This past weekend, the women’s and men’s squads split up for an eventful weekend of racing at two separate venues.

The women’s teams headed down to Sarasota, Florida for the FIRAs Championship regatta at the newly built Benderson Park venue, where they competed in a V8+, V4+ (A & B), N8+, and N4+ (A & B).

Conditions proved very conducive to rowing on Friday, with a calm breeze out of the west. The Varsity and Novice women’s 4+ cruised through their respective heats to advance to finals. The Novice Women’s “B” 4+ competed in finals coming in second behind UF.

On Saturday, the Varsity Women’s 8+ began the day strong with a second place finish beating the University of Florida by 1.1 seconds. Later in the day, the wind started to pick up, creating a powerful cross wind that affected most boats for the remainder of the afternoon. The Novice Women’s 8+ came in third and in the Novice “A” 4+, Emory finished fifth. Finally, finishing up the day of racing, the Varsity “B” 4+ pushed through to a second place finish behind FIT, and the Varsity “A” 4+ weathered tough conditions for a silver place medal behind Nova.

The trip went smoothly and successfully with most boats returning with a medal and fond memories. The girls are excited to compete again next weekend against most of the same teams – this time, with their eyes locked on gold!

Meanwhile, the men’s teams traveled up to Durham, North Carolina to scrimmage Duke University. Conditions on the course at Duke’s Lake Michie were nearly perfect, with a slight tailwind and calm water reminiscent of Stone Mountain Lake. All squads put out strong performances, with Varsity 4+, Varsity 8+, Novice 8+ and Novice 4+ beating the Duke boats by a fair margin. Emory’s Lightweight 8+ was stroke for stroke with the Duke LWT 8+, but was unable to pull away, resulting in a loss of less than 0.2 seconds. The day ended seeing two exhausted crews racing in the Lightweight 4+, with Duke winning by a boat length.

The men’s squads gained crucial racing experience this weekend, and will continue to refine the technical aspects of their rowing over the next week in preparation for SIRAs and the rest of the championship racing season. We would like to thank Duke University Crew for this great opportunity and for their generous hospitality.

Dear alumni and parents,

The spring academic season is coming to a close (1 month left!!), which marks the coming of the championship racing season! Please come support our rowers as we row towards gold at SIRAs (April 21st/22nd), Dad Vails (May 11th/12th), and ACRAs (May 26/27th)!

Additionally, we will be bringing Emory Crew apparel to these regattas, so if you are planning on attending one of these regattas and are interested in purchasing Emory Crew apparel, please send your orders (or any questions) to eucrew@gmail.com.

We hope to see you there!

Emory Crew put out strong performances from all four squads this past Saturday at the John Hunter Regatta. Despite the fair headwind on the course, weather at Lake Lanier was sunny and ~80F, a very welcomed departure from last year’s thunderstorms. The Women’s Varsity 4+ took gold while the Women’s Varsity 8+ took 3rd in their category. The Men’s Varsity Heavyweight 4s (A and B) finished 3rd in the V4+ and JV4+ categories respectively. A strong performance from the novice women earned them 2nd place in the NW4+. Overall, the regatta proved to be good racing experience for all squads, as well as a useful benchmark for our training as we enter championship racing season.

Emory Crew spent this year’s spring break training in Cocoa Beach, FL. All four squads spent two practices a day soaking up the sun and working on their tans while honing in on the technical aspects of rowing in order to translate winter season erging into boatspeed. Although we did not have a scrimmage at the end of the week with which to gauge our improvement, all four squads improved immensely, with the novices starting to work effectively as a single unit in a boat and learning the joys of sprint racing, and the varsity polishing out the subtleties in their strokes. We hope to maintain and build on these improvements as we progress into the spring sprint season.

On Saturday, February 25th, Emory Crew welcomed the Georgia Tech and University of Georgia Crews to Stone Mountain for the A-Town Cup Scrimmage. All crews performed well for the first sprint scrimmage of the year. Having only had a handful of water practices this season, all squads used this opportunity to identify what they did well and what needed improvement. With spring break quickly approaching, these insights are valuable to the continued development of all squads on the team.

Emory Crew made an impressive showing at the Georgia Tech hosted Atlanta Erg Sprints held on Saturday February 11th. Racing in the standard 2000m spring racing format, the squads came together to win team points, represented by a golden hammer. The varsity men’s finished strong all around, ending up with one medal winner. Alex (Hotch) Dermody-McKeen placed 2nd in the Lightweight Men’s category. Although the novice men finished with no medals they have shown vast improvements over winter training and will be entering the spring season showing great potential. The varsity women also finished with a strong overall finish in the open women’s category with Gabby Arondel placing 2nd and Laura Eakes placing 3rd. The novice women’s squad, the biggest of the four squads to attend Erg Sprints, had two medal finishes. In the novice women’s category, Vanessa Gutzeit placed 1st and Briana Odom placed 3rd. Furthermore, several squads finished with members in 4th place.

In addition to 2000m races mentioned above, Emory Crew placed in several other events. Micah Boyd, the women’s head coach, placed 1st in the men’s 500m dash. Gabby Arondel, who secured a golden hammer by finishing in record time, and Vanessa Gutzeit placed 1st and 2nd respectively in the women’s 500m dash. Two of Emory’s teams also placed second and third in the 2000m relay. Finally in the 1000m men’s coxswains race, Harrison Goldberg placed 1st and Reza Bhiwandiwalla placed 3rd. Similarly, Devan Elmore placed 1st in the women’s 1000m coxswains race.

Emory Crew competed in the Head of the Charles in Boston last weekend, the biggest and most competitive fall race in the world. The team took three boats this year, which is the most in team history. The Varsity Women’s 4+ came into the race this year as defending champions, and once again brought home medals with a fourth place finish, solidifying Emory Crew’s position as a serious contender on the national level. The Varsity Men’s 4+ finished fourteenth in their extremely competitive event, clinching a guaranteed spot in the race for next year and improving on last year’s results.

Emory Crew brought home the College Team Points Trophy at the Chattanooga Head Race in Tennessee on October 8th. There were many highlights of the day, including performances by all squads on Emory Crew. The Men’s Varsity 4+ and the Novice Men’s 8+ both took home gold medals in their respective events. In the Novice Women’s 8+ category, Emory Crew’s two boats finished in second and third place. The Varsity Men’s 8+ also brought home second place medals. The Varsity Women’s 8+, competing against varsity programs from across the South, placed seventh in their division, directly behind varsity boats from Tennessee, Alabama, and Central Florida. They placed ahead of every other club team at the competition.

Emory Crew spent the week of spring break training in Cocoa Beach, FL. The good weather and the hard work of all four squads paid off at the end of the week’s scrimmage in Winter Park, FL. Emory raced against crews from University of Florida, Wesleyan College, Rollins College, and Embry Riddle Aeronautical University. The Women’s Varsity 4+, JV 8+, and Novice 8+ all brought home gold medals, as did the Men’s Varsity B 4+. Both the Men’s and Women’s Varsity 8+ placed in the top three of their respective events, rounding out the success of Emory Crew’s first race of the spring season.

The Varsity teams traveled to New Orleans this weekend to compete against other Southern club teams, including Vanderbilt, Tulane, LSU, and Texas. The weather on Saturday and Sunday was perfect for racing: sunny and warm, with minimal wind. The races were set up in a duel style, with two boats competing head to head. The Emory Women’s V8+ swept the field, winning all three of their races against Vanderbilt, Tulane, and Texas by open water. The Men also defeated Vanderbilt and Tulane in the V8+, and LSU in the V4+ event. The results of this invitational event are considered in seedings for championship races later in the spring, putting Emory in a good position coming into these important races.