Liberty University Club Sports Athletics
Flames' fourth-seeded men's novice 4 wins Head of the Ohio
10/1/2016 12:00:00 AM | Rowing
Rowing with the current and a slight tailwind under sunny skies and perfect temperatures, Liberty University's men's novice four crew team struck gold at Saturday's Head of the Ohio regatta in downtown Pittsburgh, winning the five-boat, 5,000-meter race by more than a minute and a half.
The tandem of sophomores Spencer Barrett (stroke seat), Zach Moore (three seat), Josh Elliott (bow), and Savanna Perry (coxswain) and freshman two seat Ryan Krupansky was seeded fourth in the staggered-start race, with boats launched in 15-second intervals. The Flames passed the three crews that started ahead of them, winning decisively in 15 minutes, 18.7 seconds, well ahead of runner-up Carnegie Mellon to capture the gold medal.
"Over the 2.6-mile course, they were able to row past all the other crews and there was quite a gap between first and second," Liberty Head Coach Debbie Prowse said. "They were a really strong crew and rowed really well together. I was excited for them. The current and wind was with the rowers, so the times were pretty fast. It was predicted to be cold and rainy, but it was a beautiful race day."
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| Men's novice four rowers toss coxswain Savanna Perry into the water after the win. |
As is tradition, the four rowers tossed Perry — their coxswain who coxed for the women's crew last season — from the docks into the river after the race victory.
Liberty's women's open two-seat pairing of junior Allie Coughlin and sophomore Moriah List started the day for the Lady Flames by winning an uncontested gold medal, as the only entry in their 5,000-meter event, clocking a time of 19:01:19.
"That was a nice warmup race for them to be able to row, to see how well they could cover that distance together," Prowse said.
In the women's open four race, the Lady Flames crew of sophomore stroke Baillie Knecht and junior coxswain Meribeth Klein, two seat Lydia Miller, three seat Allie Coughlin, and bow Katrina Ramos placed ninth out of 14 boats in 16:51.8 — just one minute behind the winning crew from Miami of Ohio and ahead of boats from Robert Morris, Cleveland State, Carnegie Mellon, and Ohio.
"Considering we had a novice coxswain in the boat, two novice rowers, and one coxswain turned rower, with that combination rowing in the race, they did very well," Prowse said. "They had no issues or steering problems, and they didn't get passed during the race, which was good. They definitely held their own."
Complete results are available online.
Prowse said the team will focus on strength and endurance training as well as continuing to work on rowing technique in preparation for its next regatta, the Oct. 29 Head of the Schuylkill in Philadelphia.
"We need to get on the indoor rowing machines and do some longer training on the water, to use our water time to focus on technique things as well as pairing indoor training with water training to get stronger and more endurance," she said.
At the regatta in Philadelphia, the men's novice four will row may also compete as a varsity four, if the races are not too close together, putting their training to the test.
By Ted Allen/Staff Writer
