University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Villanova Invitational
Novices Lead The Way For UNC Rowing
April 14, 2002 | Women's Rowing
April 14, 2002
CAMDEN, N.J.--The novice boats provided the highlights Sunday as the University of North Carolina rowing team competed at the Villanova Invitational on the Cooper River. UNC took first in the novice eight race and second in the second novice eight. The Tar Heel varsity boats both finished fourth.
After struggling in Saturday's Knecht Cup racing, the novice eight ran away from Temple and West Virginia in a time of 7:33.0 to earn victory by a wide margin. "I'm glad the novices were able to turn around their adversity from the first day and put in some good performances on Sunday," UNC head coach Joel Furtek said.
The day was a different story for the varsity boats. The second varsity eight quickly found itself trailing the field and remained in that position throughout the race. In the varsity eight race, UNC was in contention until the midway point. All five boats started together, and West Virginia, Connecticut and UNC were out front until the other two made strong pushes in their base cadence, leaving Carolina behind. Central Florida eventually made an impressive push to pull through the field and on to an open water win.
"It was not a case where we were outpulled or outpowered, just outwilled in the body of the race when those two crews made a move and we did not respond," Furtek said. "The results are disappointing because in both races this weekend, the varsity eight had a very strong first 1,000 meters, showing a base cadence which I thought was in many respects superior to anybody out there. In both races, around the 1,000, crews made strong pushes or moves and we failed to answer them. I think we're going to have to make some adjustments during the week to be prepared to race the full 2,000 meters at race intensity if we're going to have any chance of being competitive at ACC's on Saturday."
The Atlantic Coast Conference Rowing Championship is scheduled for April 20 on Lake Hartwell in Clemson, S.C. Racing begins at 9 a.m.
Villanova Invitational
Novice eight
North Carolina 7:33.0
Temple 8:01.8
West Virginia 8:16.8
Second novice eight
Boston College 7:43.0
North Carolina 8:00.3
UMass 8:08.0
Villanova
West Virginia
Second varsity eight
Kansas 7:13.0
UMass 7:19.6
Boston College 725.3
North Carolina 7:41.0
Varsity eight
Central Florida 7:07.7
Connecticut 7:14.1
West Virginia 7:16.1
North Carolina 7:19.8
Temple 7:28.6
