Courtesy Jim Snyder The Georgetown men’s crew team raced on the Potomac this weekend at the GU Invitational.

Faced with more highly touted competition this weekend, the women’s crew team stepped up to the challenge and came away with a pair of impressive victories, while the men’s team also proved itself among the Big East’s best with a pair of victories of its own.

The men’s second varsity lightweight eight and the second freshman boat both won races in the Georgetown Invitational for Big East Schools on a calm Potomac River Sunday. The women raced in assachusetts Sunday in the Big East Women’s Rowing Challenge and both the freshman lightweight four and open-weight freshman first boat won their races.

The men’s varsity lightweight eight did not compete Sunday, but the second varsity lightweight eight raced in the varsity heat and beat Boston College to take first place in the race.

Sophomores Cullen Torsney and Tim Gillespie both said they were happy with the strong performance.

Later in the day, the eight split into two fours and raced in the lightweight four race. Boston College won that race, defeating both Georgetown fours.

The freshmen heavyweights had two tightly contested races. The first freshman boat, stroked by freshman Eric Hilmo, came in second to Syracuse by 0.48 seconds. In the last 200 meters the boats were even the entire way. The finish was too close to call from an ordinary spectator’s viewpoint, and the fans were unsure of the official results for several minutes.

The freshman lightweight boat also competed in this race due to lack of any other competition. They placed fourth but also had a very close finish to Notre Dame, losing by just over a second.

The second freshman heavyweight boat won in the finals against Notre Dame and Virginia Tech. However, the team did not receive their traditional “betting shirts” they earned because Virginia Tech wanted to “trade” with Georgetown. Customarily, crew teams wager t-shirts with their opponents, with the victors taking the shirts as trophies.

The first varsity heat consisting of Georgetown, Syracuse and Notre Dame was a messy race from the start. The Georgetown eight caught an over-the-head crab in the first 500 meters, meaning that one of the rower’s oars was caught the wrong way in the water causing the handle to fly backward over his head. It took the Hoyas about five seconds to recover and by that time Notre Dame had nearly pulled even with Georgetown.

Syracuse was too far ahead at that point, and the Orangemen won the race by a large margin of open water. Georgetown placed second by a little more than a half boat length over Notre Dame. Although the Hoyas did not win their heat, they still qualified for the finals against Temple, Syracuse and Boston College.

Despite a better race than the first one, Georgetown placed third in the finals. They fell four to five seats back off the start while Temple and Syracuse continued to steadily gain distance on the Hoyas. Coming into the finish, they were able to make up about six seats, but Georgetown still finished third, about four seats behind both Rutgers and Syracuse.

“A start can’t win your race for you, but it can lose it,” Georgetown sophomore Noah Bergman said.

Georgetown’s rowing was not at its best, although it was an improvement on the first race. Due to an injury at the last minute, the line-up had to be changed, causing some distraction among the rowers.

The varsity heavyweights also raced a four, which came in third to both Syracuse’s A and B boats but defeated Temple.

The freshman women had a successful day, especially with their lightweight four that competed in an open race against four other open-weight boats and one lightweight boat from Villanova. Their biggest anticipated competition was first ranked Syracuse with Georgetown ranked second coming into the race. They handled all their competitors with ease, finishing first by six seconds. Syracuse finished the race fourth, 33 seconds behind Georgetown and 18 seconds directly behind third-place Connecticut. Villanova finished second in the race.

The open-weight freshman women placed second to Notre Dame in a very close first heat, but still qualified for the final as one of the top three finishers in their heat. The final was also very close between the Hoyas and the Fighting Irish, but Georgetown was able to hold them off and edged them out for a first place finish.

The second freshman open-weight boat also made a strong showing by finishing second to Villanova by three quarters of a second.

The women’s varsity eight finished first in the petite final, eight seconds ahead of second-place finisher Connecticut, and the second varsity eight placed fourth in the grand finals to Syracuse, Notre Dame and Rutgers.

Next weekend the men will face George Washington University on the Potomac River, while the next race for the women is the Eastern Association of Women’s Rowing College sprints on May 13th in Camden, N.J.

Related Links

 Crew Team Page