The Alabama rowing team capped off its opening weekend at the Oak Ridge Cardinal Invite Sunday morning at Melton Hill Lake. The Crimson Tide earned one win against stiff competition on the second day of races.
“The girls rowed well today,” Alabama head coach Larry Davis said. “Obviously we were up against tough competition. The good thing in regards to the way the girls rowed was we didn’t let the fact that we went against two very high level teams intimidate us. I think we made progress in the area of how we are competitors and what we need to do to improve to the next level.”
The Tide was highlighted on the day by the first novice 8 that took second, ahead of Duke with a time of 7:36.15. The victory for the Tide came in the third varsity 8 race where the Tide raced past the Blue Devils with a time of 8:05.70.
“We did notice that the installation of our race plan is probably about a week or so behind the other teams that have already raced a couple times,” Davis said. “Given that we have had a chance to win some races up here and have strong performances on the weekend we are looking forward to next weekend when we go up against Clemson.”
In the first varsity 8 race, the Tide finished third behind top-ranked Virginia and Duke with a time of 7:02.74. In the varsity 4, Alabama finished third with a time of 8:05.55. In the second varsity 8 competition, the Tide finished third with a 7:19.10. The second varsity 4 saw the Tide place third with an 8:36.26.
The Crimson Tide will return to the water next weekend when it heads to Clemson to face off against the Tigers and Marist. The three teams will participate in a one-day event on Saturday at Lake Hartwell.
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