The 2V carries their boat to the dock as they launch for the grand final at the SIRA Championships.
This past weekend, ND Men's Rowing travelled to Oak Ridge, TN to compete at the SIRA Championships. With great weather and solid conditions, the team was able to bring home some hardware and show progress. The double and 2N brought home bronze medals, the 1N and 2V both made the grand finals, and the 1V placed in the petite final.
Below are two reflections on the weekend of racing. The first is by varsity rower Brian Byrne. His double had the most exciting finish of the weekend, knocking off Virginia by less than a second to place 3rd in the grand final. The second reflection is by Jose Armengol, who stroked the 1N to a solid 5th in a very close grand final.
"The weekend at SIRAs started off with time trials to place the boats in their next heat or final. The double was the first race of the day, and was able to finish fourth to proceed to grand finals. In the finals, the double finished third overall, beating Virginia by about 0.6 seconds. This was a strong finish and indicates that among club teams, the double is very competitive. Regarding the other boats, the second varsity eight was competing with the strongest club programs, and finished sixth overall. The first varsity boat finished off the day with a third place finish in the petite finals behind Marietta and UNC, only one of which is a club program. Overall, the weekend was a good indication of where the team needs to be by ACRAs, and shows that the hard work is beginning to pay off. "- Brian Byrne
"5:25 a.m. on a Friday morning and my alarm is buzzing. Forty-five minutes later and I’m on a bus. About nine hours later, I’m in Oak Ridge, TN for the SIRA Championships. As one of the last large competitions before the ACRA Championships in Gainesville, GA, we spent lots of time on the water getting ready for the races. After the first day of time trials and semifinals, both the first and second novice eights had qualified for the grand finals in their respective events, and it felt like every individual on the novice squad knew how well we could perform against some great competition. We ate (courtesy of the gracious host families), rested, and got ready for the finals the next morning. The second novice eight did extremely well in their final, edging out Colorado and Georgia for the bronze medal. The first novice eight placed 5th in the final, beating North Carolina to the finish line with a time of 6:26.04. It was a great weekend for the novice team, with both eights having good races. With SIRA in the rearview mirror, we gear up for the crunch time before ACRA and get ready for this weekend’s Tri Meet with Illinois and Minnesota." - Jose Armengol