In search of better weather and more experienced competition, the women's crew team traveled to San Diego, Calif., this weekend to compete in the rough waters of the San Diego Crew Classic.
Duke competed in three races in the regatta. It recorded two last-place finishes in the varsity eight, but grabbed a fifth-place finish in the junior varsity competition.
Duke's varsity eight boat opted to compete only in the Jessop-Whittier Cup, whose field included third-ranked California, No. 4 USC and No. 6 Michigan, instead of competing in both the invitational and the open Copley Cup.
"We figured we had nothing to lose," freshman varsity-eight rower Joanna Hingle said. "Nobody expected anything from us so we gave it everything we had."
The Blue Devils placed last in the cup's first-round heat Saturday, a full 27 seconds behind the leader, Michigan. However, they only finished five seconds behind host and 13th-ranked San Diego State.
Since it was an invitation-only race, all 12 teams were assured of continuing on to compete in either the Grand Final or the Petite Final according to their times.
In the Petite Finals, Duke finished last again, but narrowed the margin between the first and last-place finishes to 21 seconds.
In both races, Duke started out strong, finishing either fourth or fifth after the first 500-meter split, but lagged in the middle 1,000 meters. The Blue Devils picked up the pace in the final 500-meter sprints, but in each race, it was just a case of too little, too late.
The Blue Devils' most surprising finish came in the junior varsity eights Saturday. As Duke strove to acclimate itself to the rougher bay waters at the Classic, it reversed the varsity eight's pattern.
Instead of starting strong in the first 500 meters, the Blue Devils came in last, and then pulled ahead of California and Sacramento State, whose varsities are nationally ranked.
The junior varsity held on for a fifth-place finish, 25 seconds behind the leader, Oregon State, but nine seconds ahead of last-place Sacramento State.
"The water was a lot more rough, and that's a factor we had to deal with," Hingle said. "[In San Diego], we rowed in the ocean and we're not accustomed to the chop that's present there, and [next week] we're competing in D.C. on a river with rougher waters, so we're going at it with everything we got."
This Saturday Duke will travel to Washington, D.C., to compete against Georgetown and George Washington.
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