Complete Results

May 11, 2009

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Philadelphia, Pa. -
By Jim Rodgers

Dad Vail Saturday was a great day for Fordham rowing. The varsity men captured their first Dad Vail medal in the heavyweight varsity event in nearly a half-century, and the women mounted an exciting comeback to take first place in the second level final, placing 7th overall.

Despite the Fordham women defeating UMass in both the heat and finals at the ECAC Metro Championships on the Cooper River a week before, a feat they repeated at Dad Vails, the Dad Vail seeding committee did not consider this result, and the Fordham women were not seeded in the top 12. Instead the Rams were assigned through the draw to a lane 6 berth in a heat with seeded crews Saint Joseph's and Purdue. The men's seeding was inexplicable, as Fordham was ranked 11th, behind Santa Clara and Philadelphia U. Nature intervened, however, as a 10-day stretch of rain left the Schuylkill River with a swift current that swept away the lane buoys and stakeboats and left a lot of debris. This caused the regatta committee to cancel Friday's heats and set time trials for all events, with placings in the semifinals at stake.

Friday proved a beautiful day, with good water conditions, and the men's eights raced down the 1500 meter course in just over four minutes. The Fordham men notched the 4th fastest time among the 33 entries, while the women placed 8th of 30, putting both comfortably into the semifinals. The men's pair also advanced. Fordham's novice crews were not so fortunate. The men's eight missed qualifying by eight hundredths of a second, placing 19th. In fields of about 50 crews, the men's novice four was 20th, and the women's novice four was 34th. The women's JV eight placed 13th of 14 entries, with only six boats advancing directly to the final. Due to a fear of severe weather on Saturday afternoon, the normal schedule of semifinals and finals were reversed, with the men's varsity eights semis run at 7:00 am and the final at noon. Racing in the third semifinal, Fordham had the easiest draw. The Rams lead from the start, maintaining nearly a length lead on Rochester through most of the course, keeping the stroke rate steady, without a sprint. The other two semis saw furious racing. Michigan and Brock (from Ontario) eliminated fourth-seed Temple from the grand final for the first time in 27 years. In the second race, Grand Valley, Purdue, Jacksonville and Florida Tech were separated by less than 3.5 seconds, with the 6th and 2nd seeded Florida crews relegated to the second final.

As the noon final approached a headwind began to build that seemed to favor the much bigger crews from Michigan, Purdue and Grand Valley. Fordham got a great start, taking a couple seat lead on Michigan. The arch of the Strawberry Mansion Bridge operated as a wind-tunnel, however, and slammed into the white-clad Rams, allowing the stronger Michigan and Purdue crews to build a lead over the group of Fordham, Brock and Grand Valley, with Rochester falling off the pace. Coming into the last 500 meters, Fordham closed the gap with Michigan and Purdue and established an edge on the other three contending crews. The Rams battled with Brock right to the finish, taking third place. The first three crews were separated by about a length each, with the Rams 1.3 seconds ahead of Brock and 3.2 seconds ahead of Grand Valley.

In the women's semi, Buffalo and Purdue moved out early to end the suspense as to who would reach the grand final from the second semi. Fordham appeared to be on the short end of a three-boat race for two spots in the second final, with Temple and Delaware, but, buoyed by a good mid-race move, moved ahead of Delaware, then took and held a narrow lead to qualify by a margin of just under two seconds. As a stiff headwind pushing against a strong current produced a nasty chop, the Fordham women raced in the varsity eight second final in the penultimate race of the afternoon. Coming off the turn, Sacramento State took a length lead on the pack, composed of Fordham in lane 1, Massachusetts in lane 2, Alabama in lane 3 and Temple in lane 4, as Connecticut dropped back on the outside. Halfway through the course, Massachusetts took hold of second place, as the Rams battled with Alabama and Temple. The Rams' midcourse sprint pushed them into third, and with 500 meters to go, they began to move through UMass, gaining almost a seat on every stroke, and edged into second place at the top of the island with 400 meters to go. As Sacramento hit slower water, both of the A-10 crews closed on the lead. With 325 meters to go, right in front of the Fordham tent, the Rams edged in front. UMass and Sacramento tried to mount a comeback, but the Rams held them off, and pulled away in front of the grandstand to top their bitter rivals by nearly three seconds, with Sacramento another 1 ½ seconds back.

The varsity 8 was comprised of Christina Costa (coxswain), Gabriella Wilkins (stroke), Stephanie Narduzzo (7), Catherine Helmer (6), Sarah Lang (5), Kayla Gaskey (4), Liz Knips (3), Katie Bowens (2) and Nadia Abdul ghani (bow).

The men's pair had an eventful semifinal race, as they were rammed by Lowell about 800 meters from the finish. The Lowell crew swamped, and the Rams finished the race struggling against the wash from one of the officials' boats.

The Fordham crew parents made a great showing on both days of the Dad Vail, complementing the grilling fare presented on Saturday by the Fordham Club of the Delaware Valley. Several dozen alumni, rowers and non-rowers alike, added to the festivities.

The 2009 Dad Vail marked the last Fordham race for our captains, Ravelle Mohammed, Sarah Lang and Ryan Kirlin. Kirlin will be attending the national selection camp in June, with prospects for competing in the under-23 world championships. Lang was named to the Atlantic10 Academic All-Conference Team, marking the 12 straight year that at least one Fordham student has earned that honor. Sara was also named to the A10 All Conference Second Team.

Prospects for next season are bright, however, as virtually all of the varsity level personnel will return, with a group of enthusiastic novices moving up, and some good recruits coming in to bolster both the men's and women's teams. Both of the varsity eights this season had freshman rowers in the boats.

If you have not yet done so this academic year (which ends June 30), please make a donation to Fordham Rowing. You can designate your gift to women's rowing, men's crew, or to the Maroon Blade Fund, which is targeted for new equipment. You can make your donation on line through the Fordham Athletics website. Donations from alumni, friends and families are crucial to supporting the rowing programs and enabling the athletes to compete at a high level. With increasing success comes increasing numbers of athletes, and a corresponding strain on travel and equipment budgets. Thanks for your continuing moral and financial support!