• 2012 Dad Vail Results
      • Watch the Saturday finals races live here!

PHILADELPHIA – The Seattle Pacific men's novice four boat cruised to an easy second-place finish in its heat race Friday, earning a berth in the semifinals at the 74th-annual Dad Vail Regatta on the Schuylkill River.

Also earning a semifinals spot was the SPU's women's varsity four crew that placed third during heat racing.

The Falcons nationally seventh-ranked varsity eight crew was not as fortunate. The team's top women's boat raced to a fourth-place finish in the fastest of two heats and missed qualifying for the finals by one position.

Temple won the men's novice four heat in 6-minutes, 51.06-seconds. SPU clocked a runner-up time of 7:01.97 that was the third-fastest among the 47 novice crews that competed in nine heats. Colgate (7:01.93) was the other crew to cover the 2,000-meter course quicker than the Falcons.

"I told them before the race that they were already showing times that were more than capable of putting them in the medals here," SPU coach Keith Jefferson said of his crew, all of them in their first year of collegiate rowing. "Today's time was more of an endorsement that they belong here and can medal.

"They fired off and were in the top two pretty much right away. They had a nice, clean race. They were comfortable in second, so they didn't really put on much of a sprint."

Temple and SPU secured spots in the 18-crew semifinals that are scheduled for Saturday at 7:50 a.m. Eastern Time. They will be joined by the top-two finishers from the other preliminary races, including heat winners Purdue (7:16.11), Tennessee (7:14.31), Amherst (7:02.36), Virginia (7:04.62), Colgate (7:01.93), Michigan (7:05.01), Washington University (7:53.27), Middlebury (7:48.50), Nova Southeastern (7:50.92) and Florida Tech (8:08.58).

The top two finishers in each semifinal earn spots in the six-boat championship final that is set for Saturday at 1:30 p.m. EDT.

The Falcons four is coxed by senior Mackenzie Oscar and comprised of freshmen Emerson Morris and Daniel Mudge, sophomore Matt Edel and junior stroke Thomas Taylor.

SPU's varsity four women's rowers advanced into the Dad Vail semifinals with a third-place time of 7:58.56. They finished open water behind Nova Southeastern (7:35.84) and Philadelphia (7:45.24).

"They had to row hard. To get anything under eight minutes, even on what you might call a fast course, was really good for them," Jefferson said. "They were pleased, but they will be hard-pressed tomorrow."

The 15 semifinalists compete at 9:30 a.m. EDT Saturday for a spot in the finals that will be contested at 3:10 p.m. EDT. The top two crews in each semifinal advance into the six-crew finals field.

The SPU women's four-oared crew is directed by sophomore coxswain Ana Munshell. The rowers include a trio of juniors, Dani Ferrigno, Belle Fritsch and Sarah Lanter, along with sophomore Allison Langholff.

Despite registering the fifth-best time among women's varsity eight crews, SPU did not advance to the six-boat grand final. The Falcons fourth-place time of 7:12.33 was bettered only by one crew from the other heat.

Fourth-ranked Mercyhurst won SPU's heat in 6:57.59 followed by No. 5 Central Oklahoma (7:02.46) and Grand Valley (7:05.54). Those three will be joined in the grand final by No. 3 Nova Southeastern, which won the opening heat in 7:03.97, Barry (7:13.95) and Lowell (7:34.10).

The Falcons were hampered by an equipment failure. Their No. 4 seat broke the velcro strip on her shoes connected to the boat's footplate. She was able to continue rowing, but in a diminished capacity.

"Jacky Neumiller almost came out of her foot stretchers because the velcro gave way on the very first stroke," Jefferson described. "She was unfastened in and couldn't get a full stroke the whole way down the course. All things considered they did pretty well."

Their absence from the grand final means the Falcons will finish out of the medals in Philadelphia for the first time since 2009. They improved one position three straight seasons, finishing fourth at the 2009 Dad Vail event, third in 2010 and second in 2011.

The SPU women got some good news after the heats when the regatta organizers announced the addition of a varsity eight petite final race on Saturday at 5 p.m. EDT.

Jefferson has a plan for Neumiller to avoid a repeat of Friday's mishap.

"We're going to tape her feet in," he joked. "They're all chomping at the bit to race again."

The Falcons crew features five returning rowers from last year's Dad Vail silver medalist crew: Neumiller, Kindra Fish, Neumiller, Baylee O'Camb, Emily Scrabeck and Katy Stine. They are joined by senior coxswain Annie Mulder along with rowers Rachel Murphy, Samantha Storz and Katarina Krueger.

Bidding for NCAA Berth
The Seattle Pacific varsity eight is still eligible to receive one of two at-large berths to the NCAA Women's Rowing Championships. The Falcons did not have the opportunity to race against Barry (Fla.), their primary rival for the last at-large spot.

The Buccaneers took advantage of their slower heat to finish second and move into Saturday's final, despite a second-place time of 7:13.95 that was 1.62-seconds slower than SPU. The Falcons time was faster than every crew from the first each with the exception of winner Nova Southeastern.

With no head-to-head comparison available, the NCAA selection committee may determine the final at-large eights berth by comparing Barry's margin of finish Saturday against that of the Mercyhurst and Central Oklahoma crews that defeated SPU in the Friday's heat by 14.74 and 9.87 seconds, respectively.

The Falcons participated in the last three NCAA regattas, placing second in the team standings in 2010. They collected the varsity eight bronze medal in 2009.

The 2012 NCAA Championships are scheduled for May 25-27 on Mercer Lake in West Windsor, N.J.

Largest Collegiate Regatta
Over 3,500 athletes from more than 127 colleges and universities in the United States and Canada compete in the Dad Vail Regatta, the largest collegiate regatta in the nation and a Philadelphia tradition celebrating 74 years in 2012. There are 560 crews entered in this year's event and more than 10,000 spectators are expected to attend the races.

Saturday's championship finals can be viewed online with a live webcast at www.ESPN3.com.

NCAA ROWING
Dad Vail Regatta
Friday, May 11, 2012
Schuylkill River; Philadelphia, Pa.
(all races 2,000 meters)

HEAT RESULTS

Men's Novice Four
(top 2 in each heat to semifinals)
Heat I -- 1, Temple, 6:51.06; 2, Seattle Pacific, 7:01.97; 3, Pittsburgh, 7:08.79; 4, Milwaukee, 7:16.79; 5, Vassar, 7:35.91.

Heat II -- 1, Purdue, 7:16.11; 2, Dayton, 7:26.58; 3, Lehigh, 7:37.85; 4, Minnesota, 7:46.87; 5, Chicago, 8:02.50.

Heat III -- 1, Tennessee, 7:14.31; 2, Bowdoin, 7:17.09; 3, Case Western Reserve, 7:19.41; 4, Lafayette, 7:24.40; 5, Endicott, 8:07.95.

Heat IV -- 1, Amherst, 7:02.36; 2, Rochester, 7:12.07; 3, Old Dominion, 7:26.39; 4, Ohio University, 7:47.54; 5, Brandeis, 7:56.46.

Heat V -- 1, Virginia, 704.62; 2, Cincinnati, 7:08.44; 3, Marquette, 7:29.71; 4, Delaware, 737.22; 5, Clarkson, 7:54.35.

Heat VI -- 1, Colgate, 7:01.93; 2, Villanova, 708.49; 3, Saint Mary's, 7:16.22; 4, Charleston, 7:19.62; 5, Fairfield, 7:35.58.

Heat VII -- 1, Michigan, 7:05.01; 2, Washington College, 7:15.26; 3, Loyola, 7:22.45; 4, Fordham, 7:35.79; 5, Stony Brook, 8:05.60; 6, Georgia Tech, 8:27.54.

Heat VIII -- 1, Marietta, 7:25.64; 2, New York Maritime, 7:30.62; 3, Iona, 7:38.47; 4, Saint Thomas, 7:41.92; 5, Penn State, 8:03.23.

Heat IV -- 1, Western Ontario, 7:04.36; 2, Drexel, 7:08.68; 3, Connecticut, 7:11.10; 4, Army, 7:25.69; 5, Rutgers, 7:46.89; 6, William & Mary, 7:54.65.

     SPU lineup: cox-Mackenzie Oscar, stroke-Thomas Taylor, 3-Matt Edel, 2-Emerson Morris, bow-Daniel Mudge.


Women's Division II Varsity Eight
(Top 3 in each heat advance to grand final, rest to petite final)

Heat I – 1, Nova Southeastern, 7:03.97; 2, Barry, 7:13.95; 3, Lowell, 7:34.10; 4, Charleston, 7:49.58; 5, Franklin Pierce, 8:04.40.

Heat II -- 1, Mercyhurst, 6:57.59; 2, Central Oklahoma, 7:02.46; 3, Grand Valley, 7:05.54; 4, Seattle Pacific, 7:12.33; 5, Florida Tech, 7:23.04.

     SPU lineup: cox-Annie Mulder, stroke-Katy Stine, 7-Baylee O'Camb, 6-Rachel Murphy, 5-Samantha Storz, 4-Jacky Neumiller, 3-Emily Scrabeck, 2-Katarina Krueger, bow- Kindra Fish.


Women's Division II/III Varsity Four
(top 3 in each heat to semifinals)
Heat I -- Wheaton, 7:46.55; 2, Chicago, 7:52.00; 3, Grand Valley, 8:05.96; 4, Washington University, 8:14.79; 5, Vassar, 8:36.73.

Heat II -- 1, Nova Southeastern, 7:35.84; 2, Philadelphia, 7:45.24; 3, Seattle Pacific, 7:58.56; 4, Endicott, 8:04.90; 5, Saint Thomas, 8:14.82.

Heat III -- 1, Bowdoin, 7:42.72; 2, Central Oklahoma, 7:49.96; 3, New Jersey, 7:56.02; 4, Carnegie Mellon, 8:19.27.

Heat IV -- 1, Bryn Mawr, 7:46.27; 2, Middlebury, 8:01.63.

Heat V -- 1, Florida State, 7:47.17; 2, Mercyhurst, 7:53.29; 3, Rochester, 8:14.21.

     SPU lineup: cox-Ana Munshell, stroke-Dani Ferrigno, 3-Allison Langholff, 2-Belle Fritsch, bow-Sarah Lanter.


SATURDAY'S SPU SCHEDULE

Saturday, May 12
Men's novice four semifinal -- 7:56 a.m. Eastern Time (4:56 a.m. Pacific)
Women's Division II/III varsity four semifinal -- 9:38 a.m. EDT (6:38 a.m. PDT)
(Webcast of finals on www.ESPN3.com)
Men's novice four final -- 1:30 p.m. EDT (10:30 p.m. PDT)
Women's Division II/III varsity four final -- 3:10 p.m. EDT (12:10 p.m. PDT)
Women's Division II varsity eight petite final -- 5:00 p.m. EDT (2:00 p.m. PDT)