UNC Reclaims Cup To Highlight Day Of Competition

Friday, March 25

Raleigh, N.C.

9:00 AM

North Carolina

ODU, Georgetown, West Virginia

March 26, 2016 | Women's Rowing

By: UNC Athletic Communications

RALEIGH, N.C. – In its only local competition of the season, the North Carolina rowing team enjoyed a day of racing success Friday on Lake Wheeler. UNC won seven of its 10 races and regained the Class of 2006 Cup with a varsity eight win over Georgetown. “Overall, a fantastic day,” UNC coach Sarah Haney said. “It was a great day for spectators and it was great to have so many people come out and support us.”

In addition to Georgetown and UNC, the competition included Old Dominion and West Virginia, making for a festive scene of competitors, spectators and tents at the launch site. The teams raced under partly cloudy skies and fairly windy conditions, and the morning opened with Carolina's third varsity eight defeating ODU in a time of 7:29.6.

The biggest race of the day followed. The Class of 2006 Cup goes to the winner of the varsity eight race in each Tar Heel-Hoya meeting, and Georgetown has held it for the past four years. Friday, in the second race of the day, UNC won it back, finishing in 7:00.0 to GU's 7:05.24. A ceremonial presentation of the cup followed the day's final race. “It was nice to get that back,” Haney said.

UNC's second varsity eight and two varsity fours also beat Georgetown during the morning portion of the racing. Additionally, the Tar Heel novice eight beat ODU and the novice four finished second to West Virginia and ahead of Old Dominion.

The afternoon session opened with the most closely-contested race of the day. In the varsity eight, Carolina sprinted to the finish in 6:52.5 to edge West Virginia.

The Mountaineers took the second varsity eight, finishing in 6:58.1, with UNC in 7:04.4 and the Tar Heels' third varsity eight in 7:07.7. “Seeing our 3V's do really well in the morning and then go race 2V's in the afternoon and still have a really good race, I thought that was impressive,” Haney said. “Our 2V's had a really great race in the morning, had an OK race in the afternoon but definitely know what they need to change.”

UNC's varsity four, manned by novice rowers, finished in 7:42.9 to win its race easily over West Virginia. The novice eight beat ODU in a time of 7:08.0. The final race of the day was the novice four, in which Carolina placed third, trailing West Virginia and Old Dominion.

“It's always impressive to see them step up into top racing boats,” Haney said of the novice squad. “It was great to see them get an opportunity to race.”

Rainy weather that had been forecast earlier in the week stayed away, but the wind presented challenges. “I was very happy with the team and how they handled wind conditions,” Haney said. “When your coaches are running a race, you don't get as much coaching attention. They handled it all incredibly well, not only being flexible but they also raced very well. It's pretty hairy out there – it's worse than it looks (from shore) – but they were able to follow their race plan, get speed and take something from the morning and apply it to the afternoon.”

Next up for UNC is the Occoquan Sprints on April 3 in Occoquan, Va.

RESULTS

March 25, 2016

Lake Wheeler, Raleigh, N.C.

2,000 meters

Partly sunny and warm

9 mph cross wind in morning (before break)

12 mph cross tailwind in afternoon (after break)

3rd Varsity 8+

1. UNC 7:29.6

2. ODU 7:35.3

Varsity 8+