Saturday, June 7
Camden, N.J. (Cooper River)
8:00 a.m.
Columbia
vs
IRA National Championship Regatta
Heavyweights Finish Sixth in Hotly-Contested IRA Grand Final
6/7/2008 12:00:00 AM | Heavyweight Rowing
CAMDEN, N.J. ? For more than half of the national championship Grand Final, Columbia's dream season continued. And even after the five other teams pulled ahead of the Lions, it never really ended. For Columbia rowed the way a championship contender should, sprinting to close the gap at the end.
"For a while, we had a hot pace," head coach Mike Zimmer said after his varsity heavyweights finished sixth of six in the heavyweight rowing Grand Final on the Cooper River Saturday, June 7. "We did what we wanted to do. We wanted to hang on to the leaders."
The leaders, it was generally conceded, would be three non-Eastern crews, from Washington, Cal and Wisconsin. They occupied the three fastest lanes on the course, the middle lanes. The outside lanes were occupied by Columbia, Northeastern and Stanford.
And the race went according to form, except that Wisconsin took the lead early and held it all the way, holding off Cal and Washington. But Columbia, Northeastern and Stanford, Zimmer recalled, "were dead even".
Then one school moved up on the top three. "We punched into fourth in the third 500 meters," the coach said. "We stayed there through the third 500 and a bit of the fourth."
But the fast pace began to get to the Lions. Northeastern moved into fourth and remained there. Columbia and Stanford began jockeying for fifth ? "We'd go ahead, then they would go ahead," Zimmer said.
With about 100 meters to go, Stanford took the lead for the last time ("Stanford had a little more juice"). But it didn't deter Columbia, which began one last sprint. "Columbia's sprinting!" someone yelled from the large crowd. "Watch out!" It closed the gap ? just 2.2 seconds separated fourth, fifth and sixth ? but didn't change the order of the race.
Zimmer paused, and reflected.
"This was a pretty good race for everybody involved," he said. "This was a pretty fun season. Next year, we want to do a little bit better."
The results:
IRA National Championship Regatta
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Cooper River, Camden, N.J.
Grand Final, Varsity Heavyweights
1. Wisconsin, 5:31.173
2. Washington, 5:32.894
3. California, 5:39.021
4. Northeastern, 5:42.399
5. Stanford, 5:43.324
6. COLUMBIA, 5:44.565
Third Level Final, Freshman Heavyweights
1. Gonzaga, 5:53.913
2. Hobart, 5:55.456
3. Cornell, 5:55.833
4. Dartmouth, 5:58.960
5. Georgetown, 6:00.741
6. COLUMBIA, 6:04.675
"For a while, we had a hot pace," head coach Mike Zimmer said after his varsity heavyweights finished sixth of six in the heavyweight rowing Grand Final on the Cooper River Saturday, June 7. "We did what we wanted to do. We wanted to hang on to the leaders."
The leaders, it was generally conceded, would be three non-Eastern crews, from Washington, Cal and Wisconsin. They occupied the three fastest lanes on the course, the middle lanes. The outside lanes were occupied by Columbia, Northeastern and Stanford.
And the race went according to form, except that Wisconsin took the lead early and held it all the way, holding off Cal and Washington. But Columbia, Northeastern and Stanford, Zimmer recalled, "were dead even".
Then one school moved up on the top three. "We punched into fourth in the third 500 meters," the coach said. "We stayed there through the third 500 and a bit of the fourth."
But the fast pace began to get to the Lions. Northeastern moved into fourth and remained there. Columbia and Stanford began jockeying for fifth ? "We'd go ahead, then they would go ahead," Zimmer said.
With about 100 meters to go, Stanford took the lead for the last time ("Stanford had a little more juice"). But it didn't deter Columbia, which began one last sprint. "Columbia's sprinting!" someone yelled from the large crowd. "Watch out!" It closed the gap ? just 2.2 seconds separated fourth, fifth and sixth ? but didn't change the order of the race.
Zimmer paused, and reflected.
"This was a pretty good race for everybody involved," he said. "This was a pretty fun season. Next year, we want to do a little bit better."
The results:
IRA National Championship Regatta
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Cooper River, Camden, N.J.
Grand Final, Varsity Heavyweights
1. Wisconsin, 5:31.173
2. Washington, 5:32.894
3. California, 5:39.021
4. Northeastern, 5:42.399
5. Stanford, 5:43.324
6. COLUMBIA, 5:44.565
Third Level Final, Freshman Heavyweights
1. Gonzaga, 5:53.913
2. Hobart, 5:55.456
3. Cornell, 5:55.833
4. Dartmouth, 5:58.960
5. Georgetown, 6:00.741
6. COLUMBIA, 6:04.675
Feature: HWROW | 2019 Season Preview
Thursday, April 04
