ROWING — At Mercer Lake on Sunday, Florida Tech’s varsity eight raced very well against three crews ranked among the top 20 in the latest USRowing Collegiate Poll: No. 8 Navy, No. 12 Columbia and No. 16 George Washington.
The men’s varsity eight closed the gap on No. 16 George Washington by almost one second on Sunday. (Florida Tech image)
The Panthers gained nearly a second on George Washington to finish fourth at 5:46.9.
Navy won the race at 5:42.3. Columbia was second at 5:45.2. George Washington was nearly a second behind at 5:46.1.
Two weeks ago, George Washington beat FIT by 1.7 seconds for the Southern Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championship. Racing for the Panthers on Sunday was the same crew from SIRA: coxswain Jessica Mellinger, stroke JoseGomez-Feria, Ernestas Zarskis, Carson Green,Mindaugas Beliauskas, Kevin Coyle, John Martin, Andrew Konecny and bow Joe Horn.
Jim Granger
“It was a great race,” head coach Jim Granger said. “The conditions were difficult. There was a very strong tailwind and the water was choppy. All crews handled it well. Earlier this season, we were hoping to race Columbia, and I was happy we had that opportunity today. I’d like to thank Rob Friedrich from Navy and Mark Davis from GW for hosting us.
“Today was a good final test before Dad Vail. The one second difference between us and GW is attainable. One stroke there, two strokes here can add up. We still have areas to work on, but today gave us confidence that we’re going in the right direction. We got a lot out of today’s race. It was a day well spent.”
Mindaugas Beliauskas
The second varsity eight also raced and finished fourth at 6:13.4. The order of the top three was the same as the first varsity race with Navy, Columbia and George Washington placing first through third. Navy’s time was 5:53.0. Columbia clocked in at 5:57.1, and George Washington recorded a time of 6:00.2.
The second varsity eight included coxswain Katherine Hausrath, stroke Clay Mathieu, Marko Milovanovic, Strahinja Markovic, Martynas Mickus, Paul Kepinski, Andor Dezsi, Alec Bertossa and bow Hank Walch.
FIT will race next at the Aberdeen Dad Vail Regatta starting on Friday in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Panthers Second After First Round of NCAA South Super Regional
The Florida Tech Panthers opened play Sunday at the NCAA South Super Regional. The Panthers turned in a solid first round, and are in second place with two rounds to play.
The Panthers are in second place after the first round of the NCAA South Super Regional. Junior Rachel Polson, above, and freshman Johanna Larsson both led the squad with two-over-par rounds of 74. (Florida Tech image)
The Panthers recorded a first round team score of 301. Junior Rachel Polson and freshman Johanna Larsson both led the squad with two-over-par rounds of 74.
Freshman Guro Rambjoer recorded a first round score of 75, and sophomore Felicia Leftinger shot a 78. Junior Jara’ Templet finished with a first round of 86.
Lynn leads the team standings after a first round 297, and the Fighting Knights are four shots ahead of the Panthers.
Rachel Polson
Daisy-May Kenny of West Florida leads the individual standings. Kenny shot a two-under-par 70, and she leads Jessica Bradley and Ellen Chambers of Lynn by two shots. Polson and Larsson are tied for fourth, and are four shots behind Kenny.
Second round play begins Monday morning at 8:30 a.m. ET at Lake Jovita Golf & Country Club. Live scoring will be available at FloridaTechSports.com.
The top three teams and three individuals will advance to the NCAA Division II Championships.
