April 3, 2007

Mason's Varsity boat went 15-1 on the day at the Occoquan Sprints this past Sunday, while the Novice made grand finals in the Novice 8. Both the Second Varsity 8 and the Lightweight 4 won their respective events in impressive fashion, and the Varsity 8 took second behind Williams, currently ranked #1 in Division III.

Early spring racing is a great time for novices. Each time we go out on the race course we get faster, learn some lessons and have a lot of fun. The novices had a great time in their first race of the day; after a few bobbles at the start, they channeled their nervous energy into moving through a strong Army boat and remained consistent to the finish. We hoped to maintain that consistency for the second race of the day while adding more power to each stroke but fatigue took its toll. Our second race showed us that we have some work to do on our fitness; the novices are happy to have two weeks now to work on this new goal and can't wait to get to work!

Our Varsity 4 raced as a Lightweight 4 this weekend and did extremely well. They lead from start to finish and had a strong race. They are really starting to mesh as a boat and getting stronger each week. They will face some good competition in the Lightweight 4 at Knecht Cup in two weeks.

The 2nd Varsity 8 was looking to rebound off of last week?s loss to North Carolina. We wanted to focus on putting together a full race and keeping the pressure up for the full 2000m. They accomplished their goal and had a strong race start to finish. We are looking forward to Knecht Cup in two weeks where we will face several 2nd Varsity 8?s.

The Varsity 8 won their heat and then faced Williams in the grand final. Williams was able to inch away from us in the first half of the race and then held us off at the finish, winning by 7 seconds. We were in control of second place from start to finish. They had a good race and were just beat by a better crew. We were satisfied with second place and being 7 seconds off Williams. This time last year both Williams Varsity 8 and 2nd Varsity 8 had open water on our Varsity 8. So we are closing the gap.

Varsity 8 Grand Final
1. Williams College A 6:12.9
2. George Mason 6:19.9
3. Mary Washington 6:26.1
4. Williams College B 6:34.5
5. Lafayette 6:37.8
6. Loyola 6:56.2
Second Varsity 8 Grand Final
1. George Mason 6:51.7
2. U.S. Military Academy 7:10.9
3. Williams College 7:28.7
4. College of New Jersey 8:11.1
Lightweight 4 Grand Final
1. George Mason 7:58.3
2. U.S. Military Academy 8:21.8
3. Virginia Commonwealth 8:44.7
Novice 8 Grand Final
1. Williams College 6:36.8
2. William Mary 6:44.4
3. Loyola 6:48.4
4. Mary Washington 6:50.7
5. Lafayette 7:00.8
6. George Mason 7:08.2