Sports
Crew teams win annual Mayor’s Cup in Tampa
By Patrick English '15, Sports Contributor
March 29, 2012
While most Hamilton students slept in and relaxed during spring break, the men’s and women’s crew teams went to Tampa, FL for their annual spring break trip. The trip included two-a-days of rowing with morning practices at 6:30 a.m., followed by afternoon practices at 3 p.m. The rowing was the main focus of the trip, but the teams also had downtime, which they spent tanning by the pool and sleeping. Several members of the men’s team also spent their leisure time playing FIFA Soccer ’12.
As Grant Meglis ’14 put it, “There was a lot of blood, sweat and tears, as well as trash talk. But after some controversy and a lot of ball handling, Kyle [Leahy ’14] prevailed as FIFA champion.” The FIFA tournament on the last night was clearly one of the highlights.
The real climax of the trip was the Tampa Mayor’s Cup Regatta, which Hamilton won for the second consecutive year. Hamilton also had six first place finishes by the women’s varsity eight, women’s varsity four, women’s junior varsity eight, women’s junior varsity four, men’s novice four and men’s double. In addition, there were also second place finishes by the women’s novice eight and men’s varsity eight, as well as a third place finish for the women’s novice four.
The points trophy, or Mayor’s Cup, was awarded to the team with the most points . Hamilton came in first with 44 points, topping second-place finisher Colgate, which finished with 32.
The team was very satisfied with their results, as Joe Ely ’12 explained, “Being the first race of the year, the Mayor’s Cup is always a little nerve racking. Our positive results show how hard we’ve trained on the ergs over the winter and are a great start to our season.”
Antonia Villa ’12 added, “The Mayor’s Cup was a great way to open the season. With only a week of practice on the water, the results truly show how much speed Hamilton has. This is the fastest this team has been at the start of the season, and we only will get faster from here.”
After they finished their races, the rowers had a unique opportunity to cheer on their coach, Eric Summers, as he raced in a masters’ double event. Summers finished third in this event.
Solid finishes for the team as a whole made for a positive outlook on the season ahead.
“If we keep rowing as powerfully as we did in Florida for the rest of the spring season, I’m confident that we will have a very real shot at qualifying for NCAAs later in the spring,” said Keara Fenzel ’14. “It was great to get in some good racing experience, especially for our novices and freshmen. Gold medals are always great, but more importantly the boats were really moving, which shows how our team is coming together.”
“I think the Mayor’s Cup made us all very excited for the season ahead!” Sophie Breene ’12 added.
Next up for the men’s and women’s crew teams is a trip to Medford, MA where they will face Tufts, Tulane and Wentworth on Sunday, April 1.