Alabama Rowing Has Fast Start

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. – The Alabama rowing team got its spring season off to an impressive start as the Crimson Tide won five races, Saturday at the Oak Ridge Cardinal Invitational on Melton Hill Lake.

“Overall I thought all the crews performed pretty well,” Alabama Coach Larry Davis said. “It was a much better performance to start out the spring than last year. Each crew had freshmen in it and they all kept their composure and were not intimidated. We are all looking forward to tomorrow.”

In the morning events the Tide took first in four events and finished second in the other two. Alabama earned wins in the varsity 4, the freshman novice 8, the second varsity 8 and the second varsity 4.

“The four did a really good job today and I think the second varsity 8 did a very good job as well,” Davis said. “The freshmen did well. Our first varsity 8 I felt was frantic at times. I felt we could have won that race but we made some mistakes at the start. We had four first places and two second place finishes so we can’t complain much about that.”

The Tide returned to the lake for six more races in the evening, winning the varsity 8 in exciting fashion. UA also earned a second place finish in the freshman novice 8 race and third in the three other races to cap off the day.

“We were able to correct what we didn’t do well in the morning and really nailed it down in a dogfight with Buffalo,” Davis said of the evening varsity 8 race. “I was pleased in how they responded and made adjustments. It was a fantastic sprint though Buffalo.”

On Sunday, the Tide will close out its opening weekend at 9:28 a.m., with another six races. The Tide will return to the water next weekend when it heads to Clemson to face off against the Tigers and Marist. The three teams will participate in the one day event on Saturday, March 23, at Lake Hartwell.