Rowing Earns Four Medals at Chattanooga Head Race
10/10/2009 12:00:00 AM | Rowing
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - The Alabama Rowing team enjoyed a strong start to its fourth season as an NCAA program Saturday at the Chattanooga Head Race on the Tennessee River, coming away with four medals on the day.
In the Crimson Tide's first race, UA took a silver medal in the Collegiate 8+ race and placed all three of its boats in the top-5 and all three came in under the 17 minute mark.
"We got off to a very good start today," Alabama head coach Larry Davis said. "Our 8s did a really good job. I think this is the first time we've put three boats in the top five and the first time we've had three boats under the 17 minute mark."
Alabama also made up ground on the Southeastern Conference's other rowing program, Tennessee. The Lady Vols won the Collegiate 8+ with a time 15:51.8, just 23 seconds ahead of the Tide's first boat, which crossed the line at 16:14.5.
"Tennessee is one those established teams that we kind of gauge our progress on and today our third boat was within 50 seconds of Tennessee's first boat," Davis said. "Last year our first boat was that far behind (Tennessee). We're making progress; we're making up ground and that's very encouraging."
Alabama also placed fourth and fifth in the Collegiate 8+, posting times of 16:37.3 and 16:58.0 respectively.
The Tide enjoyed success in the Women's Championship Pairs, taking gold and silver with times of 19:55.1 and 20:15.3 respectively with Clemson in third with a time of 20:41.1.
In the Novice 8+ races, Alabama came away with a gold medal, crossing the line at 17:23.5, bettering second place Clemson by more than a minute.
All three of Alabama's 4+ boats finished in the top-10, taking fourth, fifth and eighth place, The Tide's "B" boat came in at 18:09.7 while the "C" boat crossed the line at 18:19.3 and the "A" boat tallied an 18:39.3.
Alabama returns to action next weekend, splitting its squad between the Head of the Charles Regatta in Cambridge, Mass. and the Hobbs Island Regatta in Huntsville, Ala.
