During the second weekend in May, the team traveled to Philadelphia to compete at the Dad Vail Regatta, where competition was stiffer than ever before. Our five eights, double, and single found stiff competition at the largest colligate regatta of the year. Like always, Dad Vails fell during Finals, providing an excellent opportunity to practice real life skills and juggling responsibilities.
Women’s Collegiate 1X (3rd of 9)
Fourth-Year Ashley Gale raced the single against some tough competition. She qualified for the grand final after placing third in her heat with a time of 8:17.550.
In the final, Ashley duked it out the entire way down the course and got edged out by Guelph (8:04.612) and Rensselaer (8:08.266). She took home bronze with a time of 8:12.599 finishing ahead of Pittsburgh, Gordon and Massachusetts.
Men’s Collegiate 2X (6th of 16)
The Men’s Collegiate 2X, with Burke racing the first time all season after recovering from injury, placed second in their heat behind Washington College placing themselves solidly in the grand final.
The odds were against them on Sunday in the final; they finished sixth in the final with a time of 7:17.484, behind an entire field of competitors who were their team’s top priority boat (i.e. they stacked the doubles instead of racing bigger boats).
Men’s Second Novice 8 (19th of 25)
VRA had two novice eights compete; the 2N8 competed as UVA B, competing against the same field of competitors the 1N8 faced. The weekend started off with time trials for the novice eights. The Second Novice Eight finished with a time of 6:18.001 placing 18th overall.
The 2N8 placed 6th in their semi-final with a time of 6:53.647 behind five ‘A’ boats, including Temple who went on to win the entire event. They qualified to race in the 3 final on Sunday.
They raced a strong field on Sunday, including 4 ‘A’ boats and Michigan’s B boat. They finished in sixth with a time of 6:37.939.
Men’s Novice Heavyweight Eight (5th of 25)
After a bit of a misinterpretation, the First Novice Eight rated at a 30 for the entire time trial. Despite being out-rated by every other boat, they finished 9th overall with a time of 6:01.018.
In their semi-final, the 1N8 placed 2nd in their semi-final behind Michigan A with a time of 6:20.743, which put them in the grand final on Sunday.
They took home fifth in the grand final on Sunday with a time of 6:12.077. Temple (5:56.479) won followed closely by Delaware (5:57.581). Michigan A (6:02.124) and Drexel (6:04.052) placed third and fourth respectively. Minnesota (6:18.825) placed behind us to round out the field.
Men’s 3V Heavyweight Eight (5th of 8)
The Men’s 3V8 finished third in their heat with a time of 6:24.464. Temple (6:15.258) and St. Joe’s (6:17.747) bested them and they crossed the line solidly ahead of Michigan State (7:03.705).
They took home fifth in the grand final with a time of 6:14.156. They were beat by Drexel (6:01.075), Delaware (6:04.127), St. Joe’s (6:04.994), Michigan (6:06.250) respectively and VRA’s only boat to beat out Temple (6:16.062) in the finals.
Men’s JV Heavyweight Eight (6th of 20)
A young JV8 took to the Schuylkill and placed 7th overall in their time trial with a time of 5:40.830.
In the semi-final, MIT (6:00.674) took first and our JV8 narrowly edged out Michigan (6:02.884) for second place and a trip to the grand final with a time of 6:02.331.
On Sunday in the final, they took 6th with a time of 6:04.450. They finished behind Temple (5:46.884), St. Joe’s (5:47.748), Delaware (5:51.170), Drexel (5:51.371), and MIT (5:58.254) again.
Men’s Varsity Heavyweight Eight (5th of 28)
The V8 finished fifth overall with a time of 5:25.938 in the time trial. They finished behind St. Joe’s (5:17.680), Temple (5:20.309), Colgate (5:20.946), Delaware (5:25.501) and ahead of Michigan (5:26.914).
With a time of 5:47.595, they took second in their semi to Temple (5:44.825) and made the grand final on Sunday.
Squeezing in the race before the storms rolled in, the V8 finished fifth with a time of 5:43.213.
Temple (5:34.409), St. Joe’s (5:37.005), Colgate (5:37.197), Delaware (5:40.671) placed first to fourth respectively and the V8 barely edged out Michigan (5:43.568).