Monday, April 11, 2016

MIT Women's Lightweight Crew Travels to New Jersey for Knecht Cup

WEST WINDSOR, N.J.- MIT's women's lightweight crew team made its annual appearance at The Knecht Cup races held on Mercer Lake this weekend.  The event included racing on both Saturday and Sunday with the majority of heats taking place on Saturday and Finals being competed on Sunday.
 
The Women's Lightweight Four was the first on the water for MIT. The Engineers LW4 "B" finished 5th in their heat, failing to qualify for the final.  MIT's "A" boat, meanwhile raced aggressively at 35 spm. finishing 2nd in their heat in a time of 8:14.38. This qualified them for Sunday's Grand Final.  In Sunday's final the LW4 raced an incredible race, finishing just 3 seconds out of the medals in a time of 7:49.59.
 
Coach Claire Martin-Doyle said, "This was a great opportunity for us to test our speed outside of the
light eight event and the results were encouraging. The crew did a fantastic job of racing two back-to-back 2k's in all out, hard changing events".
 
In the Women's Frosh/Novice Four, the Engineers finished 3rd in their heat with a time of 9:17.03. Their time was fast enough to advance them to the semi-final.  All 5 of these crew members also raced in the Frosh/Novice Eight race, merely 2 hours later.  In the N8 the Engineers finished fifth in their heat in a time of 9:30.06, leaving them on the outside looking in on the afternoon's semi-finals.
 
As Saturday afternoon went on, conditions started to become extremely cold.  The Engineers made the tough decision to scratch from the N4 semi-final. Coach Martin-Doyle said, "Because of the very cold and wet conditions, we made the decision to scratch from the N4 semi-final because we were concerned about our rowers becoming hypothermic".  Shortly after this decision, racing was suspended by the regatta director for the remainder of the day.
 
Because of the cold weather on Saturday, the LW8 heats were postponed until Sunday morning. MIT's "B" crew was the first to race on Sunday morning, finishing 6th in their heat in 7:29.66 and beating out BU "C" for the last spot in the petite final.   The "A' boat raced in the next heat, finishing 4th in 7:02.40 which was a mere 3 seconds away from a spot in the grand final.
 
In the Petite Final, the "A" crew finished 3rd in a time of 6:57.87.   This was an impressive showing for the Engineers as they finished 11 seconds ahead of Tulsa, a boat that had beat them by 16 seconds only two weeks ago.   This was also the third race in 2.5 hours for 4 of the 8 racers and the coxswain.   The "B" crew finished 6th in 7:25.96 in the same heat.
 
Novice Coach Amelia Patton said, "I think our crews stepped up to and embraced the competitive racing this weekend and we look forward to more next weekend".
 
The Engineers will return to the water next weekend when they compete in the Lightweight Invitational on the Charles River.
 
 
2016 Knecht Cup Lineups
 
V8
C:           Chloe Thacker
8:           Priya Veeraraghaven
7:           Sharon Wu
6:           Liz Martin
5:           Annika Rollock
4:           Michelle Lauer
3:           Anne Kim
2:           Kelly Barton
1:           Sylvia Sarnik
 
2V8
C:           Prianca Tawde
8:           Tiffany Chen
7:           Kate Scott
6:           Ann McInroy
5:           Anne Kelley
4:           Catherine Potter
3:           Alexandra Smerekanych
2:           Rachel Osmundsen
1:           Sophie Blackburn
 
1V4
C:           Chloe Thacker
4:           Priya Veeraraghaven
3:           Sharon Wu
2:           Kelly Barton
1:           Annika Rollock
 
2V4
C:           Ella Branch
4:           Anne Kelley
3:           Emily Weinschreider
2:           Kate Scott
1:           Ann McInroy
 
 
 
N8
C:           Neena Dugar
8:           Claire Goul
7:           Sophie Blackburn
6:           Catherine Yao
5:           Alexandra Smerekanych
4:           Meghan Reisenauer
3:           Hannah Thel
2:           Katie Fisher
1:           Rhea Lin
 
N4
C:           Neena Dugar
4:           Claire Goul
3:           Sophie Blackburn
2:           Catherine Yao
1:           Alexandra Smerekanych

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