Murray State University Athletics
Novice 4s win gold, 8s get bronze at Head of the Chattahoochee
11/7/2004 6:00:00 AM
The novice four "A" crew won its 38-boat race on the 5000-meter (3.1-mile) course in a time of 23 minutes, 22 seconds, a full 13.8 seconds ahead of second-place Miami (Ohio). The gold was the third first-place finish for the MSU novice fours, which won two golds against Vanderbilt in a dual meet on Kentucky Lake last month.
The Racers finished 45.1 seconds ahead of third-place Savannah College of Art and Design, 54.6 seconds ahead of fourth-place Davidson and 58.2 seconds ahead of fifth-place Tennessee-Chattanooga.
The MSU novice eights took third place and the bronze medal in its 34-boat race with a time of 20:43.9, just 19 seconds behind second-place North Carolina and 34.9 seconds behind first-place Georgia. The Racers finished three seconds ahead of fourth-place Texas and 6.9 seconds ahead of fifth-place Cincinnati.
In other races, the varsity fours placed 16th in its 22-boat race with a time of 22:38.4, while the varsity eights placed 16th in its 17-boat race with a time of 19:52.6. The novice four "B" crew placed 26th in its 33-boat race with a time of 26:22.
"The racing for both novice boats went exceptionally well, since this was the first time they had a chance to race two three-mile races in one day, less than three hours apart," said MSU assistant rowing coach and novices coach Marko Vukovic.
"One interesting note is that some of the crews that we beat included schools with much bigger rosters and recruited freshman rowers, while we have true novices who had been rowing for only two months.
"Despite that, our novice teams haven't placed lower than third place in their competitions," he said, referring to the "A" crews.
The Head of the Chattahoochee ended the fall season for the Murray State rowing team. The crew will resume competition on April 2 with its annual Racer Regatta.
