The William and Mary Rowing Club traveled to Philadelphia, PA to join over 100 other college crews at the Dad Vail Regatta. Racing in the open category, the Tribe competed against many tough varsity programs as well as competitive club programs. The novice women had an outstanding 4th place finish in the grand finals of the 4+ category. They beat out many strong crews including West Virginia University, Ohio University, and Rollins College.
The 4+ novice men finished less than two seconds behind Boston College in their heat while beating out Rochester, College of New Jersey, and Manhattan. The semifinals brought a rigorous group of competitors including Army, Clemson, and Michigan State. While the boys raced valiantly, they finished sixteen seconds behind Michigan State in sixth place.
The 8+ varsity women knocked out Villanova in an artful sprint to the finish in the preliminary heat. This daring finish advanced the Tribe to the repechage. Although the fifth place finish did not advance them to the grand finals, the varsity ladies were triumphant over Marquette. The 4+ varsity women had an extremely challenging set of competitors in their heats and finished three seconds behind Manhattan in sixth pla
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The 4+ varsity men had a very close fourth place finish in their heat. They were only three seconds behind Washington University and narrowly missed advancing to the semifinals. The 8+ lightweight varsity men finished a mere .05 seconds behind Rochester University in fifth place against resilient crews including Delaware and St. Joseph’s.