The crew team traveled to Cherry Hill, New Jersey this past weekend to compete in the Knecht Cup Regatta on the Cooper River against 35 other varsity and club teams.
The highlight of the weekend came from the women’s varsity four, which placed first in the grand finale with a time of 7:43.92, beating second-place Drexel by more than four seconds. This boat also beat varsity programs from the University of Connecticut, Harvard University, Boston University and Duquesne University to win the event.
Head crew coach Rick Kelliher wrote in an email that he was very proud of the boat’s victory.
“My team is very modest about their accomplishment; however, the women’s victory over such a strong DI field was truly impressive,” Kelliher wrote. “I was impressed with the ladies winning the Head Of the Charles regatta in the fall, but today’s decisive victory will get the respect of every varsity DI women’s program in the country.”
Sophomore Noni Lorentzen, who was on the varsity women’s boat, wrote in an email that the team was confident in its chances of success despite the level of competition they would be facing.
“Racing Radcliffe (a Harvard Institute) and BU was intimidating; however, beating BU and winning our heat set us up for a fast lane in the final and [put us in a] good mindset. Crossing the lane first and winning the finals against Drexel, UConn, Radcliffe, BU, and Duquesne, who all have great programs, was an amazing accomplishment for our boat and program as a whole,” Lorentzen wrote. “The win made us very excited to see what the rest of the season has in store.”
The men also placed well in the regatta. They had a run-away win in the men’s club four grand finale (6:57.09) to beat second-place Michigan by over 20 seconds. The men’s double also placed in fourth (7:53.23).
Lafayette’s women’s second varsity four placed well in the club division, with a bronze medal finish (8:16.48). Both the men’s and women’s club eight teams placed fifth in the grand finale, and almost all of the novice boats qualified for the grand finale.
“Everyone came and put their all into their races and our team was really happy with the results,” Lorentzen wrote. “I know our varsity team was very impressed with our novice coxswains this weekend. They showed a lot of improvement in a short period of time and our team wouldn’t be where it is without them.”
“The announcers at the regatta kept mentioning how impressive it was that Lafayette, a small club team, was able to compete so successful against such a high level of Division 1 programs,” Kelliher wrote. “The results show that we are on the right track for both the Dad Vail regatta and the Club National Championships this year.”
Lorentzen wrote that the team is working hard in practice to prepare for the rest of the season.
“We will be specifically focusing on technique throughout the next couple weeks to make our boats and individual rowers more efficient and effective at applying power throughout the stroke,” she wrote.
The team will be back on the water this weekend at the Kerr Cup Regatta, which will be hosted by Drexel on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia.
