Kerr Cup Results

PHILADELPHIA – Colgate advanced two boats to Grand Finals at the Kerr Cup despite overcoming quite a few obstacles along the way.
 
The Varsity 8+ suffered breakage in both the heat and final, ultimately finishing fifth overall. The Novice 4+ easily won its heat only to suffer a poor start in the final en route to a second-place result.
 
From the Sources
Peter Rex '19 (Varsity 8+): "Our heat on Saturday started out very well. We had a clean start through the first 1,000 meters and developed a boat-length lead over the field, which included St. Joseph's and Temple. We then experienced an equipment malfunction in which one of the oarlocks of our boat broke, forcing us to stop rowing. In the time that it took us to recover from this breakage and continue the race, we lost about 10-15 seconds and were passed by St. Joe's and Temple. Through the rest of the race, we fought hard to claw back into contention and ended up gaining back several seconds and finishing in a Grand Final qualifying second place.
 
"In the Grand Final, we came out to an impressive start. At 1,500 meters through the race, we were trailing first-place Yale but were in a very close race for second with #19 Drexel and #21 St. Joseph's. As we crossed 1,700-meter mark, we encountered the same equipment malfunction as in the heat, but this time to a different oarlock. Again we were forced to stop rowing for about 10-15 seconds, lost contact with Drexel and St Joes, and lost substantial leads over UC San Diego and Bucknell. In the last 200 meters of the race, we were able to pass Bucknell and secure a fifth-place finish. 
 
"It is difficult to determine exactly how we would have placed in the Grand Final if the equipment failures had not occurred because we know that so much can happen during a race. That being said, it is extremely frustrating to lose placement and potential podium finishes due to reasons that are out of the crew's control. I am still proud of how we handled adversity and of the speed that we flashed for the portion of the races that we could control. We look forward to building on these unfortunate circumstances and continuing to show the high-level speed that we know we have."

Tali Filstein '21 (Varsity 8+): "Our biggest problem during our race was that we had an oar come out of its oarlock. On boats, there is a thing called an oarlock that holds the oar in place. In the middle of both of our races, that oarlock opened and the oar fell out, making it virtually impossible for the rower to row. As a result, we had to row with only six out of the eight people in the boat for approximately 100-200 meters of the race while we put the oar back into its place and closed the oarlock again. Though very frustrating -- and we are ordering new oarlocks so that this doesn't happen again -- it was encouraging to see that even with a massive setback like this, we were competitive with the top boats from the other programs that we will see at championships." 
 
Connor Appleyard '22 (Novice 4+): "During our heat, we really found a good rhythm that allowed us to overcome the conditions and really relax. With the conditions being unfavorable for us, it was really important that we trusted our fitness and relaxed during the race. This relaxation allowed us to not get flustered when we would take a bad stroke or feel that things weren't going as planned. Overall, this relaxation allowed for the race to be much more straightforward and we got a favorable result out of it.
 
"The final started out on a rough note with our start being very bad, but overall we recovered well. During the first 500 meters, we were very tense and the boat felt horrible. But as we passed the 500-meter mark we began to relax more and look to make the most out of the race. We made an effort to focus on our technique and row a much cleaner race where we would be more efficient with applying our power. After that point, we began to come back on the field and moved into second place. We knew the conditions were bad but we really made an effort to row clean and trust that we were good enough to row well in those conditions. Once we began to row cleaner, it was easier to apply power and use what we gained in winter training."
 
Colgate's results were as follows:
 
Novice 4+
Finish: Colgate captured Heat 1 in a time of 7:05.00. The Raiders outdistanced Loyola, Army, American and Carnegie Mellon. In the Grand Final, Colgate crossed in 7:16.50 and finished second to Drexel (7:07.46). The rest of the final placements went to Loyola, Army, Mary Washington and New York Maritime.
 
Varsity 8+
Finish: Colgate finished second to St. Joseph's in Heat 2, with the Raiders crossing in 6:08.66 to St. Joe's 6:03.10. Boats behind the Raiders were Temple, Lehigh, Carnegie Mellon and Johnson & Wales. In the Grand Final, Colgate claimed fifth place in 6:07.61. First place went to Yale in 5:46.07.