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April 10, 2008

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- This weekend, for the first time this spring, each of the three Navy crew programs will be in competition as the heavyweight and women's teams will take part in the annual George Washington Invitational and the lightweight squad will square off against Columbia.

Now in its 21st year, the George Washington Invitational is one of the largest regattas held on the East Coast. The format for this year's edition, slated to be held Friday and Saturday on the Potomac River, will follow the new style inaugurated last year which consists of boats racing against each other in a series of dual races.

Navy's women's team fared quite well in last year's regatta as its crews combined to win 12 of its 16 races over the two days. Individually, the program's varsity entry defeated Iowa by two seconds and St Joseph's by six seconds and dropped a six-second contest against Clemson. The Mids will face both the Hawkeyes and the Hawks again this year, as well as MIT and George Mason.

"Beating Iowa was a big accomplishment for us last year," said Navy women's head coach Mike Hughes. "It was a tough race and we are going to need another strong effort against them and our other competitors in order to be as successful as we were a year ago."

Navy's heavyweight team did not take part in the George Washington Invitational last year, but the Mids had been the most successful program at the regatta over the final years in which it utilized the previous format of trial heats and finals. Navy's varsity boat will face George Washington, Georgetown and Gonzaga this weekend.

"We always enjoy taking part in this event," said Navy heavyweight head coach Rick Clothier. "The people who run it always work hard and put on a great regatta.

"Georgetown has come on strong this spring and has already put together good races against Cornell and Princeton. George Washington is a much improved team that has defeated Penn this year. We have not raced Gonzaga before, but they have shown they are able to hold their own on the West Coast."

In addition to this weekend being the first time the Mids will be competing at the event under its present style, it also will mark the first racing of the year for the program. Navy enters the week with its varsity boat ranked 13th in the U.S. Rowing weekly poll of coaches. Georgetown's lead entry is ranked 15th and George Washington's varsity boat is ranked 19th in the same poll. Gonzaga was among the squads that also received votes.

"This is the latest we have started our competition in a number of years," said Clothier. "We have worked hard all spring, are anxious to start racing and are excited to see what we are capable of doing."

A complete race schedule with times and lane assignments can be found at www.gwir.org(.)

While the heavyweight and women's team will be competing locally this weekend, the lightweight squad will head to New York City to race against Columbia on the Orchard Beach Lagoon. Saturday's racing begins at 5 p.m. in Westchester County, with the finish line to the course located in the Northeast Bronx.

The Mids defeated the Lions in each of the four races held between the teams last year. Included in the results was a six-second win by Navy in the varsity race.

Navy's varsity boat is ranked third and Columbia's is ranked eighth in this week's U.S. Rowing poll of coaches.