March 31, 2008

Philaldelphia, Pa. - After a couple of tune-up races on Spring Break against Richmond and Virginia Commonwealth, Fordham kicked off the serious racing of the spring season at the Murphy Cup hosted by Temple on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia on March 29. The Murphy Cup has grown into a very large one-day regatta, with 35 schools competing. There were no semifinals, so advancing beyond the heats was an accomplishment, particularly with the format of heat winners only, with the next two or three fastest overall times, to the finals. The day featured a strong current and a prevailing tail wind that shifted and varied over the course of the racing.

Fordham's varsity women's eight crossed the finish line in second place in both of their races, trailing Bucknell in the heat by 8.34 seconds in 6:50.7, a time which was faster than Saint Joseph's winning time in one of the other heats, but which placed the Rams in the petite final. A-10 crew LaSalle finished fourth in that heat. In the petite final, Colgate led the Rams through Strawberry Mansion Bridge and built nearly a length lead, as Temple, Lehigh and Jacksonville followed closely, with Lafayette falling back. Heading into the second half of the race, the Rams began to close on Colgate and put open water between themselves and Temple and the rest of the field. Fordham's closing sprint fell just short, as Colgate took the petite in 6:53.58, with Fordham at 6:54.32, over Temple's third in 7:00.17. Those times would have placed the Colgate and Fordham crews in fourth and fifth places in the grand final, which was the next race, won by Bucknell (6:36.22), followed by Williams (6:42.86; ranked #2 nationally in D-III) and Navy (6:48.62). Again, the Rams' time topped Saint Joseph's (6:58.41) as well as Dowling (a top-ranked D-II crew) and Drexel who formed the second echelon of the grand final.

The women's JV eight finished third in their heat, trailing Bucknell, the ultimate finals winner, and Colgate (fifth in the final). After a long delay at the start, with LaSalle unable to get aligned, the race started without Fordham being pointed. This likely cost the Rams as spot in the final, as their time was .65 slower than Lehigh. There were no petite finals in the JV event.

A women's novice four made a strong effort, holding third place through most of their heat before finishing fifth of six with the 13th fastest time of 20 crews racing in their event.

The Fordham crew will next be in action on Saturday, April 5th as they compete in the Manhattan Invitational on the Harlem River.