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Navy Lightweights compete at the San Diego Crew Classic
For the first time in three years, the Navy Lightweights traveled out to San Diego for the highly-regarded Crew Classic. According to Coach Friedrich, the trip was a great chance to get in a lot of racing and increase the team's exposure on the west coast. The San Diego Tribune wrote a great article about the Navy Lightweights in expectation of their visit.
The lightweight boat entered two events while in San Diego, the Collegiate Lightweight event (Secretary of the Navy Trophy) and the Open Eight event. Since Yale's lightweights were also in both events, the races matched up the first and second place teams at the National Championships last year.
Yale and Navy won each of their heats for the lightweight eight and the open eight convincingly, slotting them in both finals which were only 70 minutes apart. The first final was the Open eight and placed the New York Athletic Club lightweights, Yale and Navy into lanes one through three. The outside lanes were filled with heavyweight crews who boated a few ex-National team oarsmen.
Navy edged Yale off the line as both crews pulled away from the rest of the pack. Yale began to push through Navy and take a one length lead while NYAC remained a close third. Yale held the three-second lead through the finish despite a strong sprint by both Navy and NYAC crews. Official Results
Seventy minutes later the two college lightweight boats lined up at the start again, this time with the Secretary of the Navy's trophy at stake. Navy again squeaked out on Yale in the first strokes of the race but the Bulldogs pace was a little faster, pulling through the Midshipmen near the 500-meter mark. The race was very similar to the first showdown with Yale, holding onto a one length lead over Navy through the finish, while a strong Purdue crew finished third followed by Cal, UC Davis, UC Santa Barbara and Minnesota.
According to coach Friedrich, racing four times was a great experience for the Navy crew and will help their speed for the rest of the season. Many Navy Alumni were out to support their alma mater at the race. Special thanks to Jim Fontana, Matt Provencher, former Commandant Randy Bogle and the rest of the Navy Alumni who helped make our trip a wonderful experience. Also thanks to the alumni who donated a few beers to the Wisconsin Pep Band to play "Anchor's Away" while the lightweights raced down the beach in the final 500 meters.
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