Courtesy Mark Wilson
The men of Stetson Rowing raced today in the 77th Dad Vail Regatta in Philadelphia with energy and passion, unfortunately, even with high hopes of passing on to the semi finals both boats failed to move out of heats. In the 32 boat field of the Men's Pair the Hatters drew a very fast heat and finished a disappointing 5th place. However even though Andrew Rouse and David Nutting finished 5th in their heat they had the 8th fastest time overall for the day. “This heat was not close to the others after the seeding and was filled with final quality crews, including David and Andrew, I feel very bad for them,” said Head Coach Mark Wilson. “The seeding process is always suspect and this event showed exactly why. Our fifth-place time would have won two other heats. It is very disappointing but as always our pair held their heads high and showed composure upon the results. I am very proud of these two young men.”
The Men's Novice Four had a good race in their heat but were simply out-powered in the third 500 and could not hold on to the place that would have allowed them to move on to the semifinals. “I knew it was going to be a bit of a long shot for our young men's team to move forward after seeing the established crews in their heat,” said Wilson. “They did a great job and executed the race plan as best they could. The plan was to get out fast and race to the 1500 and then hold on, they did just that, by being in solid second place after the first 300m and holding on through the 500m mark but then the more powerful crews started their work and by the end of the race the Hatters were in fourth place, beating two crews to the line.” The Novice 4+ event was a top two to semi finals so the season was over for the men at that time.
“I am very proud of these young men and how they not only performed at this regatta but how they came together toward the end of the season. They are a very young team with only 2 of the 5 having started rowing at the start of the academic year, the other 3 started after winter break. This shows that they have a lot to learn and more speed to gain in the coming years. This has been a turning point for the team.”
