10/12/2002 - Men's Heavyweight Crew
Mids Compete at Navy Day Regatta

The Navy crew program enjoyed a successful day of racing at the Navy Day Regatta, Saturday on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia.

"All of our boats had good rows for this time of year," said Navy women's head coach Mike Hughes.

The varsity eight overcame an oar mishap just before the midpoint in the 4,000 meter race to place sixth in a field of 11 boats. The second varsity eight placed second in it's race, beating league-rival Pennsylvania and nine other crews.

Navy had a pair of entries in both the novice eight and the women's four race. The Mids placed fourth and fifth in the novice eight race, while the four boats placed fifth and sixth.

"I think we are on schedule to have a good fall season of racing," said Hughes. "Our goal for the fall is to become a technically strong boat and build towards our spring championship season, and I feel we are on our way to accomplishing that."

Navy's heavyweight team won both the first and second varsity eight races, the first time since 1999 the Mids won the varsity eight competition.

"It was a big day for us," said Navy heavyweight coach Rick Clothier. "We have had some trouble with a couple of these crews the last few years in this event, but we were able to put it together today."

The varsity eight won its race with a time of 12:04.8, nine seconds ahead of Rutgers and nearly 15 seconds in front of third-place finisher Temple.

"We started in the slot behind Dowling and Penn (referring to the head-style of single-file racing format used Saturday), but we passed Dowling and caught Penn at the end of the race, so we knew we had a real good row," said Clothier.

The second varsity eight crew also won its race, posting a time of 12:27.8, well in front of second-place Rutgers at 12:50.0 In the varsity four race, the Mids placed fourth with a time of 13:56.7.

Navy had a pair of heavyweight and lightweight boats entered into the heavyweight novice eight race. Navy's heavyweight entries places second and third in the race, 10 and 19 seconds behind race-winner St. Joseph's 'A' (12:47), while the lightweight 'A' boat placed sixth (13:13) and the lightweight 'B' boat placed ninth. Both lightweight boats finished one spot in front of Army's two entries.

In the heavyweight varsity four race, Navy placed fourth with a time of 13:56.7.

Navy also won the lightweight varsity eight race, winning with a time of 12:26, two seconds in front of Delaware and six seconds in front of St. Joseph's. Navy's second entry in the race placed fourth with a time of 12:39, one spot and 10 seconds ahead of Navy's third boat.

All three of Navy’s crew teams will be in action next week Sunday at the Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston.