The April 17-18 Knect Cup provided the No. 21 Massachusetts women’s crew team with another chance to shine.
In a very short, three-race season, UMass rowers have faced 30 schools and defeated all but one. The Cup proved to be the largest test for the eight-time defending A-10 champion Minutewomen – a test that UMass passed with flying colors.
The Maroon and White finished first in the 23-school competition, which featured Division I powerhouses Boston College, Kansas and Buffalo.
For the second straight year, the Massachusetts varsity eight swept the competition, finishing first in the preliminary, semifinal and final heats.
Battling against a strong headwind, the varsity eight fired out of the gate into an early lead that it never relinquished, crossing the finish line in 6:57.00. Massachusetts was the only team to finish in less than seven minutes, as BC finished second in 7:03.4 and Fordham took bronze with a time of 7:13.4.
“The varsity eight never trailed and looked very strong,” coach Jim Dietz said. “By the end of the day the varsity eight’s times had dropped, because after racing three times in 80 degree weather exhaustion began taking a toll.”
Faith Harkins and Cat Gariepy led the UMass varsity eight, powering the team from the one and two seats respectively. Carrie Champigny, the boat’s coxswain, steered the squad to victory on Saturday and Sunday with help from Lea Jakobsen in the six seat and Katie O’Brien in the four. Haley McGrath filled her usual spot at stroke, while Lizzy Boyle, Lauren Cromwell, and Stephanie Hoph rounded out the first varsity eight.
The sole loss for the 2004 UMass varsity eight came at the hands of Brown on April 10. At the time the Bears were ranked fourth in the country and pegged as a contender for the national title. A five second differential decided the race.
Despite a near-perfect weekend, the Massachusetts junior varsity eight encountered a snag that likely prevented a UMass victory. During the J.V. eight competition, UMass cruised into the lead at the 5,000 and 1,000 meter marks. But an equipment malfunction on the last leg of the race caused the slide correlated with the six seat to snap. This essentially forced the crew to finish the race with six rowers, because when one oar is rendered useless, a rower on the opposite side of the boat is forced to stop rowing so that the shell doesn’t veer off course.
“It’s unfortunate that the J.V.’s we’re knocked off course but those things happen,” Dietz said. “I was impressed that they were able to finish fifth considering two people weren’t able to row to the finish line.”
Next Saturday, UMass will return to Collingswood, N.J., where it will attempt to duplicate last weekend’s success. Dietz believes UMass will have an advantage having raced on the same course two weeks in a row, but realized other A-10 teams participated in the Knect Cup as well.
“The A-10’s shouldn’t be too much of a challenge for the (UMass) varsity eight,” Dietz said. “We’re getting faster but so is Fordham, St. Joe’s and URI. The conference is improving but they aren’t quite up to our speed yet.”
