Lightweights Take Bronze at Sprints
MAY 16, 2004
The varsity lightweight eight won a bronze medal at the Eastern Sprints on Lake Quinsigamond in a hotly contested race. The Hoyas were a close third behind Navy and Harvard. The medal was a first for a Georgetown men's crew at the Eastern Sprints.
Coach Andy Belden, Jack Pfeiffer (C '06), Geoff Mikelsons (B '04), Blair Berbert (B '05), Kyler Willet (C '06), Brad Kuntscher (C '05), Andrew Lechleiter (C '04), James O'Gara (B '05), and coxswain Louisa Seferis (F '05). Strokeman Cameron Booth (C '05) is out of the picture recovering from the race.
Entering with a fifth place seeding, Georgetown faced a tough heat, with undefeated No.1 Navy, No.4 Yale, and No.8 Rutgers all vying for a seat at the table. As if the competition by itself was not drama enough, there was also a false start called on their heat as a Columbia oarsman crabbed on the third or fourth stroke of the race. Coxswain Louisa Seferis (F ‘05) refused to let this rattle her crew, however, and their second start was at least as good as their first. At the gun, Navy tore off the blocks, leaving Yale, Georgetown, and Rutgers practically even at 500 meters. Georgetown clamped down coming into the midway mark and pulled to a commanding lead over Yale who, by that point, had established themselves as the third and final qualifier over Rutgers. The Hoyas were then able to relax and maintain control of the race while saving their legs for the afternoon final. Coming off the water, they were happy to see that they had posted the second fastest qualifying time of their event, behind Navy but ahead of Harvard by nearly a second.
Returning to the course for their afternoon final, the Hoyas began to think about the goals for the race. The season had certainly seen some peaks and valleys, but the morning’s results gave them a new sense of confidence in their speed. They had already established an ability to beat Yale, but the other heat sent No.2 Harvard, No.3 Cornell, and No.6 Princeton to the Grand Final. Nonetheless, Georgetown had their race plan and were determined to see it out to the end.
Whereas the morning’s heats had been pushed along by a light tailwind, making for fast times, the afternoon brought with it a mild, but straight and fair, headwind. A fast start left the Hoyas sitting in sixth place by about a seat, but they rebounded immediately and decisively, clawing their way up Princeton, who occupied the adjacent lane. Without realizing it, their progress through the Tigers placed them in third place as Yale and Cornell, on the far side of the course, were unable to match the speed of the lead group. Leaving the 1000m meter mark, Georgetown began to bridge up to Harvard and Navy. Navy pulled out their trademark sprint to absolutely dominate the last 500m of the course. Georgetown was able to doggedly attack the Crimson, ultimately falling short of Harvard and the silver medal by 1.1 seconds at the line.
Seven-seat James O’Gara (B ‘05), newly elected 2004-2005 Captain: “We’re hardly disappointed with this result, but at the same time, I don’t think any of the guys are satisfied either.” Stroke Cameron Booth agreed. “The challenge now is to switch our focus. Instead of trying to just medal, we need to set our sights on becoming a gold medal crew. Nobody wins by accident, but I don’t see any reason why we can’t make this psychological, technical, and physiological transition by the time IRAs rolls around in three weeks.”
The Navy varsity lightweights won their first light V8 championship ever (they shared the title with MIT and Cornell in 1962 in a three-way dead heat!). The Navy victory averted a Harvard sweep of the 2004 Sprints. While Navy took the light V8, Harvard won every other race among the traditionally-contested Sprints events.
The Georgetown second freshman eight had a strong showing, coming in second to Navy in the final-only event. The existence of a good second freshman eight demonstrates the depth of the development squad and bodes well for the future of the Hoya lightweights.
Look for the Hoyas to launch June 5th on the Cooper River, Camden, NJ
for the IRA Regatta with a newfound sense of purpose and looking to take
the final step.
