OU Crew hosts MACRA Regatta

Hey all, 17 teams, including powers Michigan, Ohio State, Grand Valley State and Mercyhurst traveled to Athens this year for the annual MACRA regatta. This year's regatta was arguably the most competitive it has ever been, and OUMC boats were up to the challenge. We fielded a novice 4, a heavy 4, two lightweight 4s, and three 8's (Novice, Hvy, Lwt). Highlights of the day included both lwt 4's making the finals, the heavy 8 making petite finals, and the lwt's medaling in the jv/lwt race, finishing 3rd behind Michigan and Ohio State. The lwt's posted a time of 6:24, their fastest yet of the year. The regatta was run very smoothly and much thanks goes out to all of our alumni who took time to help put on the regatta. We enjoy showcasing Stroud's Run and OU every year, and are disappointed MACRA will be moving to Grand Valley next year. Looking Ahead to Vails.... The team made it in safely to our hotel outside of Philly last night, and today we will travel out to the race course, register, weigh in, and get a good practice out on the course. The Novice and Heavy 8's have prelims on Friday, and the lwt's have prelims Saturday morning. Hopefully all boats will get to race more than once during the weekend. Weather does not look too promising for the weekend, but hopefully most of the rain will hold off on racing days. Follow our results on www.dadvail.org, as the site updates to- the-minute with results. Once again, it was great to see everyone who made it out to MACRA, and thanks for all of the help in making MACRA a great event.

OHIO CREW WINS GOVERNORS CUP

Charleston- WV.-Kanawha River- All 6 OUMC Boats medaled this afternoon as their perfromances propelled Ohio Crew to its first ever total team points trophy. Ohio won with 160 points while nearest competitor Virginia Tech finished with 114 points, and Duquesne finished third with 96. On a day that saw OUMC race members mutliple times, the crew brought home 41 total medals. Taking gold was the Novice 8 in the Freshman Novice Race and the Heavy 8 that raced in the JV race. Finishing Second was the LWT 8 in the Varsity 8 race, the LWT 8 in the 500 meter dash- a race in which there had to be a video review to determine that OUMC was .7 seconds behind Virginia Tech, the Varsity LWT 4, and the Varsity Heavy 4. Finishing 3rd was the Novice 4. Competing teams in the Governors Cup included Virginia Tech, Carnegie Melon, Duquesne, Xavier, Case Western, Cleveland State, College of Charleston, Robert Morris, Dennison, and John Carrol. Three OUWC boats also medaled in races contributing to the team win. OUMC boats all had their best races of the year, and look forward to MACRA and the competitive field that will be coming to Athens this year. Hope to see you all there.

After a one year absence, OUMC again returned to the SIRA championship regatta in Oak Ridge, Tennessee on Friday and Saturday. All three of our boats had their best races of the year to date, and OUMC posted very respectable finishes against some of the top teams in the South. The team also took time to enjoy some of the best weather of the year, 80's and sunny, over the weekend. OUMC highlights of the weekend include: -The Novice 8 having their first crabless race of the year in the C Finals on Saturday, where they went on to finish 3rd, only .78 seconds out of 2nd place. -The Heavy 8 defeating SCAD to advance to the semi-finals. They raced well in the semi-finals, but fell short in their bid to make A Finals, against southern powers Virginia and others. The Heavy's then went on to their third race in the B Finals, on Saturday, which marked the first in several years, I am told, that an OU open 8 had advanced to that level. -The Lwt 8 raced Saturday in the Finals, against LWT powers Purdue and Georgia Tech, along with Clemson, Washington U. St. Louis and Embry Rittle. The Lwt's also had their best race of the year, fighting alongside Purdue, Clemson and the rest for most of the race. They finished 5th, but only 6 seconds out of 2nd place, and three seconds from Purdue. The LWT's are all looking forward to getting another shot at those boats again in 4 weeks at Philidelphia. Overall, OUMC had a great weekend in Tennessee, all of our boats were very competitive, and we will look to work harder in the off week to further ready ourselves for the rest of the season. OUMC will look to carry on their success in two weeks at the Governors Cup in Charleston W.V. on the 29th. Until Next Time, Go Bobcats

On a rather cloudy and cold day Saturday, April 1, OUMC dusted off some cobwebs and got back into the feel of a 2k race against the Redhawks of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio in what has basically become a dual race (with the exception of a couple of other schools in a couple of races). Here are some highlights; Our Novice boys encountered many crabs on their way to finish 2nd behind Miami and ahead of Western Michigan - The OUMC Four made up of 2 novice and 2 varsity walked on a boat from Western Michigan in the last 500 to finish 2nd -The LWT 8 took 2nd, finishing 0.8 seconds out of first place, which was won by Miami's heavyweight 8. -The OUMC Heavy 8 took 3rd behind Miami and OUMC lwt's.  Next up the Ohio Cup on the 8th in Westerville. We'll enter a novice 8, a novice 4, a LWT 4, a LWT 8 and a Heavy 8. Both the varsity 8's will again be in the same race, and they will look to give Ohio State their best race and continue the friendly intrasquad rivalry between the heavy's and the lwt's.

EAT SLEEP ROW
Just got back in from South Carolina last night and wanted to give everyone an update of how the trip went. Although we were all a bit down because of the weather (cold, cloudy, and rainy) we got a lot of good work in on Lake Marion. Coach Rachel was very pleased with the work that we put in and we are all looking forward to racing and some warmer spring weather to come. It was not all rowing out at camp bob, however, as we did manage to find time to play volleyball, basketball, ultimate frisbee, and some of us even got in touch with a creative side and did "arts and crafts," which we were proud to share with the women's team (pictures to come soon). Spring season will kick off with Redhawk Sprints April 1. Until next time...