PHILADELPHIA, Pa. (October 14, 2009) – The Rutgers women’s crew team began its fall season this past weekend at the Navy Day Regatta hosted on the Schuylkill River. The Scarlet Knights varsity squad finished strong against tough competition on Saturday, Oct. 10.
Rutgers began its day of racing in the women’s collegiate four final. RU had two boats comprised of the top eight rowers in the program. Both boats placed third and fourth, respectively, out of 19, and less than 50 seconds off of the top two finishers.
The Rutgers second varsity eight raced after the fours and finished with the fifth fastest time in the women’s collegiate junior varsity eight final. There was less than a second between the Rutgers eight and the boats that placed third and fourth ahead of them. Unfortunately, the Rutgers eight was given a 30 second penalty, which dropped them in the standings to ninth place.
To finish the day, the Rutgers varsity eight raced in the women’s open/collegiate eight final and finished sixth out of 20. The varsity boat finished less than a minute behind the top boat in the final.
“The race gave us a read on our early-season fitness and what we need to work on. The team felt good about the effort and execution,” said assistant coach Heather Putnam. “We’re looking forward to returning to the Schuylkill in two weeks. Since we’ll see much of the same competition again, it’ll give us another chance to gauge our progress.”
The Scarlet Knights return to action in two weeks when they compete at the Head of the Schuylkill and the Princeton Chase on Saturday, Oct. 24 and Sunday, Oct. 25, respectively.
Rutgers finishes:
Varsity 4A: Third, 16:29.82
Varsity 4B: Fourth, 16:48.21
Junior Varsity 8: Ninth, 15:52.85 (Prior to 30 second penalty, was fifth in 15:22.85)
Varsity 8: Sixth, 14:37.58
