CAMDEN, N.J. -- The Navy women's rowing team opened its spring season by winning the first and second varsity eight races and the second varsity four event at the Cooper Sprints Sunday morning on the Cooper River in Camden, N.J. The Mids also placed second in the third varsity eight race and third in the first varsity four event.

"Today was a great start to the regular season," said Navy head coach Joe Schlosberg. "We are a young team and our inexperience showed. However, we learned a lot and had to overcome some small adversities.

"Every boat improved from the first race to the second, which really showed how well the group can make adjustments. We're looking forward to a better week of training than last week and will look to find more speed across the board."

Navy's first varsity eight boat entered the grand final after recording a time of 7:11.87 to win its heat by almost nine seconds over Massachusetts and being the fastest boat overall in the heats by just about seven seconds (Rhode Island, winner of heat two). The Mids would go on to win the grand final with an effort of 7:24.22. Navy's entry crossed the finish line 7.63 seconds head of Rhode Island and 9.90 seconds before third-place Massachusetts completed the race.

Navy's second varsity eight crew won its four-boat heat and clocked in with the fastest time of the trial heats with a time of 7:30.40. That posting was just less than five seconds faster than Rhode Island (winner of the other heat) and just more than five seconds faster than Bucknell (second to Navy in heat two). The Mids made their top seed hold up as their time of 7:53.04 in the grand final gave them the victory by 2.58 seconds over second-place Rhode Island, 9.39 seconds over third-place North Carolina and 13.94 seconds over fourth-place Bucknell.

There was a seven-boat field in the varsity four race, which led to the teams being divided into two trial heats. The fastest four boats would advance to the grand final. Navy recorded a time of 8:30.68 to finish in second place in its three-boat trial heat and third overall to reach the top final. The Mids would also place third in the grand final with their effort of 8:38.83. That time placed them 7.80 seconds in back of first-place Drexel and 2.47 seconds behind second-place Boston College. Drexel had recorded the fastest time in the trial heats, with Boston College posting the second-best time in the first set of races.

The Mids entered a pair of boats into the second varsity four race. Navy's A entry won the trial heat and the school's B boat placed fifth in the six-boat field. The top entry for the Mids went on to win the final with a time of 8:48.25, but its margin of victory shrunk from 20 seconds in the trial heat to four seconds in the final. Just as in the first race of the day, Navy's B boat placed fifth in the final with its clocking of 9:18.49.

Navy placed second of six entries in both the trial heat and the final of the third varsity eight event behind North Carolina. The Mids posted a time of 8:03.29 in the final to finish 3.39 seconds in back of the winning boat for the Tar Heels, a gap between the boats that was a few tenths of a second smaller than during the trial heat.

Navy will return to the Cooper River this coming Saturday to take part in the Doc Hosea Invitational.

Results

First Varsity 8
Trial Heats - 1st of 4 (1st of 8 overall) -- 7:11.87
Grand Final
Navy - 7:24.22
Rhode Island - 7:31.85
UMass - 7:34.12
North Carolina - 7:45.61
Drexel - 7:52.97

Second Varsity 8
Trial Heats -- 1st of 4 (1st of 8 overall) -- 7:30.40
Grand Final
Navy - 7:53.04
Rhode Island - 7:55.62
North Carolina - 8:02.43
Bucknell - 8:06.98
Boston College - 8:07.08

First Varsity 4
Trial Heats -- 2nd of 3 (3rd of 7 overall) -- 8:30.68
Grand Final
Drexel - 8:31.03
Boston College - 8:36.36
Navy - 8:38.83
UMass - 8:50.84

Second Varsity 4
Trial Heat -- A: 1st of 6 -- 8:26.02; B: 5th of 6 -- 9:00.35
Final
Navy 'A' - 8:48.25
North Carolina - 8:52.15
UMass - 8:52.73
Rhode Island - 9:10.83
Navy 'B' - 9:18.49
Drexel - 9:31.14

Third Varsity 8
Trial Heat -- 2nd of 6 -- 7:58.83
Final
North Carolina - 7:59.90
Navy - 8:03.29
Boston College - 8:05.17
Bucknell - 8:10.79
West Virginia - 8:24.07
Drexel - 8:26.26

Boatings
First Varsity 8
Caroline Kelly, Mady Malczynski, Ashlyn Dawson, Alexandria Vallancey-Martinson, Grace Lawrence, Maeve Broeg, Raye Brackett, Emily Krulik, Bethany, Spangler (Coxswain)

Second Varsity 8
Julianna Pereira, Clare McCarthy, Jessica Martin, Giovanna DeVito, Kanoe Nakoa, Emily Cecchini, Samantha Fox, Megan Hanson, Krysta Przestrzelski (Coxswain)

First Varsity 4
Brianna Warren, Annie Pentaleri, Bray Zimmerman, Eleonore Porter, Allie Batten (Coxswain)

Second Varsity 4 "A"
Sarah Osborne, Cara Bradley, Elizabeth Downing, Riley Schliem, Elizabeth Drake (Coxswain)

Second Varsity 4 "B"
Anna Paz, Margaret Lane, Jessica Ennis, Lexi Mendolia, Lisa Morocco (Coxswain)

Third Varsity 8
Katherine Long, Caroline Dooley, Katie Miller, Brooke Fraasch, Maya McPartlin, Kendall Bowen, Carolyn Riggs, Sabrina Spracklen, Miranda Donato (Coxswain)