Fordham men’s crew headed to Orchard Beach Lagoon for the Spring Championship Regatta hosted by the Metropolitan Intercollegiate Rowing Association and Iona College this past weekend. Water conditions were welcoming as the Rams entered the water with other colleges’ and universities’ boats from across the region.
The Novice Four began the afternoon with a great run in its heat, shutting out NYU, Maritime and Sarah Lawrence for a first-place finish and a spot in the final. Unfortunately, the Rams dropped in rankings in the final.
Fordham fared better in the Novice Eight, placing an A and B boat in separate heats, both of which qualified for the final. In heat one Fordham A placed first in a field of four and B posted a second-place finish in heat two, behind Army. In the final, Fordham A edged Army for a first-place finish (7:18.1), but B fell to fifth in an overall course time of 8:09.8.
In the lone Varsity Pair event, Fordham fell to Fairfield A (7:11.7) in a field of four boats.
The Rams entered boats into Varsity Four and Second Varsity Four events and dominated both finals. The Varsity Four won its heat by a substantial near-16-second margin over Binghamton. The Four had similar success in the final, tromping a field of six boats with a course time of 7:39.1. The Second Four edged Iona in the Second Varsity Four Final by four seconds for the victory (7:06.2).
Fordham’s Varsity Eight crew also performed well, defeating a field of five for a first place finish in the Varsity Eight Final (6:40.8), most notably, defeating Army (6:47.3) and Iona (7:01.6).
“We got some good race experience under our belt this weekend,” junior Kenny Berry said. “It was good to race both Iona and Army again and see how we’ve progressed on them.”
“Earlier in the year at the Murphy Cup we only beat Army by two seconds, so opening up that margin to 6.5 seconds gives us confidence that we’ve found some speed over our competition in the last few weeks,” senior captain Ryan Kirlin said.
The Rams’ overall point total came to 157 (combined with results from the women’s rowing team), placing them in first at the conclusion of the afternoon. The top five placing schools included Fordham (157), Army (108), Fairfield (85.5), Iona (60.5) and the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (47).
The Rams are looking ahead to the Dad Vail Regatta hosted in Philadelphia, Pa. on Friday, May 8 and Saturday, May 9. The Dad Vail is the premier rowing affair in the country, welcoming nearly 100 colleges and universities from across North America to the Schuylkill River for two days of rowing events.
Last season the Rams came home with the Thomas W. Loschiavo Trophy after placing first in the Varsity Lightweight Eight event. This season, they hope to do much of the same.
“We still have some work to do to really make sure we’re ready for Dad Vail,” Berry said. “I’m very confident that the guys will find that extra bit to really prove how hard we’ve worked this season.”
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