WORCESTER, Mass. – The Columbia lightweight and heavyweight rowing teams took to the water Sunday at the EARC Sprints on Lake Quinsigamond. The lightweights qualified for the grand finals in all three events they had to qualify, including a fifth-place finish from the varsity eight. The heavyweight varsity eight qualified for the petite final and took 12
th place overall. The Lions' best finish of the day was a third place showing from the lightweight third varsity eight.
LIGHTWEIGHT RECAP
The Lions had to battle with Navy and Harvard to secure a spot in the grand final. Princeton surged ahead early and led by nearly a length most of the way. Columbia and the Midshipmen appeared to have enough cushion from Harvard for the final two spots in the grand, but the Crimson crept up on both teams, forcing the Lions and Navy to pick up their paces. The Mids and Lions jockeyed back-and-forth in the second half of the race with Columbia earning a one-second margin over Navy as both crews advanced to the grand final.
In the afternoon, Penn made an early move and had to hold off Yale, Navy and Princeton down the stretch to take gold. Columbia stayed with the pack much of the way, but was nine seconds off the pace of the Quakers.
The second varsity eight was right with Cornell and Penn, who finished first and second, the entire way of heat two, and claimed the final spot in the grand final. With the headwind picking up during the second race of the day, Columbia's time, along with the rest of the crews times slowed dramatically, with the Lions placing sixth.
The preliminary heat of the third varsity featured all four boats staggered by open water. Columbia finished second to Yale by nine seconds to advance to the grand final. In the afternoon, the Lions stayed with the leaders of the pack until the Bulldogs and Navy pulled away around the 1,000-meter mark. Columbia fought for position to remain in third and held off Harvard by a length to earn the bronze.
Columbia's fourth varsity only had one race to begin the final rounds in the afternoon. The Lions turned in a fourth place finish out of the six crews competing, finishing in 6:46.411, which was 13 seconds behind first-place Yale.
HEAVYWEIGHT RECAP
"This was one of the slowest Eastern Sprints in my memory," said head coach and Columbia's Director of Rowing
Scott Alwin said. "It wasn't anything to do with the crews, but the conditions were really difficult to handle. In the second and third varsity, we did a good job of diagnosing what they wanted to fix from the morning and came back with much improved performances in the afternoon."
"The whole focus of the day was making sure the varsity eight was getting back to IRA's and they delivered. I'm really proud in how they believed in each other, trusted the plan and stuck with it today."
Yale jumped out to an early lead of the opening round of the varsity eight prelims, but Columbia stayed within striking distance of the second and third place boats, and started creeping up on Syracuse around the midway point. However, the Orange responded with its move and separated from the Lions, who pulled in fourth.
Columbia turned in a sixth-place finish in the petite final, completing the course in 6:36.364.
The Lions second varsity eight placed fifth in heat two during the morning session, but had a nice bounce back piece in the afternoon. Columbia and Wisconsin steadily moved beyond the pack and the Lions came away with a win in the third level final.
The Bulldogs, Syracuse and Northeastern jumped ahead of the pack in heat one of the third varsity eight and the Lions finished fifth to face Holy Cross in the third level final. Columbia jumped out to an open-water lead around the 500-meter point of the course and never looked back.
Columbia's lightweights have secured an automatic berth into the IRA National Championships from May 31-June 1 in Sacramento, California. The heavyweights will learn if it receives an at-large bid on Tuesday, May 21, during the selection show at 7 p.m.
SUNDAY'S BOATINGS
LIGHTWEIGHTS
Varsity Eight in the Alex Navab
Cox:
Bella Zionts, Stroke:
Alexandros Zisimidis, 7:
Max Amsterdam, 6:
Alan Blaesser, 5:
John Robison, 4:
Sebastian Krappe, 3:
Torrance Smith, 2:
Jim Stewart, Bow:
Levi Beckett
Second Varsity Eight in the Nich Lee Parker
Cox: Judy Liu, Stroke: Aiden Norder, 7:
Alex Overmeer, 6:
Lukas Geiger, 5:
Brooks Ralph, 4:
Michael Ritter, 3:
Sam Melvin, 2:
George Patterson, Bow:
Constantino Khoury
Third Varsity Eight in the Michael C. Zimmer
Cox:
Simon Osak, Stroke:
Pedro Santos, 7:
Colm Feeney, 6:
Ryan Watt, 5:
Tucker McMullen, 4:
Lorenzo Frati, 3:
Jake Duffy, 2:
Ricardo Pantaleon, Bow:
Owen Cordaro
Fourth Varsity Eight in the 2016 National Champions
Cox:
Emma Frati, Stroke:
Jorge Gonzalez Rey, 7:
Richard Taylor, 6:
Tim Cervera, 5;
Jack Hartman, 4:
Anthony Cosentino, 3: Diego Villadoms, 2: Ishan Dirks, Bow:
Brendan Burbage
HEAVYWEIGHTS
Varsity Eight
Cox:
Caroline Hurley, Stroke: Alexander Hedge, 7:
Tom Mortimer, 6;
Ryan Lee, 5:
Henry Quinn-Pasin, 4:
Clay Watson, 3:
Kyle Fram, 2:
Ian Low, Bow:
Neil Kennedy
Second Varsity Eight
Cox:
Alex Herron, Stroke:
Nick Edwards, 7:
Oliver Babb, 6:
Sean Aral, 5:
John Tanguay, 4:
Ben Tilden, 3: Will Randolph, 2:
Andrew Sizemore, Bow:
Chris Magnani
Third Varsity Eight
Cox:
Lauren Cohen, Stroke: Bennett Silbeck, 7:
Quin Koether, 6:
Ryan Hardenbrook, 5: Kevin Kearny, 4:
Tristan Orlofski, 3: Elliott Buck, 2: Will Ryan, Bow:
Robert Doyle
