 "Photo: Courtesy of Shawn Duff")
The men's crew team made university history this weekend, winning the point trophy in the 70th annual Dad Vail Regatta. The Hens are only the second club crew team to win the men's title at the collegiate regatta.
"This is considered one of the largest and top-most competitive regattas in the country for colleges," head coach Chuck Crawford said. "[The regatta] is open for college varsity programs and club programs and they are all competing against one another."
Delaware dominated the regatta, which hosted more than 2,000 athletes representing approximately 100 colleges from across the United States and Canada. Delaware came in third for the overall point trophy and won the men's point trophy with 29 points, defeating defending champions Purdue by 11 points.
"This is our first time we've ever won this," team vice president and heavy weight rower Shawn Duff said. "Dad Vail's is unique in the way varsity and club teams all compete side by side. Beating other varsity teams always makes us feel good about what we're doing."
The freshman heavyweight and lightweight eight won first place in their respective events. The freshman heavyweight eight placed first in the finals out of 28 entries. The freshman lightweight eight placed first in a fast heat of four boats.
"This was a freshman sweep for Delaware," freshman coach Joe Kleiman said. "I'm pretty proud of the whole year these guys have had. This was the No. 1 goal to win this race. To finally get to do that is good for the program, good for the guys in the race and good for the guys on the team that didn't get a chance to race in the event."
Delaware had eight boats competing this weekend. The junior varsity lightweight eight was the only lightweight crew to compete in the JV heavyweight event because there was no JV event for lightweight boats.
Five of the eight boats advanced to the finals, Crawford said. In addition to the freshmen boat victories, the varsity lightweight eight placed second out of 11 crews - losing to Fordham by 6.8 seconds - the varsity heavyweight eight placed ninth out of 31 teams overall, battling with the "Dad Vail powerhouse" Purdue and the JV heavyweight eight placed fourth out of 19 boats.
"The varsity boats all did well, but didn't do as well as they wanted to," Kleiman said. "When you don't win you always want to do better."
Despite the results, Crawford is happy with the team's performance and hopes to see positive improvements in the upcoming races.
"It was the best performance the University of Delaware has ever had at the Dad Vail Regatta for the overall team," he said. "As far as freshman crew's performance being so good, it bodes extremely well for the future of our team over the next couple of years."
The team looks forward to the Eastern Sprints Regatta in Worcester, Mass. next weekend and the selective Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championship Regatta in June. Only the Top-12 lightweight crews in the country receive bids to the IRA Regatta and Delaware hopes for an invitation, Crawford said. They have been ranked in the country's top 12 in recent years and he hopes this year they will be in the top ten.
Duff said he believes the win is a step in the right direction for the athletes.
"I don't think it's our pinnacle," he said. "We won it as a team, but really, the best is still yet to come. It's a young team that is getting used to winning. If they continue, they're going to be really good. It's something special."
Both coaches agree the club program is moving forward toward a promising future.
"We proved how deep the team is right now and how good we'll be for years to come," Kleiman said.
When asked if he expects to win the men's trophy at Dad Vail's next year, Crawford said there is no doubt in his mind.
"Oh yeah," he said. "We want to make that a habit."
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