Crews take on Duke, UNC
The GW women’s crews welcomed the ladies of Tobacco Road to the Potomac River Saturday.
In the morning races, the welcome for Duke University was as cold as the water. But in the afternoon, the University of North Carolina’s rowers took advantage of a little southern hospitality and made themselves right at home.
In the morning varsity eight race versus Duke, the GW women took first, with the GW junior varsity finishing eight seconds back, three seconds ahead of the third-place Blue Devils.
“The Duke results were somewhat what I expected,” said Steve Peterson, GW women’s varsity head coach. “I was very excited that our JV beat their varsity.”
In other races with Duke, the GW varsity women’s four also topped the Blue Devils, while Duke handily defeated GW’s novice eight and novice four.
In the afternoon races with UNC, GW lost a tight race with the Tar Heels’ varsity eight by four seconds and dropped a one-second decision in the junior varsity eight. UNC completed the sweep with comfortable victories in the novice eight and varsity women’s four.
“North Carolina (varsity eight boat) is ranked 16th in the country,” Peterson said. “In the past couple of years, they’ve gotten very good. In the race, they jumped out early – we fought back, they fought back. Four seconds is about a boat length, so to be that close to a top 20 boat is good.
“I was excited for my varsity crews. In both races, they had a lot of composure,” he said. “It was a pretty good weekend. We were pretty psyched.”
The men’s and women’s crews return to the water Saturday at the Atlantic 10 Championships in Camden, N.J.
-David Holt
GW takes second at Temple Invitational
GW took fourth place in the two-day Temple Owl Invitational in Oxford, Pa., Friday and Saturday.
The Colonials were in second place with a score of 301, just two strokes behind the U.S. Naval Academy, after the first day of competition but shot a combined 321 to fall to fourth on the second day.
Seton Hall University won the event with a score of 611, while Navy (616) and Georgetown University (617) finished second and third, both ahead of GW (622).
The Colonials placed three golfers in the top 20. Freshman Tim Blankvoort led GW with a two-day total of 155 (11-over) to tie for 11th place. Tim Derdenger shot a 72 on the first day to lead the tournament but slipped to tie for 14th with an 84 on the second day. Darren Ressler also tied for 14th with a 156 (12-over).
Mike Costigan of Seton Hall won the individual competition with a 148 (4-over). GW will play in the Xavier Invitational Monday.
-Dustin Gouker
