May 19, 2004
This past weekend?s Eastern Sprints saw Georgetown University?s Varsity Lightweights making history by grabbing the school?s first ever medal at the regatta. Entering with a fifth place seeding, Georgetown faced a tough heat, with undefeated No.1 Navy, No.4 Yale, and No.8 Rutgers all vying for a seat at the table. As if the competition by itself was not drama enough, there was also a false start called on their heat as a Columbia oarsman lost control of his blade (called ?crabbing?) on the third or fourth stroke of the race. Coxswain Louisa Seferis (F ?05) refused to let this rattle her crew, however, and their second start was at least as good as their first. At the gun, Navy tore off the blocks, leaving Yale, Georgetown, and Rutgers practically even at 500 meters in. Georgetown clamped down coming into the midway mark and put a commanding lead onto Yale who, by that point, had established themselves as the third and final qualifier over Rutgers. The Hoyas were then able to relax and maintain control of the race while saving their legs for the afternoon final. Coming off the water, they were happy to see that they had posted the second fastest qualifying time of their event, behind Navy but ahead of Harvard by nearly a second.
Returning to the course for their afternoon final, the Hoyas began to think about the goals for the race. The season had certainly possessed its peaks and valleys, but the morning?s results gave them a newly bolstered sense of confidence in their speed. They had already established an ability to beat Yale, but the other heat sent No.2 Harvard, No.3 Cornell, and No.6 Princeton to the Grand Final. Nonetheless, Georgetown had their race plan and were determined to see it out to the end.
Whereas the morning?s heats had been pushed along by a light tailwind, making for fast times, the afternoon brought with it a mild, but straight, and fair, headwind. A fast start left the Hoyas sitting in sixth place by about a seat, but they rebounded immediately and decisively, clawing their way up Princeton, who occupied the adjacent lane. Without realizing it, their progress through the Tigers placed them in third place as Yale and Cornell, on the far side of the course, were unable to match the speed of the lead group. Leaving the 1000m meter mark, Georgetown began to bridge up to Harvard and Navy. Navy pulled out their trademark sprint to absolutely dominate the last 500m of the course, but Georgetown was able to doggedly attack into the Crimson, ultimately falling short of Harvard and the silver medal by 1.1 seconds at the line.
Seven-seat James O?Gara (B ?05), newly elected 2004-2005 Captain: ?We?re hardly disappointed with this result, but at the same time, I don?t think any of the guys are satisfied either?. Stroke Cameron Booth agreed. ?The challenge now is to switch our focus. Instead of trying to just medal, we need to set our sights on becoming a gold medal crew. Nobody wins by accident, but I don?t see any reason why we can?t make this psychological, technical, and physiological transition by the time IRAs rolls around in 3 weeks?.
Look for the Hoyas to launch June 5th on the Cooper River, Camden, NJ for the IRA Regatta with a newfound sense of purpose and looking to take the final step.
