7 minute read
Men’s Varsity 8+ at ACRA Championships
from Summer 2023
by Cougar Crew
This is Dave Emigh, and this is my take on the way that the crimson, black, and gray oars splashed. (Note: I did not travel to Oak Ridge but watched the entire regatta from the comfort of my living room, courtesy HereNow Sports, via YouTube.)
This year’s ACRAs had 31 entries in the Men’s Varsity 8+ event. There was one scratch, so the final field was 30 crews. Just chew on that for a minute. Consider the logistics. More crews launched for one event than many regattas can show in toto. Competition opened on Friday, May 19, and most crews, WSU’s MV8+ included, had two races that day. Beginning at 8:40am, a shortened course (1,750 meters) was used for time trials. Like a head race, crews raced single-file, crossing the start line at racing pace—the epitome of racing against the clock.
Notre Dame topped the field at 5:09.711, followed over the next five seconds by George Washington University, Michigan Rowing Association, UCLA, Virginia Rowing Association, Minnesota and Rutgers. Only Minnesota was an anomaly–the other six reached the finals and finished near what the time trial predicted. WSU clocked 5:19.815, finishing 11th, one place ahead of our number 12 seeding, less than a half-second behind Bucknell at 5:19.468. The proximity to Bucknell was significant; three crews ahead of us, Minnesota, Orange Coast and Purdue, would soon find out what a difference two days and 250 meters can make.
Twenty-four crews rowed in four separate evening Repechage races. WSU won its heat and turned in the fastest 2k finish of the night to advance to the Saturday Semis. Now let’s talk serious racing.
MV8+ Petite Final
The last race of the regatta was the MV8+ Grand Final at 1:00pm Sunday afternoon. The penultimate contest was the MV8+ Petite Final at 12:52. In it, WSU’s MV8+ rowed one of the most awesome races I have seen, and I have seen thousands. Watch it here: https://shorturl.at/aCPW7 (Scroll/advance to 5:39.00 for the start. Note: there are controls in the lower right corner of the screen. If your system can handle it, the HD setting is preferable.)
The race announcer was fond of saying “If a crew is ahead at 500 meters in, it is either fast or it has worked too hard to be there.” The Cougs had few worries in this regard. They were 3-4 seats behind the field just 13 seconds off the stake boat.
By 35 seconds in, WSU in lane 3 had fallen to sixth place, with just a deck-length of contact with race leaders Bucknell in 2 and Minnesota in 4. Orange Coast in 1, Purdue in 5 and Rhode Island in 6 were all about half a length out of first. At the 500 meter mark, the smart money boys were not betting on WSU. The Cougs were keeping their own counsel and sticking to plan.
Two minutes in, Bucknell and Minnesota were still within a couple of seats. Third-place Purdue was half a length down. The Cougs had claimed their first victim, overtaking URI and trading bow balls with Orange Coast, each clinging to a deck-length contact with the leaders.
Approaching the 1,000 meter mark at 2:55, Bucknell had a solid two seat lead over Minnesota; Purdue and WSU were contending for third place, both bow balls at Minnesota’s four seat and Bucknell’s six.
At 1,000 meters, Bucknell had jumped to four seats over Minnesota and Minnesota held about the same lead over WSU and Purdue. Orange Coast was victim number two, now in serious difficulties, with open water showing between it and the leaders. WSU’s bow man had drawn even with Bucknell’s coxswain. The Cougars’ poise and unflagging, efficient 36 spm had taken them from last place at 100 meters and put them at the halfway point within striking distance of Minnesota and Bucknell’s battle for first. Purdue was victim number three and would soon fade to sixth place. The Cougars’ 36 kept swinging steady as a metronome. They crept slowly but steadily into contention and their adversaries could do nothing about it.
At 3:40, WSU’s bow man pulled even with Bucknell’s stroke and Minnesota’s five man. At four minutes, Bucknell’s lead over Minnesota was steady at four seats up but Minnesota, over-stroking the Cougs by two beats, now led them by just three seats. At 5:00, the Cougs were trading bow balls with Minnesota. With less than a minute to the finish, the Cougs overtook their fourth victim.
In the closing 500, Minnesota, which had opened at 43 spm and settled at 38 faded to 36 and watched the Cougs row past, besting them by 1.2 seconds or about six seats. The Cougs had 4.6 seconds (open water) over fourth-place Orange Coast (the same crew that beat us by nine seconds at WIRA) and conceded to Bucknell by less than a second, somewhere between three and four seats. This was one of the rare moments when a crew executes its plan to perfection. Hats off to Bucknell for being ever-so-slightly faster that day.
Placing second in the Petite Final made the Cougs the eighth-fastest crew in a field of 30—our third-best ACRA finish so far. Note the four-place jump over last year’s 12th place finish and this year’s 12th place seed.
Real Time Race Reactions
Paul Enquist texted: “Just watched the V8. I’m speechless. Great race, great plan, great result. I would have loved to race with your guys as a teammate. Well rowed. Well done. Pass along my congratulations.”
Dave Emigh’s response: “Not sure I’ve ever seen a better job by any stroke oar! Sean willed/drove WSU relentlessly down the course.”
Coach Brevick replied: “The team has navigated lots of adversity the past few years. I am proud of them all, the seniors especially. Very happy Sean had a great race to finish his commodore year.”
STOP THE PRESSES! After reviewing a draft of this article, Paul emailed the editor: “Dave’s quote of my txt is accurate. However, here’s what I originally wrote: ‘I’m speechless and have tears streaming down my cheeks. I’m so happy and proud of those guys.’ We should all feel that way about this year’s results.”
Results
Complete ACRA Results: https://shorturl.at/pEHT2
Note the tabs on the upper left, one per day. A quick look shows how close the finishes were. In the MV8+ races, no more than eight or nine seconds separated first from sixth place in most of the Finals. UCLA, one of WSU’s legendary adversaries, took home the gold in 5:53.010. If we do not misread the tea leaves, WSU will be closing that 10-second gap much sooner than UCLA expects.
The Class of ’23 Legacy
Three graduating seniors entered WSU in the Fall of 2019 as Freshmen. Sean Swett, Mark Walker-Rittgers and Don Kelly were training for their first racing season when Covid shut everything down in March 2020. The men’s side shrank to about a dozen athletes in the spring of 2021, but Sean, Mark and Don contributed much of the work that kept the team together.
I (Dave) visited Pullman the week before ACRAs, and I told them that the crew alumni understand and appreciate their efforts to sustain the squad through the pandemic. I told them that even though they are graduating, their four years of great work will continue to contribute to the future success of the team. Then they went to Oak Ridge and put their names in the Cougar Crew history books.
In just the third 1x race of his sculling career, Kelly finished second in the Petite Final; making him eighth in a field of 19 in the Varsity Men’s Single. The first heat was his 1x racing debut and his second race was the semi-final.
Swett is Commodore and has stroked the eight three seasons. Walker-Rittgers is Vice-Commodore and rows seven seat. Sean and Mark achieved the team’s top ergometer scores for the 2022–2023 season. In the Petite Final, their boat mates did a superb job of matching them stroke for stroke in what was clearly a punishingly long, strong and unforgiving 36 spm. Mark has been invited to a Training/Selection Camp for the 2023 World University Games to be held in China in August. We wish him the best.
