RALEIGH - Despite a sky laden with heavy clouds and tough water conditions, the rowing team gained a sunny confidence Saturday.
The Blue Devils won the first varsity eight and saw great improvement on their other boats Saturday at the Lake Wheeler Invitational, the first home race Duke has ever hosted.
The Blue Devil's first varsity eight started the day with a strong performance in Heat A against Tulsa, George Washington and Southern Methodist. The crew's quick start established its leading position in the first half of the 2000-meter race, and the advantage was further extended through the last 1000m. Duke defeated the runner-up GW by more than a boat length and finished 6:48.20.
Because of an inclement weather outlook, the race schedule was compressed, giving the crews less time between races. The quick turnaround did not hinder the Blue Devils' performance, however, in the first varsity eight grand final. The crew managed to continue its good catches and strokes against a tougher water condition, breaking its earlier record by more than five seconds and beating the other three boats from North Carolina, Navy and GW.
"The biggest thing I saw that was different from last weekend is just much more aggressiveness in the stroke," head coach Robyn Horner said. "They were locking the blades in really well and really driving aggressively. I was definitely happy with today."
The second varsity eight also showed great improvement from a disappointing performance last weekend in Columbus, Ohio. The team beat Eastern Michigan, UNC and Tulsa with a time of 7:04.9 in Heat B and entered the grand final, in which they lost to Eastern Michigan, Bucknell and Navy, placing fourth among all eight boats.
"Sometimes when a crew comes off from a tough race, I always try to find the silver edge in the cloud and try to get our leaders to step up," assistant coach Jim Lister said. "This boat has a bunch of racers that want to be successful. They are eager to win and perform well."
After switching to a new boat following the Columbus meet, the young second varsity eight needed to find a team rhythm.
"In the final, we were all pulling extremely hard but just not together," sophomore Iraina Miles said. "We need to build the trust in ourselves that we are fully capable of racing as hard as we can-not on an individual level, but as a whole boat that everybody is pulling as hard as possibly we can."
In the varsity four race, Duke had an easy time defeating Eastern Michigan with a time of 8:00.9 in Heat B, before finishing third in the grand final. The second varsity four crew fell to Bucknell and Navy, crossing the finish line in 8:36.20.
This was the Blue Devils' first time competing in multiple crew racing this season, the format of the upcoming ACC Championships.
"It is a totally different experience," senior coxswain Sarah Shapiro said. "Racing in dual is a lot easier to focus on one boat. This is much different because you can be beating one boat but losing to another boat. It is more distracting."
Shapiro said it is important for the team to have such experiences before going into the ACCs, which will be held April 22 at Clemson University.
"I thought this was a good and solid race, something we can build on going into ACC," Horner said. "Virginia has won the ACC every year. They are definitely the crew that everyone is going to be shooting for in the varsity eight. I would like us to be in a position where we are comfortably in the second spot and trying to challenge Virginia."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.