Lightweights VS Penn/Columbia, Heavies VS Rutgers

This past weekend the lightweights took part in two races against tough EARC opponents. The first race took place in Philadelphia against a Penn squad who Delaware had swept the previous year at the varsity level. The first race to go off was the 2f 4+, they fell to a strong Quaker novice squad by six seconds. Next race was the freshman lightweight race. The Blue Hens were able to keep contact with the Penn freshman boat for the first 1000 meters but Penn was able to pull away from the young Blue Hen squad to win by nearly 13 seconds.

At the varsity level the JV squad faired better than all previous crews keeping the Quakers close for the entirety of the race. The Blue Hen JV squad fell to Penn’s 2v by two seconds. In the premier event of the morning the Varsity boats squared off. Penn was able to gain their lead by the 750-meter mark, which they held for the entirety of the race, downing Delaware by 4 seconds. The Penn lightweights clocked a 5:50.9, while Delaware pulled a 5:55.2.

Later that evening the fighting 150 squad traveled up to Princeton’s Lake Carnegie to race tough EARC opponent Columbia. The freshman were able to shake off their disappointing results from the morning and beat Columbia in both the 2f 4+ and the Freshman light 8+ races. The 2f 4+ beat their Columbia opponent by nearly 12 seconds. The freshman lightweight 8+ was able to pull together a solid piece and beat the Columbia freshman by 2 seconds. The Delaware Frosh clocked a 6:31.15 to Columbia’s 6:33.78.

The fighting 150 varsity squad who had swept Columbia the previous year were not able to regain their titles falling to the Lions in both the JV and Varsity races. In the JV race the Lions were able to jump Delaware at the start gaining a decisive margin in the first 500 meters, which they held for the entirety of the race. In the Varsity event the Blue Hen’s held even with the Lions for the first 750 meters. Despite a good move in the second 500, the Blue Hen’s were not able to hold of a charging Columbia squad who would eventually win the race by 7 seconds.

The Delaware Heavyweight’s also competed on Saturday traveling up to New Brunswick to race both Rutgers and Bucknell. The heavy freshman squads put a good effort out in their first duel race of the season but were not able to hold off Rutgers and Bucknell. Bucknell won the frosh event with a time of 6:34.1, Rutgers came in second with a 6:36.6 and Delaware clocked a 6:46.6. In the frosh 4+ event Delaware fell to Rutgers by a decisive margin.

Last year the Delaware Varsity Heavies defeated Rutgers on the Raritan but fell short this year. Despite an aggressive first 500 the heavies fell back and were defeated by both Bucknell and Rutgers. Bucknell won the race with a 6:19.3, Rutgers in second with a 6:25.5 and Delaware 3rd with a 6:33. The heavies will get their chance at redemption next weekend when they compete for the Knect Cup on the Cooper River.