Despite terrible weather and unforeseen cancellations, the Tribe seniors help propel WMRC to a 3rd place finish in the club point trophy at the Hooch!
Novice Women
Coach Matt Scott
After the crazy Hooch cancellations, the women’s novice squad is hoping to race well against other Novice teams at their final race of the fall season, Head of the South. With Saturday’s racing wiped out, the novice women, who were originally going to race in multiple events, ended up racing only in the Women’s Open 8+. The squad found that they were matched entirely against NCAA Varsity squads with an experience and financial advantage. It was a good experience for our coxswain Hailey who successfully navigated against a crowded, hectic grouping to lead the girls through the race. Now that we are finally pitted against girls of similar experience and stature, we hope to walk away with good finishes especially in our 4+ event.
Varsity Women
Head Coach Graham Ludmer
Due to unseasonably cold temperatures and high winds, ALL the races Saturday were cancelled. That means the only races varsity women were in were the mixed open 8+.
Despite the weather though, the Varsity Women’s squad showed up ready to compete in the mixed open 8+ race. The senior mixed boat fought off some tough competition and earned Gold! The junior/underclassmen boat, also did very well. With only 19 seconds between them and their senior counterparts, they earned a finish of 6th place. All the athletes were really great about the weather, and were very patient with the whole situation. We showed how a strong squad acts under pressure. Well done Tribe!
Varsity Men
Program Director Jason Mitchell
Every fall season the rowers look forward to Head of the Hooch and Head of the South as their last shot to beat some boats before heading indoors for the winter. Last weekend the weather put a damper on Head of the Hooch. With forecasted wind and cold temperatures, we all went to sleep on Friday night hoping for the best. Unfortunately, from the early morning until 2pm, the events were being postponed and certain events canceled in hopes of the weather getting better. After a long day of waiting on announcements from officials, the Saturday events were canceled. The team maintain its high moral by eating dinner together and playing the Rockband video game back at the church (which was graciously hosted by Brittany Williams and her Family) until lights out. As upsetting as it was to not race all of our events on Saturday, we luckily had 4 boats to race on Sunday. For the Varsity Men and Women, we had two mixed 8s. One boat for seniors and the other for underclassmen. This event is one that is talked about from day 1 of practice and the moment was finally here. Game faces and trash talking begin early morning as we were packing up and heading to the course. Both boats would have some hefty competition to go through to reach the top 3 spots and receive medals. Even with the competitive field the Senior boat came out on top with a time of 17:03.0 just 2.9 seconds ahead of the 2nd place finisher. There was only a 4.4 second spread from 1st to 5th place, just a difference of 2 strokes. The junior/underclassmen boat finished in 6th with a time of 17:22.0. Until next year the seniors have won bragging rights. Even with 8 events canceled and only four boats racing on Sunday, WMRC finished 3rd in Club Team Points and 5th in College Team Points.