Complete Dad Vail Results
PHILADELPHIA – Add Colgate Men's Rowing to the list of accomplishments for 2018-19 Raider Athletics.
Colgate's Varsity 8+ won the Jefferson Dad Vail Regatta's premier event for the first time in program history here Saturday, setting a course record in the process.
It's easily the equivalent of capturing a Patriot League championship, of which the Raiders pocketed three this year in men's soccer, football and men's basketball.
In addition, Colgate's Novice/Frosh 4+ boat also won gold to bring the Lindy Cup home to Hamilton for the second time in four years.
From the Sources
Matt Oakley '19 (Varsity 8+): "Today is a great day for Colgate Athletics and Men's Rowing. This was the first time in Colgate history that we won a gold medal in the premier event: the men's varsity 8. Prior to this race, we were ranked 27th and we just beat the 15th fastest boat in the country according to Cmax. On top of that, we set a course record of 5:30.5, beating the previous record of 5:34.
"The race felt right. We were smooth off the start and kept our bow with the front of the pack in the first 500. With this course, there is a staggered start because of a slight turn 750 meters into the race, so the lower numbered lanes are out in front off the start.
"Our cox, Tali, cut a great turn and that's when we took our lead and maintained it for the rest of the race. From the beginning, I knew we had it. We held at 39 strokes per minute and found a good rhythm. After that, we just trusted in our training and rowed our race. Drexel made a charge at the end but we held them off to take gold."
David McKay '22 (Novice/Frosh 4+): "During most of our previous races throughout the spring, we would fall behind within the first 200 meters and move ahead during the middle of the race. At Dad Vail finals, we really took control of the race from the beginning by establishing our lead. We were able to find the best rhythm and connection we had all season and walk away from the other boats during the first 500 meters of the race, and then maintain open water until the finish. The final was definitely our most challenging race all season, but we all had faith in each other to get the job done.
"As a boat, we did incredibly well throughout the season. We were not only winning the novice events, but our times were close to or beating the Varsity 4+ events times at every regatta we went to. We had a first-time coxswain and rower in our boat and they did a fantastic job of picking up the sport very quickly. We were all able to trust that all the hard work we put in during winter training would pay off at each race."
Assistant Coach Anthony Chacon: "The Novice/Frosh 4+ had a great season, nearly going undefeated. We set our sights the same as the varsity on winning Dad Vail. From the beginning, that was our ambition. They won at the Bill Braxton Regatta in the fall and then had the best time at Murphy Cup, won Knecht Cup, and then came in second at Kerr Cup after a a great heat. We do not have a deep pool of eligible Frosh/Novice; in fact, we finished the year with just the four that raced. Our fastest Frosh/Novice raced in the Varsity 8+. For many teams with that type of limited depth, it is hard to win one event and still have a pool to draw another top boat from. But the frosh all did the same training as the varsity -- same workouts, same lifts.
"The other problem was we had no cox leading into spring break. Thankfully, we picked up
Katie Murray from the women's team. She had not raced much but we taught her everything else we could, just starting from the basics, and then each race getting her more experience at race plans and where to make calls. She was a trooper, finishing many practices and races laying in three or more inches of water. By the end of spring, she had matched and surpassed the level of any first-year cox.
"We then all plugged away together on drills and watched video and tried to find ways to get every second of water speed out of our erg training. We did some calculations of what split we wanted to hit on our home water at Lake Moraine in order to beat the crews we would be facing, and we just kept working until we could do it. Ultimately, we just had to get over our doubts and learn to hang and yank on it and not care how much it hurt. If it didn't hurt, we were doing it wrong. That really did not even happen for everyone at same time until the day before we left for the final race. But that gave us the confidence we needed. We showed up and decided to cash out our investment in training."
Colgate's crews and results were as follows:
Novice/Frost 4+
Cox:
Katie Murray.
Crew: 4
David McKay, 3
Christoffer Hovard, 2
Seth Rosen, 1
Connor Appleyard.
Results: Colgate began is terrific form with a first-place result in the Friday morning time trials. The Raiders crossed in 6:26.851 to easily advance past second-place Michigan (6:37.431) and the rest of the 21-boat field. In Friday's Semifinal 1, Colgate again was first with a time of 7:26.000 to soar past second-place Rollins, which finished in 7:51.540. In Saturday's Grand Final for the Lindy Cup, Colgate again was dominant, winning by more than five seconds over Michigan. The Raiders posted a time of 6:25.494 to Michigan's 6:30.852, with Loyola Maryland, Bowdoin, Rollins and Temple rounding out the finish.
Varsity 8+
Cox:
Tali Filstein.
Crew: S
Matt Oakley, 7
Alex Damjanovic, 6
Sam Gatsos, 5
Ben Moffa, 4
Gian Civitello, 3
Luke Smith, 2
David McCarthy, B
Peter Rex.
Results: Colgate placed fifth in a crowded field during Friday morning's time trials, posting a time of 5:48.982. Delaware won the time trial in 5:44.566. In Friday's Semifinal 2, Colgate took first place by less than 1 second over St. Joseph's. The Raiders posted a time of 6:20.605 to 6:21.463 for St. Joe's. In Saturday's Grand Final for the Richard O'Brien Trophy, Colgate set a course record time of 5:30.598 to clip second-place Drexel by less than one-half second. The Dragons crossed in 5:30.910, with Purdue, St. Joseph's, Temple and MIT rounding out the finish.
