PHILADELPHIA – The future of Navy's heavyweight rowing program was on display on Saturday as three freshmen crews were entered into competition at the 2021 Head of the Schuylkill Regatta. Racing on a 2.5-mile stretch of the Schuylkill River in downtown Philadelphia, Navy's A entry challenged for the team title in the men's freshmen eights event and finished second overall. The Mids' second and third entries all finished in the top half of the event with respective results of fifth and tenth overall.
 
With 23 boats racing on Saturday, Navy's A boat took to the Schuylkill first and completed the 2.5-mile course with a time of 11:53.445. Georgetown was the only team to better that mark as the Hoyas clocked in at 11:45.718. After a pair of local Philadelphia crews from Drexel and Temple placed third and fourth with times of 12:10.970 and 12:26.504, respectively, Navy's B boat rounded out the top-five as the Mids came in just 0.517 seconds back with a 12:27.021 time. Navy's third crew of freshmen were slightly off the pace of their Hubbard Hall brethren and placed tenth overall at 13:27.181.

"Three boats in the top ten is a pretty good day," remarked head coach Rob Friedrich. "We've been very impressed with the depth and motivation of this strong plebe class. I'm very proud of the way Coach Matt Fluhr has led this group through their first few month as the Naval Academy. He has laid the groundwork for this class to become great future leaders here at Navy and beyond."
 
The Navy heavyweight program will close out its fall campaign with action next Sunday at the Princeton Chase competition. The action is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. in Princeton, N.J.
 
Results
Men's Freshmen 8 (23 in field)
1-Georgetown – 11:45.718
2-Navy A – 11:53.445
3-Drexel – 12:10.970
4-Temple – 12:26.504
5-Navy B – 12:27.021
10-Navy C – 13:27.181