March 3, 2007
Tampa, Fla. & Winter Park, Fla. (www.ucfathletics.com) - UCF rowing kicked off its season Saturday with two strong performances by both the novice and varsity squads. The novice and lightweight teams made the short trip to Winter Park, Fla., to face rival Rollins College in the annual Metro Cup, and the Golden Knights were able to claim their second-straight event title.
Conditions for racing in the morning were not ideal, as choppy water and high winds seemed to be just as hard of an opponent as Rollins. The first race started around 8:30 a.m., placing both the novice 4+ squads in the water. UCF was able to lead early, while Rollins fought back to take the victory to open the day's events. The race would be the only loss for the Golden Knights in the Metro Cup, as the novice 8+ team was able to quickly redeem the loss the Black and Gold suffered in the race before. While the lightweight 4+ race put the most experienced UCF rowers into the water, it also sported the closest event with both squads racing even for almost the entire length until the Golden Knights pulled out an extremely close win. The last race was easily controlled by UCF, with its lightweight 8+ squad able to lead wire-to-wire. With the last victory, the Golden Knights clinched the overall points title and their second Metro Cup in a row.
"We did some things well today and learned where we need to improve but overall, I am very proud of our athletes," said first-year assistant coach Andrew Derrick. "Across the board they showed toughness by winning close races, recovering from a tough loss to win the next event and performing when the pressure was really on."
The second event of the day was a set of scrimmage races against the University of Michigan on the Hillsborough River in Tampa, Fla. Instead of a normal race format of one 2000m race, the two squads would be racing in four 1000m increments. The Wolverines were able to take all four increments in the first varsity 8+ race, but the Golden Knights came back and swept the four increments in the second varsity 8+ set. The rest of the day consisted of the Golden Knights and Wolverines splitting sets in each of the next three races, which were two varsity 4+ races and one novice 8+ race.
Head Coach Leeanne Crain seemed pleased with the day's results.
"It's great to go up against an opponent like Michigan early in the season," said Crain. "Although we didn't pick up a win in the first varsity 8+ race, the margins were extremely close. Our second varsity squad had an exceptional day, going 4-for-4. We've got more depth on our roster this year, which showed today in our results across the board."
The next regattas for UCF rowing will be two weeks from Saturday as the Golden Knights again do double duty with the openweight squad traveling to Austin, Texas, for the Longhorn Invitational, March 16-18, and the lightweight squad traveling back to Winter Park for the Rollins Tri-Meet on March 17.
UCF Rowing Results vs. Rollins - Metro Cup - No Times Were TakenNovice 4+1) Rollins2) UCF
Novice 8+1) UCF2) Rollins
Lightweight 4+1) UCF2) Rollins
Lightweight 8+1) UCF2) Rollins
UCF Rowing Results vs. Michigan - Scrimmage FormatVarsity 8+1. Mich -3:06.022. UCF -3:07.52
I. Mich -3:06.802. UCF -3:08.26
1. Mich -3:05.642. UCF -3:06.44
1. Mich -3:11.552. UCF-3:13.62
2nd Varsity 8+1. UCF -3:13.382. Mich - 3:14.88
1. UCF -3:13.672. Mich - 3:17.18
1. UCF -3:17.172. Mich -3:17.69
1. UCF -3:16.172. Mich -3:22.33
Varsity 4+1. UCF -No Time Taken2. Mich -NTT
1. UCF -3:24.082. Mich-3:29.00
1. UCF -3:29.732. Mich -3:34.18
1. Mich -3:39.912. UCF -3:40.70
2nd Varsity 4+1. Mich -NTT2. UCF -NTT
1. Mich -3:34.872. UCF -3:37.35
1. Mich -3:40.302. UCF -3:41.20
1. UCF -3:45.042. Mich -3:49.07
Novice 8+1. Mich 1N -3:06.22. Mich 2N -3:07.03. UCF -3:08.2
1. UCF -3: 02.92. Mich 1N -3:05.73. Mich 2N -3:07.2
1. Mich 1N -3:10.02. UCF -3:12.23. Mich 2N -3:13.7
1. UCF -2:56.62. Mich 1N -2:58.83. Mich 2N -3:03.9