Liberty has expanded its roster to 36 team members this fall, and most made the trip to Augusta, Ga., for Saturday's Head of the South on the Savannah River.
Rowers peak for fall semester-ending Head of South regatta in Georgia
11/13/2024 5:42:00 PM | Rowing
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Liberty rowed its way to four bronze medals Saturday against a deep field of boats from throughout the Southeast.
Liberty University's Women's Varsity 8 was one of four boats to capture bronze medals at the fall semester-ending Head of the South this past Saturday on the Savannah River in Augusta, Ga.
"We had some great racing and some really nice placements in our final regatta of the year," Head Coach Debbie Prowse said of the 5,000-meter races. "It was definitely a fun trip. We knew were up against Clemson, Georgia Tech, and Georgia, who were going to be fast in the Women's Varsity 8 race, so to earn a bronze medal was very exciting. We were very happy."
The Lady Flames, featuring junior Emily Tait at coxswain and senior rowers Lauren Thompson, Robin Payton, juniors Allie Reed and Alayna Degan, senior Jada Lane, sophomore Caitlin Kinsella, and seniors Rachel Teague and Kimberly Loutzenheiser, finished third in 17 minutes, 55.9 seconds, less than three seconds in front of Georgia Tech (17:58.7). Both teams received 20-second penalties but still finished third and fourth, respectively, behind only Clemson (17:02.8) and Georgia (17:49.9) and ahead of two Yellow Jackets boats, two crews from South Florida, South Carolina, North Georgia, a second Liberty boat, and UNC Wilmington.
Liberty's Men's Double pair of team captain Gideon Abbott and fellow junior Kyle Meeker finished first among collegiate rowers and third overall in 18:45.6, behind only two Occoquan tandems in a 10-boat field.
"They went up against some pretty advanced elite rowers and they finished first above all of the collegiate teams," Prowse said, noting that included three boats from North Georgia and others from Tennessee, Georgia, and Charleston. "The boys were very happy, very pleased with how they performed. They have been practicing all fall semester, and this was a very exciting race for them." Liberty's women's rowers entered two Varsity 8 boats at Head of the South.
The Flames' Men's Novice 4, formed after three members of the Men's Novice 8 left the team mid-semester, also earned a bronze medal.
"They came together and did outstanding as well," Prowse said of that boat coxed by Michael Diaz and rowed by fellow senior Carson Chesnut, freshman Alex Caywood, senior Matt Giordano, and sophomore Nick Belzer.
In the Men's Single, Flames sophomore Cole Shatto placed third in 23:16.8, behind Occoquan Boat Club's Victor Corja (19:15.4) and the University of Georgia's Brian Smith (19:53.6).
"This is his second year of rowing, and first in skulling, and he has been steadily improving every time goes out there," Prowse said of Shatto.
Liberty's Women's Novice 4 crossed the finish line eighth out of 14 boats in 20:52.8.
"They were all learning how to row this semester and getting the technical aspects of the stroke down," Prowse said.
Rowers started indoor erg training early Tuesday morning in the Liberty Club Sports Complex after traveling to the team's boat house near Mitchell's Marina on Smith Mountain Lake on Monday to unload and wash all the boats and store them for the winter.
"We will have a couple weeks of (dryland) training until Thanksgiving and then we'll go one more week going into exams week, and be gone for Christmas Break," Prowse said.
For their Spring Break training camp in March, the team will be staying in cabins and rowing out of Smith Mountain Lake State Park in Huddleston, Va.
"Instead of traveling this year, we will stay close to home to save budgeted travel money for a potential trip to nationals," Prowse said.
The team will travel to 2,000-meter sprint regattas in the spring semester either on Lake Lanier in Gainesville, Ga., or at the Clemson (S.C.) Sprints.
"We will look at our schedule and see what works best for us," Prowse said. "I love the opportunity to get more local races in to get some good experience before we go to the SIRA race at Oak Ridge, Tenn., over Easter Weekend (April 18-19)."
That is when the team will determine if it has high-enough caliber boats to take back to Oak Ridge for the ACRA National Championships from May 16-18.
In the future, Prowse is considering moving the team's boat house from Smith Mountain Lake to Hydaway Outdoor Center, now that Hydaway Lake has been expanded from six to 31 acres.
"Once it fills up, we will test it to see if would be adequate for us to practice on," she said. "At Smith Mountain Lake, we have a 5,000-meter stretch," which is ideal to train for the 5,000-meter races in the fall and the 2,000-meter distances in the spring season.
"I'd love to be close to campus. That's my goal," she added, noting that commuting 10 minutes to the Hydaway Outdoor Center from Main Campus would cut down the six-hour weekly commuting time for Liberty's team members. "That is time that could be better spent."
