Rowers spend Spring Break in S.C., excel at semester-opening regatta in Ga.

Liberty University's rowing team traveled to Lake Lanier in Gainesville, Ga., where the 1996 Summer Olympic Games rowing events were held, for its spring semester opening regatta, the John Ferris Lanier Sprint on March 23, which brought back memories for Head Coach Debbie Prowse.

"The last time we were there was when our Women's Novice 4 won the (American Collegiate Rowing Association) ACRA National Championship race in 2019," Prowse said, noting that the ACRAs moved to Oak Ridge, Tenn., in 2021 and have been rowed there ever since. "It was definitely worth the trip. It was a great season-opening race, with lots of good opportunities to get some racing experience."

Four of the Flames' and Lady Flames' seven entries had the opportunity to row twice with a heat and a final on the 2,000-meter course.

Junior John Bailey won the Men's Single event, competing against three other rowers, in 8 minutes, 5.526 seconds, while the Men's Double tandem skulled to a runner-up showing to Georgia Tech in 8:34.715.

Liberty's Women's Varsity 8 finished fourth in the A final, trailing only Clemson University, Rollins (Fla.) College, and the University of Florida in 7:20.323, edging Georgia Tech by 1.3 seconds.

"That was a close, exciting race, with a good, strong finish," Prowse said.

Meanwhile, Liberty's Men's Varsity 4 placed second in the B final in 7:47.087, its Men's Novice 4 placed third in the B final in 8:14.751, its Women's Varsity 4 placed third in the B final in 8:42.939, and its Women's Novice 8 placed fifth out of seven boats in 8:56.953, beating Georgia Tech and North Carolina State.

"It was a good season opener for us," Prowse said. "We had a bunch of rain on Friday, and were drenched after practice, but we made the best of it, and hoped for better weather on race day, which it was. There were gusts of wind, so the water was a little choppy, but nothing we couldn't handle."

After opening the spring semester Feb. 17 at the Colonial Erg Sprint in Williamsburg, Va., where Bailey rowed to a gold medal in the Men's Varsity category, junior Michael Diaz won the Coxswain race, and the Flames and Lady Flames recorded plenty of individual PRs, the team opened practice out of its boathouse on Smith Mountain Lake on Feb. 29. Then, all but one of its rowers spent Spring Break at Camp Bob Cooper, a 4H Club facility on Lake Marion in Summerton, S.C., which offered lodging steps away from the team's boat trailer and dock.

"We were able to hold three practices a day and give some crews really nice individualized attention," Prowse said, noting that the team had the opportunity to scrimmage against Bowdoin (Maine) College and Susquehanna (Pa.) University. "We basically got a month of water training in one week and it was great for the novice crews that have never raced before to be able to participate in a 2K event while in spring training."

Prowse is confident that the Flames and Lady Flames will be prepared to peak at the Southern Intercollegiate Rowing Association (SIRA) Championships on April 20-21 and ACRA Championships on May 17-19 on Melton Lake in Oak Ridge, Tenn.

"We want to make sure we put our fastest combinations together and for now, everything's ironed out for our seats and lineups," she said. "We have had a bunch of seat racing for the women's team and did a little rearranging recently. Seat racing for the men's varsity boats were held over Spring Break so they would have time to really jell with each other and fine-tune everything before we get into the bigger races."

This Sunday, Liberty will take six boats to compete among 14 club teams, including Virginia Tech, JMU, George Mason, VCU, and William & Mary, at the Rockett's Landing Regatta in Richmond. After the SIRA Championships, the team will travel to another all-club regatta, the Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Crew Championships (MACCC) hosted by Georgie Mason in Occoquan, Va.

"The SIRA and MACCC races will be good litmus tests of how fast we are and if we can qualify for (ACRA) nationals," Prowse said. "We want to send fast, competitive boats."

By Ted Allen/Staff Writer

Womens-varsity-8 — Women's Varsity 8 rowers practice on Lake Marion over Spring Break camp in Summerton, S.C.

Rowers spend Spring Break in S.C., excel at semester-opening regatta in Ga.

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Players Mentioned

John Bailey