George Washington University
Virginia/Georgetown (novice)
Freshmen Men Finish 2nd to Georgetown Heavyweights
11/7/2005 12:00:00 AM | Rowing
Nov. 7, 2005
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA -- The GW freshman men's rowing team showed both their potential and their inexperience Saturday in a four kilometer race on the Rivanna River in Charlottesville, VA. The Colonials rowed against novice heavyweight boats from Georgetown and Virginia, as well as Georgetown's lightweight novices.
With the four squads each racing two even boats, the Colonials finished second with an average time of 14:15. Georgetown's heavyweights won the race with an average time of 14:03. Following the Colonials were Georgetown's lightweights and Virginia, with average times of 14:+18 and 14:32, respectively.
Racing conditions were nearly ideal with flat water and temperatures in the 70s although the crews did have to deal with occasional gusting winds.
"The vast majority of our novice squad began rowing just two months ago, and our inexperience was evident insome rather frantic rowing during the 4-kilometer race," GW Men's Novice Coach Dave Weiss said. "Georgetown's heavyweights were the class of the competition on Saturday, but we could have been closer to them if we had been more poised and confident. It's up to our guys to remain aggressive in their training and racing and to maintain a steep improvement curve through their first year of collegiate rowing. The challenge in front of our guys is pretty steep, but we have a good group of hard-working guys who, I have little doubt, will embrace the challenge and turn it into an even greater opportunity."
The GW Men's Eight entries consisted of:
GW `A' - cox: Caroline Emanuel, stroke: Grant LaFarge, 7-Ben Lookner, 6-Griffin Knight, 5-Chris Wiemann, 4-Max Wahle, 3-Erik Bergmann, 2-Mike Rossetti and James Hacker (bow).
GW 'B' - cox: Ariel Hidalgo, stroke: Cameron Rogers, 7-Tom Schubbe, 6-Andrew Lennox, 5-Travis Schulze, 4-Gorgi Popstefanov, 3-Alex Gordon, 2-George Blair and Mike Pieniazek (bow).
The Colonials complete their Fall racing season on Nov. 13 at the Belly of the Carnegie regatta in Princeton, NJ, where they will race many of the top novice crews from the East Coast.
