Mountain Hawks wrap up season at Dad Vail Regatta Saturday
Posted: 05/14/2011
PHILADELPHIA - The Lehigh rowing team wrapped up an impressive weekend, and season, on Saturday as the Men’s Freshmen Eight competed in its semifinal race at the Aberdeen Dad Vail Regatta. The Mountain Hawks placed fifth in a very competitive heat, finishing less than 18 seconds out of first.
Lehigh came in with a time of 6:30.06 as Virginia won the heat at 6:12.62.
“It was a tough race,” said Lehigh head coach Brian Conley. “Having been the lone crew on the day gives a great deal of hope for the future from such a good group of student-athletes. “
The weekend saw Lehigh advance one crew to the semifinals, one to its repechage and another just shy of its semifinals. Conley was pleased with team’s overall effort.
“Overall, I think we definitely outperformed where we were expected, so there were a lot of positive feelings,” he said. “That’s great to grow upon. You always want to put yourself in position to win. We still have some work to do, but it was a very positive weekend and step forward for the program.”
Finishing his first year at the helm of the Mountain Hawks, Conley is pleased with the team’s progress from day one back in the fall.
“I think early on in the year, people were going to write us off,” he said. “We’ve turned it around where people are giving the team more respect and understanding of what Lehigh rowing is all about.”
1. Virginia: 06:12.62
2. Florida U (D. Cronk): 06:15.07
3. Grand Valley (T. Sawicki): 06:21.80
4. Marist (H. Drouin-Reed): 06:27.51
5. Lehigh (R. White): 06:30.06