George Washington 5:54.047, Navy 5:55.189, Dartmouth 5:55.498, MIT 5:56.269
Second Varsity (3rd Level) - Georgetown 6:08.871, Navy 6:12.541, Dartmouth 6:19.932, Holy Cross 6:27.783, Rutgers 6:29.881
First Freshmen (Petite) - Syracuse 5:56.263, Navy 5:57.303, MIT 5:57.771, Northeastern 5:58.780, Boston 6:00.206, Dartmouth 6:01.202, George Washington 6:24.265
Second Freshmen (Grand) - Brown 6:09.832, Wisconsin 6:12.691, Harvard 6:14.997, Cornell 6:21.258, Navy 6:27.833, George Washington 6:33.117
• Rowe Cup Standings •
1. Brown - 41
2. Harvard - 33
3. Wisconsin - 32
4. Cornell - 28
5. Boston - 21
6. Syracuse - 17
6. Princeton - 17
8. Northeastern - 15
9. Yale - 13
10. Columbia - 10
11. Navy - 9
12. MIT - 6
12. George Washington - 6
14. Penn - 4
14. Dartmouth - 4
