Written by Jamie Francis, Assistant Rowing CoachYPSILANTI, Mich. – The Mercyhurst University men's and women's rowing teams combined to earn five medals at the Mid-America Collegiate Rowing Association (MACRA) Championships hosted by the University of Michigan and Eastern Michigan University on Saturday. The Lakers earned gold medals in the Women's Varsity Four to take home the Tim Royalty Cup and the Men's Freshman/Novice Eight for the Paul Springer Cup, silver medals in the Men's Second Varsity/Lightweight Eight and Women's Varsity Eight, and a bronze medal in the Men's Lightweight Four.
Mercyhurst had a total of eight boats progress to the finals. In the Women's Varsity Four, Mercyhurst entered two boats. The "B" entry progressed to the petite final where they finished second behind Division I Eastern Michigan University with a time of 8:55.7. The "A" entry made their way to the grand final and won gold with a time of 8:28.4 ahead of University of Chicago (8:34.0) and Grand Valley State University (8:51.5).
The Men's Freshman/Novice Eight event was raced by the silver-medal winning crew from Knecht Cup, but they were able to improve their medal by winning the MACRA event with a time of 6:46.4 ahead of Michigan (6:48.9) and University of Notre Dame (6:53.5) to win the Paul Springer Cup.
The Men's Lightweight Four saw Michigan take gold with a time of 7:28.0 while Northwestern University and Mercyhurst battled for silver. Northwestern would edge the Lakers by three-tenths of a second with a time of 7:43.5.
The Women's Frosh/Novice Four won their heat to progress to the grand final, but then came up short by finishing fifth behind Grand Valley State, St. Thomas University, Marquette University, and University of Toledo.
The Men's Second Varsity/Light Eight is a combined event with both heavyweight second varsity eights and lightweight eights. Michigan's Second Varsity eight won the event with a time of 6:17.9 while the Lakers' lightweight eight finished second in 6:24.4. The next lightweight eight to finish was the Michigan entry which finished in 6:53.7.
The Women's Varsity Eight lined up against Eastern Michigan for the second time in as many weeks after coming off a win in Buffalo last week. The Lakers were able to finish ahead of EMU again, but both crews finished behind Grand Valley who finished with a time of 7:36.0. Mercyhurst earned silver (7:44.2) with EMU earning bronze (7:46.6).
The Men's Varsity Eight finished out the day of racing against heavyweight crews from Michigan, Grand Valley, Minnesota, and Notre Dame. Michigan won with a time of 6:26.9 while the Lakers finished in sixth place.
"After a long day of racing, we're very pleased with the results," said Mercyhurst head coach
Adrian Spracklen. "The season will be over soon and we're excited to see how our spring plays out."
The men will race again next weekend when they travel to Princeton to race Columbia University, the University of Delaware, and host Princeton University. The women will train through the weekend as they prepare for the Dad Vail Regatta in Philadelphia on May 8th.
