The Virginia women's crew team made a strong showing against Ohio State, Clemson, North Carolina and William & Mary at the Rivanna Romp Sunday morning in the Cavaliers' last regatta of the fall season.
Virginia's varsity eight "A" boat finished in second place with a time of 13 minutes, 40.5 seconds, behind Ohio State's "A" crew (13:39.4), and followed by Clemson's "A" boat, Virginia's "B" boat, Ohio State's "C" boat, Virginia's "C" boat and William & Mary.
"I would say it felt strong all the way though," junior captain Jen Reck said. "We're pleased with how we did, but at the same time disappointed because it was a second
such a small margin of a loss."
Though the women were dissatisfied with the second place finish on the Rivanna, they acknowledge it was a good effort against tough competition.
"It was a really solid race, but I guess they got us on our own turf, so it was sort of disappointing to lose by just a second," senior captain Molly Baker said. "But overall it was solid, and I think we're happy, it's just since it was so close, it was right there
right in our hands and then it went away."
Coach Kevin Sauer emphasized the strength of the major competitor, Ohio State, and was pleased with how Virginia matched up against the Buckeyes.
"It's disappointing to lose, but obviously we're in second behind Ohio State, who was fourth in the NCAAs last year," Sauer said. "They're even stronger this year than they were last year, so that's encouraging."
Not only did the team improve from last season, but it also has demonstrated advances throughout the fall.
"I think [the fall races] set us up well," Reck said. "Our first race was probably our weakest, at the [Head of the] Charles, and from then we slowly built it up. We're confident that we're going to be right there in the spring, but at the same time we know what we have to do because everyone is going to be training hard."
Baker noted that Ohio State beat Virginia by roughly eight seconds at the Charles earlier in the fall, which illustrates how far the Cavaliers have come by closing the gap to only a single second.
Sauer was encouraged by "the fact that this was 4,000 meters versus 2,000 meters and that [Ohio State] just pulled away from us in that last part." He added he thinks "we're doing O.K., we're right in the hunt. We're pleased with that and we're pleased with the fact that we raced hard early."
The first half went smoothly, and according to Reck, the women rowed confidently. However, as the race continued the rowing got tight and "the boat didn't run as well, so we started to spin our wheels a little bit and get kind of hectic and focus on their boat instead of ours
but we'll try to catch them by the spring."
Reck and Baker, two of the three captains, the third is senior Claudia Durkin, are pleased with the crew on the whole.
"Overall, the best part is that we have a really solid team, we have a lot of depth," Baker said. "We have three solid eights that are all doing great and tons of people who have good attitudes and who are willing to work everyday. I think the best thing about our team this season is our attitude, everyone's just willing to strive for the NCAA title, and that's our goal so it's great."
The depth of the team, as supported by all three boats placing in the top 12 at the Chase in Princeton and all boats ranking high at Sunday's regatta, most impresses Reck.
At this point, Sauer believes what is necessary will be to "work on our aerobic base a lot to create a good foundation for the spring."
"We're racing, we're competing, but [for the fall,] we're also just out here to have fun, see how it's going," Baker said. "So this fall definitely proved that we're going to be an awesome team in the spring. We're right there in the pack for the hunt of the NCAA title."
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