HARTFORD, Conn. - The freshmen class of Navy heavyweight rowers kicked off their collegiate careers on Sunday with action at the 2023 Head of the Riverfront. Racing on a 2.5-mile head course on the Connecticut River, the Mids entered three crews in a pair of competitions, the Men's Open 8+ and the Men's Novice 8+, and came away with a win in the novice event and a seventh-place result in the open.

"It was exciting to send our plebes to their first race of their collegiate careers," remarked head coach Rob Friedrich. "It was also great to have the freshmen boats race twice and line up against some varsity and open competition. We believe this is a strong class of recruits and walk-on rowers and they learned a lot out there on the course."

Navy's day began with action in the Men's Open 8+. Racing with three entries in the field of 22, the Mids' A crew finished seventh overall with a time of 12:13.38. Amongst collegiate-only crews, that result was fourth-best behind a pair of boats from Tufts (2nd - 11:40.56; 4th - 12:10.10) and Wesleyan (3rd - 11:42.41). Navy's A crew was just 2.35 seconds shy of fifth-place Riverside Club, who clocked in at 12:11.03. Navy's B and C crews also participated in the open competition and finished in 15th and 20th with times of 13:03.17 and 14:12.81, respectively.

Turning around approximately 90 minutes after rowing that initial piece, the same three crews raced in the Men's Novice 8+ event. Taking on collegiate freshmen crews from Trinity, Bowdoin and UConn, Navy dominated the field and placed first, second and fourth overall. The Mids' A crew won with a time of 12:40.40, that bested their brethren in the B boat by 20.02 seconds as they clocked in at 13:00.42. Navy's C crew came in fourth at 15:18.44.

The entire Navy heavyweight program will make its fall debut in two weeks at the 2023 Navy Day Regatta in Philadelphia, Pa. The action on the Schuylkill River begins at approximately 10 a.m. on Sunday, Oct. 15.