Novice squads shine at New England Rowing Championships
WORCESTER, Mass. — The Bates College rowing teams traveled to Lake Quinsigamond this weekend to compete in the 2006 New England Rowing Championships. The Championships include teams from the NESCAC and NEWMAC conferences, as well as crews from several Division I programs. Races were run in a heats-finals format, with the top finishing crews from morning heats advancing to finals in the afternoon.
The Bates results were highlighted by the performances of the men and women’s novice squads, who raced their way to silver medals in the 12-boat Novice 8+ events. The novice women, after placing first in their morning heat, posted a time of 7:19.0 in the final, finishing ahead of crews from Holy Cross, Tufts, Smith, and Wesleyan, and behind the gold-medal-winning Williams crew. The novice men also won their heat to earn a spot in the grand final, where they posted a time of 6:15.2, soundly beating third- through sixth-place finishers USCGA, Holy Cross, New Hampshire, and Boston College. Trinity took the gold in this event.
The Bates 1st varsity men and women’s crews both finished eighth out of 18 in their events, claiming second place in the petite, or “B”, finals. Third-place finishes in the heats took the Bates crews out of the running for places 1-6 in the grand final, but both the men and the women’s boats raced well in very close petite finals to claim eighth place overall. The Trinity men and the Williams women claimed gold in these events.
The 2nd varsity women placed 10th overall, finishing fourth in the petite final. The second varsity men placed 11th overall, finishing fifth in the petite final.
This weekend’s performances qualified all of the Bates crews for next weekend’s ECAC National Invitational Rowing Championships, also held on Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester. The ECAC doubles as the NESCAC conference championship and will be held over two days on May 13-14.