Women's Rowing | April 10, 2022
CHERRY HILL, N.J. – The La Salle rowing team completed a successful day on the water in the Knecht Cup on Saturday and Sunday, totaling two gold medals and seven finals over the course of the two days.
The men continued the strong start to the spring season, tallying gold medals in the varsity 4+ and the freshman 4+.
"Another historical achievement this weekend," said assistant coach
Ivo Krakic. "It has been 20 years since La Salle won at Knecht cup. This time we did it twice. Additionally, we medaled in every category we entered! The guys showed an amazing effort and will continue to get faster!"
Starting Sunday out was the Men's Lightweight 4+, crossing the line in third place after MIT and Iona with a time of 7:04.88, 10 seconds off of a first place finish.
After winning their qualifying heat on Saturday, the Men's Frosh 4+ followed suit again on Sunday, dominating in a 27 second victory over the field in the grand finals with a finish 6:42.53.
In a smaller field, the Men's Second Varsity 4+ placed second, falling just behind Big 10 foe Michigan with a time of 7:11.58.
The Men's Varsity 4+ finished the day off on a high for the men's squad, placing first out of 16 teams to secure a five second advantage over second place Mercyhurst with a finish of 6:39.19.
On the women's side, the Women's Varsity 4+ secured a spot in qualifying to the petite finals on Saturday in their debut race of the season, finishing fourth in their heat and just a bow ball behind Merrimack. The Explorers crossed the finish line in 8:30.94, surpassing Merrimack by seven seconds to kick off the final day of races off for the women.
Also qualifying to the petite final was the Women's Second Varsity 8+ after finishing fifth in a tight heat. The women placed bronze in the late morning race with a time of 7:16.53, only 4.3 seconds separating the top three boats. The time proved significantly quicker than their first run, cutting the deficit behind Harvard from seven to two seconds in the petite final, while extending their advantage over Colgate from three seconds to 18 seconds.
The Women's Varsity 8+ competed in three different levels of races this weekend, opening with a fourth place finish in the opening heat. In the semis, the boat held onto the rest of the pack and used a surging final five strokes to place fourth in their heat and advance to the petite finals, sprinting ahead of Barry towards the end. The boat once again improved in the finals, cutting the gap to leaders Stetson and Delaware to just finish third by less than four seconds.
"Our goal this weekend was to use every opportunity to get significantly faster, and I can proudly say all three crews improved from heats to finals, and each had their best races of the season in their finals," said assistant coach
Kelsey Franks. "They were technically sharp in choppy conditions, extremely powerful through the water, and raced with so much heart. I've never worked with a more adept group of women - every time they race, these crews just get faster and more dangerous to their competitors. I'm especially proud of being the highest-finishing Atlantic 10 Varsity 8+ at Knecht Cup. That result isn't because of one boat's performance, that's from the entire team pushing those 9 women to their limit every single day."
RESULTS
Men's Lightweight 4+
1 MIT 6:55.58
2 Iona 6:59.29
3 La Salle 7:04.88
4 Rollins 7:53.59
Men's Freshman 4+ (Grand Final)
1 La Salle 6:42.53
2 Rollins 7:09.96
3 Rhode Island 7:10.44
4 Army 7:17.84
5 Connecticut 7:20.78
6 Michigan A 7:54.61
Men's Second Varsity 4+
1 Michigan 7:05.89
2 La Salle 7:11.58
3 Virginia 7:32.01
Women's Varsity 4+ (Petite Final)
1 MIT 8:01.84
2 Delaware 8:14.45
3 Fordham 8:16.27
4 La Salle 8:30.94
5 Merrimack 8:37.89
6 Colgate 8:38.73
Men's Varsity 4+ (Grand Final)
1 La Salle 6:39.19
2 Mercyhurst 6:44.16
3 George Mason 7:07.67
4 MIT 7:11.87
5 Lafayette 7:12.18
6 Virginia 7:21.40
Women's Second Varsity 8+ (Petite Final)
1 Delaware 7:12.23
2 Radcliffe 7:14.61
3 La Salle 7:16.53
4 Colgate 7:34.78
5 George Mason 8:32.58
6. Villanova SCR
Women's Varsity 8+ (Petite Final)
1 Stetson 6:53.07
2 Delaware 6:55.17
3 La Salle 6:56.75
4 Radcliffe 6:58.21
5 Thomas Jefferson 6:58.46
6 Ithaca 7:11.67
LINEUPS
Women's Boats
Men's Boats
