May 27-28, 2017
Lake Lanier Olympic Park
GAINESVILLE, GA -- The Bears had an exciting weekend at the ACRA National Championships in Gainesville, GA. After arriving in Gainesville Thursday, May 25th and spending Friday practicing on the race course, racing began on Saturday.
Saturday:
In the first race of the weekend, our Men’s V8+ finished 26th out of 38 crews in the time trials to advance to Reps later that day. After finishing 7th in what was the fastest Rep for the event, the MV8+ advanced to the E-finals on Sunday. Next event for the Bears was the Men’s 2x, which was rowed by two of our novice rowers. After finishing 6th in their heat, they advanced to Reps that afternoon, where they finished 6th again to advance to the C-final on Sunday. Our Women’s 2- followed shortly. After a close race, the 2- excitedly finished 1st in their heat to advance directly to the Grand Final on Sunday. The Women’s Novice 4+ then finished 5th in their heat to advance to Reps later that afternoon, where they would finish 7th to qualify for the C-Final on Sunday. Our Men’s Novice 4+ had a rewarding morning as well, finishing 1st in their heat to advance directly to the Grand Finals on Sunday.
Sunday:
Sunday morning was plagued by thunderstorms, and as a result many of the races were cancelled. For the Bears, the cancelled events included the finals for our Women’s Novice 4+ and Men’s 2x. After originally being cancelled, the Men’s V8+ E-final was rescheduled, but they were unfortunately unable to finish the race due to boat breakage. Despite the storms, our Women’s 2- was able to compete on Sunday, and after a very close race, they finished in 4th place in the Grand Final, just one second shy of a medal. Also competing in the Grand Final on Sunday was our Men’s Novice 4+, who placed 3rd, earning them a National Championships medal!
Another highlight from the weekend included the naming of two of our rowers, Catherine Tiffany and Matt Heiken, to the ACRA Plains All-Region Team.