Racers take part in prestigious Stonehurst Capital Invitational Regatta
10/17/2003 5:00:00 AM
"They were very excited about the opposition," said first-year head coach Bill McLean. "It was a real eye-opener for the team. We had a shot at going to other regattas, but I think we took the right path. Sometimes, facing easier competition early can backfire on you when you face tougher opposition later on. I like to make it more realistic; that way, we can make our goals realistic."
Teams raced a head race in the morning over a 5-kilometer (3.1-mile) course on the Genesee River, then rowed a 1,500-meter (0.9-mile) sprint race in the afternoon. The time of the sprint race was then "weighted," or multiplied by 3, then added to the time of the head race for the boat's championship time.
In the Open Fours, Murray State rowed as a lightweight and finished eighth out of 10 boats with a championship time of 40 minutes, 6.11 seconds. The team finished the morning head race with a time of 21:59.87, then ran the sprint race in the afternoon in a time of 6:02.08. The crew's weighted sprint time was 18:06.24.
Murray State had the seventh-best head race time, but listed ninth in the sprint race. The Racers' championship time was just 3 minutes, 31.23 seconds behind first place.
Rowing the fours for the Racers were senior Sara Barton at coxswain, freshman Laurie LeCompte at the stroke, junior Rachel Hopper in the 3-seat, freshman Emily Cook in the 2-seat and sophomore Lindsey Flowers in the 1-seat.
Syracuse won the Open Fours with a championship time of 36:34.88. MSU was 25.33 seconds behind seventh-place Colgate and 11.86 seconds ahead of Rochester Tech.
In the Open Eights, Murray State placed 15th out of 22 teams in the collegiate category with a championship time of 35:09.25, with a head race time of 19:24.04 and a sprint race time of 15:45.21. MSU had the 14th-best head race time and the 13th-best sprint time, and finished 2:36.15 behind first-place Queens College "A." The Racers were just 0.41 seconds behind 14th-place Binghamton and 18.79 seconds ahead of the Colgate "B" boat.
Rowing the eights for Murray State were junior Nicole Brandt at coxswain, senior Natalie Wendt at the stroke, senior Anna Grout at the 7-seat, junior Kristen Slater at the 6-seat, junior Rachel Brown in the 5-seat, senior Elizabeth Skees in the 4-seat, senior Lori Bright in the 3-seat, junior Lensey Edwards in the 2-seat and junior Myriah Conaughty in the 1-seat.
"It's always exciting to get with other coaches and see how we do," said McLean, who helped direct the Stonehurst regatta before coming to Murray State. "We beat Colgate's 'B' boat in the (eights) head race and were just 16 seconds off of Syracuse's No. 2 boat. We also beat Syracuse's 'B' boat in the sprints by 0.44 sconds.
"We need to work on improving our times, but we've only been in the water a month. We're looking towards ranging in the low 18's, 18:10, like that, and pushing that envelop a little more."
Teams competing in the regatta included Radcliffe, Syracuse, Buffalo, Queens College, Colgate and Rochester Tech.
Murray State will host an alumni race on Saturday during Homecoming, then will take part in the Head of the Chattahoochee on Nov. 1-2 in Gainesville, Ga.
