• 2012 Dad Vail Results

PHILADELPHIA – Seattle Pacific placed sixth in the men's novice four grand final race and the varsity eight women kept their NCAA Championship hopes alive by winning the petite final on Saturday during the final day of the Dad Vail Regatta on the Schuylkill River.
 
The Falcons varsity four women's boat finished fifth in the semifinals and did not advance to the finals.
 
SPU's four-oared men's crew raced to a swift, second-place time of 6-minutes, 50.95-seconds in the semifinals early Saturday morning to qualify for the grand final. They were leading before being nipped at the line by Virginia, which had the fastest semifinal time of 6:50.62. Amherst (6:45.07) and Temple (6:41.74) won the other semifinals.
 
The hometown favorite Owls then rowed to an open-water triumph in the grand final five hours later. Temple's winning time was 6:51.68. Colgate claimed the silver medal (6:44.27) and Western Ontario the bronze (6:58.62), followed by Virginia (6:58.71) and Amherst (6:59.24).
 
“It was a hard, hard race for the novice four. They were really hard-pressed by the competition and they were hot and bothered by the headwind and the heat,” Coach Keith Jefferson said of the final involving his first-year Falcons.
 
“They were pretty pleased at the boat meeting afterwards. They had great perspective, looking both in terms of how far they had come this year as well as talking about how this bodes for next year. That's very mature stuff for a bunch of youngsters, so I was really pleased with them.”
 
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 crew advanced through Friday's heats with a third-place heat performance. They were a distant fifth in the semifinals with a time of 7:59.83 that did not qualify for the finals.
 
Bowdoin won that heat in 7:36.33 followed across the finish line by Bryan Mawr (7:37.77), Mercyhurst (7:46.08) and Chicago (7:46.54).
 
"I was pleased that they were so close to Mercyhurst for that first chunk of the race,” said Jefferson. “We knew this was going to be demanding just based on the times in the heats. We had the fourth-slowest time in the heats among semifinalists, so we knew it was going to be tough.”
 
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.
 
SPU's nationally seventh-ranked crew made the best of a difficult situation, placing seventh overall among Division II women's varsity eights at Dad Vail. An equipment malfunction and superior semifinal field on Friday prevented them from reaching the six-boat grand final field that included slower crews from the other qualifier. Instead they rowed in the petite final on Saturday and went wire-to-wire for an easy victory.

The Falcons clocked a time of 7:17.09 to cross the finish line over 11 seconds ahead of runner-up Florida Tech (7:28.16). Charleston was third (7:52.18) and Franklin Pierce fourth (8:03.25).
 
“FIT put up a little fight most of the way, keeping their bow on our stern. But once we got into the last 750 (meters) it was a big gap,” Jefferson described.
 
“We were racing the clock. Their whole job was to beat Barry' time as soundly as they could and they did that.”
 
The Barry (Fla.) varsity eight crew is the Falcons primary competition for the sixth and final at-large berth to the NCAA Women's Rowing Championships. With no head-to-head comparison available, the NCAA selection committee will need to compare results and finish times of those two crews against common opponents.
 
Fourth-ranked Mercyhurst won its fourth consecutive Dad Vail championship in the women's varsity eight event. The Lakers finished in 6:59.64, followed by No. 3 Nova Southeastern (7:03.9), No. 5 Central Oklahoma (7:12.39) and Grand Valley (7:13.05). Sixth-ranked Barry's fifth-place time of 7:20.60 was 3 ½ seconds slower than the Falcons took to cover the same 2,000-meter distance.
 
The 2012 NCAA Championships are scheduled for May 25-27 on Mercer Lake in West Windsor, N.J. The Division II field, including four teams and two at-large varsity eight crews, will be announced Monday at 2 p.m. Pacific Time.
 
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 current SPU crew features five returning rowers from last year's Dad Vail silver medalist and fifth-place NCAA crew: Jacky Neumiller, Kindra Fish, 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.
 
The Dad Vail Regatta is the largest collegiate rowing competition in the nation. This year's 74th-annual event featured 560 crews, including more than 3,500 athletes from 120 colleges and universities in the United States and Canada.
 
 
NCAA ROWING
Dad Vail Regatta
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Schuylkill River; Philadelphia, Pa.
(all races 2,000 meters)

Men's Novice Four
Semifinals (top 2 finishers in each race to finals)
I -- 1, Temple, 6:41.74; 2, Colgate, 6:44.27; 3, Michigan, 6:53.41; 4, Drexel, 6:54.21; 5, Rochester, 7:12.39; 6, Bowdoin, 7:15.07.
 
II -- 1, Virginia, 6:50.62; 2, Seattle Pacific, 6:50.95; 3, Washington College, 6:56.03 ;4, Villanova, 6:57.54; 5, Purdue, 7:00.05; 6, Marietta, 7:07.32.
 
III -- 1, Amherst, 6:45.07; 2, Western Ontario, 6:45.87; 3, Cincinnati, 6:58.44; 4, Dayton, 7:03.1; 5, Tennessee, 7:07.62; 6, New York Maritime, 7:13.45.
 
Grand Final
1, Temple, 6:51.68; 2, Colgate, 6:55.99; 3, Western Ontario, 6:58.62; 4, Virginia, 6:58.71; 5, Amherst, 6:59.24; 6, Seattle Pacific, 7:14.21.
 
     SPU lineup: cox-Mackenzie Oscar, stroke-Thomas Taylor, 3-Matt Edel, 2-Emerson Morris, bow-Daniel Mudge.
 
 
Women's Division II/III Varsity Four
Semifinals (top 2 finishers in each race to finals)
I -- 1, Philadelphia, 7:36.61; 2, Central Oklahoma, 7:37.87; 3, Wheaton, 7:41.07; 4, Rochester, 8:08.07.
 
II -- 1, Nova Southeastern, 7:30.44; 2, Florida State, 7:34.08; 3, New Jersey, 7:41.72; 4, Middlebury, 7:45.69; 5, Grand Valley, 8:16.11.
 
III -- 1, Bowdoin, 7:36.33; 2, Bryn Mawr, 7:37.77; 3, Mercyhurst, 7:46.08; 4, Chicago, 7:46.54; 5, Seattle Pacific, 7:59.83.
 
     SPU lineup: cox-Ana Munshell, stroke-Dani Ferrigno, 3-Allison Langholff, 2-Belle Fritsch, bow-Sarah Lanter.
 
 
Women's Division II Varsity Eight
Grand Final
1, Mercyhurst, 6:59.64; 2, Nova Southeastern, 7:03.90; 3, Central Oklahoma, 7:12.39; 4, Grand Valley, 7:13.05; 5, Barry, 7:20.60; 6, Lowell, 7:43.90.
 
Petite Final
1, Seattle Pacific, 7:17.09; 2, Florida Tech, 7:28.16; 3, Charleston, 7:52.18; 4, Franklin Pierce, 8:03.25.
 
     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.