Georgetown crew celebrated its 50th anniversary this weekend, but the Georgetown rowers in the women’s club eight did not take it easy on the alums. At the Head of the Potomac, the current Hoya rowers beat out a boat from the Georgetown Boat Club that consisted of 1990s Georgetown alumni and two former Olympians, Cathy Simon and Missy Ryan.

In the women’s open eight, Georgetown boats took the top two spots, and the Georgetown men finished two and three in their open eight.

“There seems to be a lot of competition in the team for a spot in the boat,” women’s Head Coach Glenn Putyrae said after the first regatta of the fall season.

In the club eight, the Georgetown boat finished with a time of 16:18.1, 30 seconds ahead of the Georgetown Boat Club’s boat.

Putyrae said they tried to split up the boats by class, and the winning boat consisted of mostly juniors. “They went out and had a good race,” he said.

Just 1.4 seconds separated Georgetown in the women’s open eight. The top boat finished in 16:27.8, and their teammates clocked in at 16:29.2. The Hoyas almost had the top three spots, but their third team finished one-tenth of a second behind third-place finisher Lehigh.

On the men’s side, the Hoyas were eight seconds behind the first-place finisher from the Potomac Boat Club in the open eight. Georgetown took second, third, sixth and seventh in the event.

Out of the water, Georgetown held events throughout the weekend, including an alumni row, a remembrance mass and a gala to celebrate the program’s 50th anniversary.

“As a relative newcomer to the program, the weekend was pretty overwhelming for me,” Putyrae said. “With so many people who are passionate about crew and Georgetown alums – it was an amazingly positive event.”

Next up for the Hoyas is the Navy Day Regatta on Oct. 11 in Philadelphia, Pa. The race will be on the Schuylkill River.

Though the Head of the Charles looms the following weekend, Putyrae said he and his team are excited to get on the water in Philadelphia.

“Any time we’re able to get on the race course and compete, it’s good for us,” he said.

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