Liberty rowers enjoy the Spring Break temperatures on Smith Mountain Lake in a lighthearted moment in preparation for their season-opening sprint regatta in Gainesville, Ga.
Rowers make strides over Spring Break, reap positive results at first regatta in Georgia
3/25/2025 6:25:00 PM | Rowing
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Liberty used an intensive weeklong clinic out of Smith Mountain Lake State Park to prepare to launch its season at the John Ferriss Sprints on Lake Lanier.
A week after spending Spring Break doing two-a-day workouts at Smith Mountain Lake State Park, Liberty University's men's and women's teams excelled at their spring season-opening regatta, Saturday's John Ferriss Sprints at Lake Lanier Olympic Park, site of the 1996 Summer Games' rowing events, in Gainesville, Ga.
"We had a great week of training, with the docks right down by the cabins," Head Coach Debbie Prowse said. "We packed a lot of work into a short amount of time, and it was very beneficial. In a week's stay, we got a month's worth of workouts on the water. And we were able to do some race-planning and strategizing, as well as practicing coming to the starting line and learning our starts, which was especially helpful for our novice rowers who have never before done a 2,000-meter race."
The Flames and Lady Flames applied their practice to live race scenarios on Saturday, finishing at or near the front of the field in most of their heats.
Head Coach Debbie Prowse monitors rowers from her boat on Smith Mountain Lake.
"We saw some good competition, held our own, and came back with some medals," Prowse said, noting that Rollins (Fla.) College was the frontrunner in most of the races it entered with a total of 17 clubs represented and 119 race starts. "This was a good test to see where we are at and see what we can clean up, gain a little speed, and improve our race plans."
She said though there was no current on the lake, windy weather was a factor, especially late in the day.
"We started to get a pretty strong headwind, so the times of these races were on the slow side," Prowse said. "As the day progressed, the winds got worse and worse, up to 26 mph with some really big gusts by the end of it. They were tough conditions to row in, but the kids handled it well."
The Lady Flames' Varsity 4 crew also came in third behind Rollins and Georgia Tech in a wind-impeded time of 11:41.422. Junior Emily Tait served as coxswain with junior Mandy Walls at stroke followed by Marsalis, junior Hannah Krissel, and junior Sadie Thompson at bow.
Liberty's men's and women's Novice 4 teams finished runner-up to Georgia Tech and Rollins, respectively, in 9:14.418 and 10:20.977.
The Flames, who had junior Anna Benjamin at coxswain and senior Carson Chesnut at stroke followed by sophomore Nick Belzer, freshman Alex Caywood, and senior Matt Giordano, finished ahead of third-place Alabama.
The Lady Flames, coxed by graduate Ariana Davis and rowed by freshman Mary Bailey at stroke, sophomore Grace Cornell, junior Liza Perdew, and freshman Caroline Maier at bow, finished 18 seconds behind Rollins and more than a minute in front of third-place Florida State (11:21.995),
Also for Liberty, the Men's Double of juniors Gideon Abbot at stroke and Kyle Meeker at bow placed first in 8:29.322. Sophomore Cole Shatto finished third in the men's single, behind solo rowers from Georgia and Wake Forest and ahead of another from Auburn in 9:25.146.
Liberty's next regatta is the SIRA Championships set for Easter Weekend, April 18-19, on Melton Lake in Oak Ridge, Tenn.
"We used the John Ferriss Sprints as warmup races and now we have a solid three and a half weeks of training to prepare for that (SIRA) regatta," Prowse said, noting the team will return its operation base to its boathouse near Mitchell's Point Marina in Huddleston, Va. "Since we are using that as our (ACRA) National (Championships) qualifier, we are going to train straight through. For us, we want to place in the top three (at SIRAs) to be competitive at ACRAs."
By Ted Allen/Staff Writer Liberty's women's Varsity 8 crew practices on Smith Mountain Lake over Spring Break.
