Gainesville, Georgia
The team faced some tough competition at this year's ACRA championships. In the V4 the team took 4th just behind Minnesota sending them to reps later that evening. In their second race of the day the V4 pulled hard for a 3rd place finish. Due to thunderstorms that started Saturday evening and carried on into Sunday morning the V4's final race was cancelled. The V2x placed 2nd in their heat allowing them to move directly to A finals on Sunday where they came in 7th, close behind Chicago.
The two novice boats left it all on the water over the course of the weekend. The 2N8 raced for lanes on Saturday where they took a clear first place. The 1N8 qualified for B finals after a third place finish behind Virginia in the morning's heat and coming in 0.3 seconds behind Georgia in reps. On Sunday the 2N8 brought home some hardware pulling a third place finish in A finals. The 1N8 came in 2nd just a second behind UCLA.
The 2V8 took 3rd in the morning heat which led to another boat sent to reps. Later that evening, the boat took 2nd in its race which qualified them for B finals where they ultimately took 1st pulling away from UC Davis.
The 1V8 had a total of 4 races over the course of the weekend. After a time trial in less than ideal racing conditions the 1V8 took 10th and moved on to reps later that day. In reps the boat came in 1st with an almost 4 second lead over Minnesota. On Sunday morning the 1V8 was headed semis where a 5th place finish, less than a second behind Delaware, sent the team to B finals. In its last race of the regatta the 1V8 fought hard for a 6th place finish, 0.2 seconds behind UC Davis. Overall the weekend left the team ready for a summer of training hard and getting faster for next year's season.
Special thanks to all of the parents and friends that came out to support the team over the course of the regatta. We hope to see you in the fall!
R'Irish!