Crew's Occoquan sprints cut short by weather

There are only two words to describe the weather conditions at the Occoquan Sprints on Sunday: clear and cold. According to sophomore Garrett Butler, "it was freezing and [the] water conditions were torrid" in Lorton, Va. at the Occoquan River. Forced to compete with constant 25 mile-per-hour winds and gusts reaching up to 40 miles per hour, the rowers of the Johns Hopkins men's and women's crew teams made do and raced on shorted courses ranging from 800 to 1250 meters. Teams from George Washington, Pittsburgh, Mary Washington, Richmond, Penn State, Virginia Tech, UMBC, Maryland, George Mason, Stockton, Loyola and Susquehanna all competed in the competition.

The Jays came in fifth in the men's novice eight and the men's Varsity four race one, in second in the men's Varsity four race two, while the women's team finished in first and second in the women's varsity four race one and the women's varsity four race two, respectively.

The rest of the races on the Occoquan River were cancelled due to the inclement weather, though Hopkins was performing admirably and earning respectable showings. The men's novice eight in composed of sophomore David Chou, freshman Tim Park, freshman Erik Anderson, sophomore Sean Cheng, freshman Steven Flores, freshman Teddy Drivas, freshman Lukasz Bugai, sophomore Matt Hart and senior Mike Vu put up a fifth place showing. The Blue Jays reached the same end in the men's four race, in which junior Dave Small, freshman Greg Kearns, freshmen Wesley Fredericks, sophomore Garret Butler and freshman Rachel Rascob cruised into fifth place as well.

Things picked up for the men's team in the third race in which they competed, with the Hopkins B lightweight team of senior Mike Walsh, sophomore Pete Ryan, senior Pat Mason, senior Derek Davies and senior Terry Dean finishing just after Virginia Tech for a third place finish. But the zenith of the Hopkins' crew performances on the day came from the women's teams, in which the women's Varsity four race two --which featured the Hopkins B team of sophomore Payal Ghosh, freshman Theresa Keating, sophomore Renee Equsa, sophomore Elie Gilfort and junior Ariel Lyons-Warren -- just barely lost to Stockton College. Not to be outdone, the Hopkins Varsity race one took to the Occoquan and never looked back, with freshman Laura Demare, senior Allison McNickle, junior Caroline Hookway, senior Caitlin Hurst and freshman coxswain Virginia Pearson blowing past the competition and capturing a first-place finish on the day. They narrowly edged out second-place Catholic University.

"All of the four's races were held in heat-style, where there is no final race at the end featuring winners from the heats, thus it is difficult to really say how we stacked up against the competition since we cannot compare times from different heats," said Hopkins senior captain Terry Dean.

However, Dean did point out that there were some highlights for Hopkins on the day, giving his female counterparts credit. "The women, however, did win one of their heats, and were the only Hopkins' boat of the day to win their heat," said Dean.

Despite constant high wind and a shortened course, Hopkins performed well under the circumstances at the Occoquan straits. The crew teams will look forward to more competition and better water conditions when they continue their season on Saturday, April 17, at the Knecht Cup in Camden, NJ.