Race Recap: Clemson Sprints, 3/17/07

Spring Break 2007 was yet another successful week on the high seas of Panama City. Most of the team headed straight up from Florida to South Carolina to play with some tigers on Saturday. The varsity men opted to leave those cats alone at least for one week.

The adventures began when the trailer broke down in who knows where Alabama/Georgia leaving the ATL to Clemson trailer crew stranded in Atlanta at the whims and fancies of Mr. Spike (aka one long night). The trailer left Atlanta at 4am and arrived at Clemson 15 minutes before the women’s pair race—running with unis in hand to change and a quick rig later, the pairs made it on the water without a moment to spare. The classic “Georgia Tech you’re late!” warning having been issued, it was time for business. The two pairs established the lead in front of Clemson, Tennessee and Stetson. About 500m into the race, the B pair had a bit of a snag in their race plan—stroke seat’s blade stuck and unmoving, a clam had become ensnared in the oarlock. Stroke quickly dislodged the clam and chucked it across Lake Hartwell. At this point the B pair had fallen into 4th place, the A pair continuing to open water on the competition. The B pair moved up on the 2nd and 3rd place boats the rest of the course, but ran out of time, keeping them 3 seconds out of a medaling position. The A pair won the event by a significant amount of open water.

Meanwhile Curt Browder and Austin Nichols were representing in the open single, both winning their respective flights (40 and 4 seconds in front—both very impressive!) Browder and Nichols later took out the pair, defeating Stetson, Charleston and 3 Clemson pairs, adding a couple gold medals to the count.


The varsity women brought the pairs back in and immediately took out the four. The boat established itself in a close third to Stetson and NCSU, held onto the two boats during their moves and plowed through in the last 500m to an open water victory in front of Stetson, NCSU, Wake Forest and SCAD.

The novice women’s 8 placed 2nd to a very fast UGA crew in heats. Their stroke had to be taken to the hospital shortly after so the boat was unable to race in finals.

Michelle Williams-Davis and Amie Martell beat each other up in the open single, trading the lead in the two halves of the race and ultimately taking the gold and silver respectively in front of a Stetson single.

The Men’s Novice 8 after winning their heat by a few boat lengths took home the gold in the final, in front of Williams and SCAD with a tight 5 second spread between the three boats.

The Novice Women’s 4 faced tough competition in their flight against a very quick Stetson four and placed 4th behind Georgia State and Northwestern.

The Novice Men put out two fours placing second and third in their respective flights. The A four narrowly missed first to Clemson by .75 seconds, beating NCSU, Georgia State’s A boat, Williams and UGA. The B four came in third to a fast Chattanooga Rowing and Georgia State boat, beating USC and Berry.

The Varsity Women took out the V8 next marking the third to fourth race for most of the crew and the helpful addition of 3 novice rowers, taking 4th in heats to Clemson, UGA’s lightweights and SCAD.

7 golds, a couple silvers and a bronze later, the team returned to Atlanta more than exhausted but ready for the racing season ahead.

Complete results here.

Race Recap: SERCS, 3/10/07

After the scrimmage against UGA at Fort Yargo, the team headed to another UGA hosted event, SERCS (Southeastern Regional Collegiate Sprints) in Aiken, SC.

UGA describes the event:

"Categorized as a club sport under the University's Recreational Sports Department, UGA Rowing is a self-directed endeavor. Now a 501(c)6 non-profit organization, the team operates with an annual budget of approximately $150,000, receiving very limited funds from the University. The team must accomplish a tremendous amount of fundraising in order to supplement the difference. In order to try and meet this need, the idea of hosting SERCS was born.

The Southeastern Regional Collegiate Sprints (SERCS) Regatta was first held March 11, 2000 and was hosted by UGA Crew coaches, officers and team members. The race was originally held at the 1996 Olympic-training site in Elberton, Ga. within Richard B. Russell State Park. An immaculate course design was implemented for several years following its original use by the Olympic teams, but unfortunately was left to deteriorate over time. Four members of UGA Rowing attempted to reuse what was left of the original course while making the modifications necessary to lie out a very straightforward 2000-meter course for spring racing. While offering a great venue for racing, UGA Rowing elected to move its home regatta from Elberton in the spring of 2004. With tremendous guidance and support from Aiken County Parks and Recreation and Brian Sanders, the SERCS Regatta is now pleased to call Langley Pond its home.

SERCS is held as a fundraising endeavor for the UGA men's and women's rowing teams, as well as an opportunity to bring great competition together for a remarkable day of racing. Every spring since 2000, teams fill the water with racing shells from places near and far. Teams have included Georgia State, Georgia Tech, Boston College, Clemson University, University of Tennessee-Chattanooga, University of Tennessee-Knoxville, Savannah College of Art and Design, University of Alabama, Auburn University, Emory University, Bucknell University, Skidmore College, Manhattan College, SUNY-StonyBrook and many others."


The Varsity Men put out a fleet of eights, fours, pairs and singles winning 9 medals for Georgia Tech. In the Lightweight 4 event, the A boat brought home the gold with the B boat also qualifying for finals. Georgia Tech made its presence known in the single with four entries. Austin Nichols won the event with Jonathan Spoerke taking home the bronze. The Men’s Champ 4 won a bronze medal. The men also swept the pair event taking the top three spots, vying for first place in a drag race in the last 250m. The Men’s Champ 8 won their event with the Lightweight 8 also medaling, taking third to RIT.

The Illustrious Lightweight Men




The Varsity Women due to last minute scheduling changes had to switch the lineups for the double and pair events and still managed to win both, highlighting the squad’s versatility in small boats. The women’s pair even beat out SCAD’s men. The women also raced a fairly novice four in the Champ 4 event, taking 4th in heats. The Champ 8, featuring three novice and alumna Rebekah Henry took 3rd in heats and 6th in the final.


The Novice Men put two 8’s and two 4’s on the water. After winning their heat, the Novice 8 A boat won their event with the B boat taking 4th in heats. Both the Novice 4’s won their heats. The A boat won the event and the B boat placed 6th in finals.


The Novice Women brought home a silver medal in the Novice 8 event to UGA.

Pictures courtesy of FrancisDJ.com and Alex Breedlove

Race Recap: A-Town Challenge, 3/4/07

(Pictured Novice Men L->R: M. Bajin, M. Horan, B. Loeffler)

The first race of the year was a scrimmage hosted by UGA at Fort Yargo.

Click here for full Recap and Results

Quoted from UGA's homepage:

03/04/2007
This past weekend, the University of Georgia Rowing club competed in its first spring regatta. It was held at Fort Yargo State Park, home of UGA Crew. The course was only 1500 meters, which is 500 meters less than a normal race, but the teams had a difficult time all day facing strong winds and white caps.

Both UGA and Tech had great showings, but UGA came away with a victory by 4 points. The women's varsity 8+ boats took first and second in their race. The men's varsity 8+ boat got a close third to Tech's "A" and "B" boats. Varsity women's 4+ boats got first and third. The men's varsity 4+ boats got second and fourth against two other Tech boats. Our novice women's 4+ boats took first and second and the novice men's 8+ took second. Sadly, due to high winds and white caps, not all of our novices were given the opportunity to get their first race out of the way.

March 10th at SERCS will be the next opportunity for UGA to compete against Tech and many other schools. This event will take place in Aiken, South Carolina and will be hosted by UGA.

For more pictures, visit FrancisDJ.com ("Photo Exhibition" --> "UGA Scrimmage")

Countdown to Dad Vails

The heat sheet for Dad Vails 2007 has just been posted.

Georgia Tech Crew is taking 9 boats to Philadelphia this year.

The Men's Varsity Heavyweight Four (A. Nichols, S. McLeskey, M. Gaston, T. Maryak, M. Fong) will be starting things off Friday morning in Heat 9 against Toronto, Merchant Marine, George Mason and Vermont. (2 to semis, 49 entries) Michael Gaston and GT Crew were recently featured on the CBS evening news highlighting Gaston's determination to row at Dad Vails after breaking his hand over spring break. Also watch out for Austin Nichols and Sean McLeskey as they hone their bisweptual skills, having recently switched sides.

The Women's Varsity Heavyweight Four (J. Pohl, A. Breedlove, J. Furman, B. York, J. Goldstayn) faces some stiff competition in Heat 2 against Northwestern St. LA, Chicago, Drexel, Rochester and Johns Hopkins. (2 to semis, 51 entries)

The Men's Varsity Pair (R. Lampert, K. Covert) will compete against Merchant Marine, Rollins, Maryland and Carnegie Mellon in Heat 4. (3 to semis, 34 entries)

The Women's Varsity Pair (M. Williams-Davis, A. Martell) continues their undefeated conquest for gold in Heat 4 against Vermont, Iona, Oklahoma City and Chattanooga. (3 to semis, 25 entries) The pair has won at SERCS (even beating out SCAD's men), Clemson Sprints, Lanier Sprints, and SIRA (against a significantly larger Tampa pair).

The Men's Varsity Lightweight Four (M. Braza, J. Spoerke, T. Chambliss, R. Williams, P. Marino) will compete in the afternoon in Heat 4 against American U, Boston College, Lafayette and Vassar. (3 to semis, 25 entries)

The Men's Frosh/Novice Heavyweight Eight will battle it out against Vermont, Penn State, Delaware and Northwestern in Heat 5. (3 to semis, 28 entries)

The Women's Frosh/Novice Heavyweight Eight (R. Kelly, L. Deaton, B. Caspersen, C. Iversen, S. Dutton, K. Geldbach, M. Curtis, R. Gray, J. Bracco) will compete against Santa Barbara, Army, Purdue, Grand Valley, and Villanova in Heat 2. (3 to semis, 36 entries)

The Men's Varsity Lightweight Eight (J. Kapteyn, C. Troxel, E. Holsenbeck, M. Wildes, N. Grivas, C. Kamin, M. Pieper, V. Wilkes, T. Mara) is planning a repeat performance from last year, competing against Purdue, Jacksonville and Lehigh in Heat 3. (2 to finals, 13 entries)

The Men's Frosh/Novice Lightweight Eight has a final only on Saturday against Ohio State, Dayton, Florida Tech, Lehigh and Purdue.

We look forward to seeing the DC and Philadelphia alumni this upcoming weekend! Let's go Tech!