UD Ties For The Men’s Points Trophy and Overall Points Trophy At The 71st Annual Dad Vail Regatta
Delaware Men’s Crew spring season came to a close this past weekend, Friday May 8th and Saturday May 9th, at the 71st annual Dad Vail Regatta in Philadelphia. The Dad Vail Regatta is the largest collegiate regatta in the United States, with over 100 colleges and universities from the U.S. and Canada. After a controversial first day of 1500 meter time trial format racing due to inclement weather, all but one of the Blue Hens boats had advanced to Saturday’s regular 2k format racing.
The frosh/novice heavyweight 4+ crossed the line Friday in a time of 4:58.123 finishing 19th overall. The top 18 boats advanced to Saturday’s semifinals.
After finishing the head race with the second fastest time overall, the frosh/novice lightweight 8+ placed second in the grand final with a time of 7:05.447. Milwaukee SOE won the event (6:57.227).
The frosh/novice heavyweight 8+ was the top boat going into Saturday’s semifinals after posting the fastest time on Friday. After another victory over Rochester in the semifinal, the young Blue Hens faced off against number one seeded Michigan in the grand final. UD earned silver, finishing second with a time of 6:35.758. Michigan won the event (6:30.932).
The varsity lightweight 4+ advanced to the semifinals, finishing 10th in Friday’s head race. With the top 3 boats moving on to the grand final, UD placed 5th in the semifinal (6:57.312) just ahead of NY Maritime (7:01.135).
In the JV 8+ event, UD advanced to the grand final after a 3rd place finish in the head race. Delaware placed 5th with a time of 6:23.180. Temple won the event (6:12.512).
The varsity lightweight 8+ finished 3rd in the head race, advancing to the grand final Saturday. After an early lead off the start, Georgia Tech soon closed the gap and took
the lead. Coming into the final 500m Delaware made a strong push, edging their bow out in front to the win the gold (6:12.473). Georgia Tech (6:13.999) and St. Joes (6:19.389) rounded out the top three.
The varsity heavyweight 8+ advanced to Saturday’s semifinals, after an 11th place finish in Friday’s head race. Facing a very tough field in the semifinal, UD crossed the line 5th in a time of 5:51.660. Michigan went on to win the event.
Due to the success of all UD’s boats, the Blue Hens tied Michigan for the Men’s Points Trophy with 28 points each, as well as tying Buffalo for the Overall Points Trophy with 30 points each.
More information about the regatta can be found at http://www.dadvail.org