Heavies Have a Promising Weekend at the Murphy Cup
2 min read
The heavyweights participated in the 31st annual Murphy Cup on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia this weekend. They were met with sunny skies and swirling inconsistent winds. The heavyweights entered 3 boats; a varsity eight and two frosh eights. Two out of the three boats made it to the finals.
The freshman eights saw the first action of the day as the Delaware A and B entries each raced in separate heats. The heat with Delaware B went off first. Although this heat was very competitive, Delaware looked as though they would make it through to the finals, however during the course of the race the crew encountered equipment problems ultimately relegating them to a fourth place finish. They finished behind Virginia, Williams and North Carolina respectively and were 45 seconds off the winning time of 6.18.1. The second freshman heat saw Delaware A have a strong race finishing in second place 7.5 seconds behind Drexel’s winning time of 6.19.2. With this result Delaware qualified for the grand final of the novice eight. The last heat action of the morning saw Delaware’s varsity eight come in third place behind a very strong Virginia boat and LaSalle. Delaware was 19.5 seconds off Virginia’s winning time of 5.58.1. This third place finish qualified Delaware for the petite final in the varsity eight event.
Delaware’s first finals action of the day pitted the Delaware A novice eight against boats from Drexel, Virginia, West Point, Lehigh and Williams in the grand final. In a highly competitive race the Delaware entry ultimately came in fourth behind Drexel, Virginia and West Point. They were 20 seconds off the winning time of 5.57.4. The varsity took on West Point, LaSalle, Colgate, St. Joes and Villanova in the petite final. After some hard and close racing, Delaware ultimately finished in fourth place behind West Point, LaSalle and Colgate. They finished 7.1 seconds off the winning time of 6.10.9.
After a promising weekend of cup racing the heavyweights will shift their focus to prepare for their duel against Rutgers University in New Brunswick New Jersey this coming weekend (4/6).
