Last weekend the Colgate men’s rowing team traveled out West for the San Diego Crew Classic at Crown Point Shores Park, which is an invitational tournament comprised of select rowing schools from around the country. This was the first event of the spring season for the men. In their first event, the Raiders competed against national powers such as Washington, Harvard, Stanford, Syracuse, Ohio State and UCSD. They finished Heat A in seventh place with a final time of 6:12.07, more than a full thirty seconds behind first-place finisher Washington, who finished with a solid time of 5:41.60. Harvard and Stanford rounded out the top three respectively in the first heat. After Heat A, the Colgate men qualified for the Petite Final (consolation race), where they faced off against Syracuse, Ohio State, Penn, Purdue and UCSD. Though ‘Gate vastly improved its Heat A time, the Raiders still finished in sixth place with a mark of 6:00.80. This time was seven seconds off first-place finisher Syracuse’s time, though the Raiders did finish within a half a second of their next three closest competitors.

Meanwhile, on the other end of the country, the Colgate women’s crew team went to work on the Connecticut River in New England, as it faced off against UMass and Holy Cross in an early season regatta. In the First Varsity Eight race, the women brought home a strong second-place result, finishing with a time of 8:30.5, less than two seconds behind winner UMass. The team finished more than sixteen seconds in front of last-place finisher Holy Cross. Sophomore Allison Patchen (cox), junior Meredith Remmer, senior Ande Reisman, sophomore Vicky Hulit, sophomore Lauren Schmetterling, junior Sarah Kruse, first-year Annabelle Glass and senior rower Yasmin Rozwadowski rowed for the First V-Eight.

After the First Varsity Eight race, the events were shortened due to strong currents on the river. In the Second Varsity Eight race, the Colgate women once again placed second behind UMass, though this time they did so with a time of 6:21.5, exactly 23 seconds behind the Minutemen. Holy Cross once again placed last with a time of 6:26.1, a healthy 4.6 seconds behind the women from Colgate. Senior Caroline Tobias (cox), senior Cassie Rotman, first-year Kalin Hennegan, Sarah Burczak, sophomore Laura Crawford, sophomore Meredith Buerger, first-year Symone Jackson, first-year Elspeth Monigle and first-year Evelyn Koh raced for the Second V-Eight.

“It was intense out there,” first year team member and Second Varsity Eight competitor Evelyn Koh noted. “It was fun. We [the team] work well together. It was a good weekend”.

Both the men and women will travel to Camden, New Jersey on Saturday, April 12th, as they look will for success in the storied Knecht Cup.