At the end of last year’s semester, on May 7th and 8th, the University of Vermont Crew Team traveled to Philadelphia, PA to race in the Dad Vail Regatta on the Schuylkill River.

The Dad Vail Regatta is the largest collegiate regattain the United States, with over 100 colleges and universities present. This year Vermont Crew did a tremendous job competing against top fully-funded Division I programs despite the fact that they are a club team at the university.

The novice women’s four boat raced the 2000 meter course Friday and placed first in their heat with a time of 7:51.9, beating crews from the University of Georgia, Dowling, Chicago, and Bucknell. Their time was the fasted posted time that day in the Women’s Freshmen/Novice 4 Division which consisted of 45 boats from all over the country. Only first and second place finished in the heats advanced to Saturday’s Semi-Final race.

Saturday morning the women raced in their Semi-Final heat and came in first with a time of 7:38.6, beating crews from Robert Morris, Tennessee, NC Chapel Hill, University of Kansas, and Lawrence.

They powered it up for the Final Heat which was that afternoon and rowedto a third place finish with a time of 7:42.70, only less than a second off of second place finisher Purdue.

The women were presented with bronze metals as they rowed up to the metal dock and their coach, Sage Laundon, of Milton, VT placed them around their necks. The varsity women’s four boat also came in first place Friday, with a time of 7:59, beating Wake Forest, Stony Brook and Rutgers.

They went on Saturday to race in the Semi-Finals and placed second with a time of 7:30.3, finishing before Pittsburgh, LaSalle, Northwestern, and UCONN. The women raced in the finals and beat Middlebury and NC Chapel Hill with a time of 7:44.2. This placed them in fourth place only six seconds off of a third place finish finishing a final 4th out of 45boats.

The Men’s Novice four boat also battled it out in their first heat to finish with a time of 7:35.6 beating Manhattan, Georgia Tech, and Brandeis. They raced again Saturday in the Semi-Finals placing fifth with a time of 7:07.8 before Michigan State.

This was a first for the women’s rowing program. This year the women’s team has excelled under second year Head Coach, Rick Kelliher from Underhill, VT and novice coach Sage Laundon.

Their direction and dedication to the team has improved Vermont’s name. Despite losing two leading seniors Caitlin McPherran and Megan O’Neill the team looks to be extremely promising next year.