Oct. 31, 2009
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - The UCF women's rowing team had three novice eight boats compete at the Hatter Classic Saturday morning on the St. John's River, with all three squads finishing in the top-four in the women's novice eight event.
The Knights' novice A boat snagged first-place honors in the race after clocking in at 18:02, with the novice B boat following right behind in second place with a time of 18:44.
"The race today was a great first race for our young team," first-year novice coach Joel Furtek said following the event. "With only three experienced rowers and no experienced coxswains our boats placed solidly. I was pleased to see how hard and well they were rowing at the end of the 2.5 mile course. We will return to practice Monday with new motivation and a hunger for more speed."
Embry Riddle's top-novice boat crossed the line in 18:52.5 to finish in third, before UCF's third and final squad rounded out the top-four with a time of 20:25.
The Black and Gold also competed against host Stetson and the UCF club rowing team during the event, with the two squads finishing with times of 21:21 and 21:28, respectively, to close out the field.
The novice team returns to action next weekend when they travel to Chattanooga, Tenn., to compete at the Head of the Hooch regatta on Saturday.
Collegiate novice events are limited to college scullers, rowers, and coxswains in NCAA programs who have been competing for one year or less as of the Regatta Day. Experience in sculling events does not count as experience in sweep events and vice versa. Previous junior/high school rowing experience is allowed in this category.
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