NERC Notes

Regatta Point – Worcester, MA – 70s and lots of wind in lots of directions – Buoys + Stakes

Close, but no cigar. At the New England Regional Championships, the UMass Men fought hard and long but ended up just 0.2 seconds away from a strong third place finish in the V8 grand final. The 2V8 also found themselves in the grand final, and just edged out WPI for a fifth place finish.

To start, the 3V8 came into NERC following of a string of solid races, hoping to make a splash just before Dad Vail. Led by Kedar Seetal, who just days before fended off a bus knife attack, the 3V8 pushed past URI but fell out of the grand final with an 8th place finish in their time trial. The crew regrouped and pulled off a respectable 2nd place finish in the petite final six seconds off Tufts B.

Over in the 2V8 heat, spectators were treated to a long and tough battle between Wesleyan, Colby and UMass before Wesleyan and UMass pushed through Colby's (very) strong start. After advancing to the grand final just behind Wesleyan, the UMass 2V8 had to pull a bloody brutal backbreaking burst of speed in order to edge out a disappointing, yet still fast finish in fifth.

The V8 also found themselves in a brutal battle against two strong crews (USCGA and Tufts), but pulled out a first place finish in their heat with a time just a hair over six minutes. Advancing into the grand final, the Aggies threw the kitchen sink at Williams, WPI and BC, ultimately coming up just 0.224s short of a medal. Regardless, it was a strong showing for a fast UMass crew.

All-in-all, it was a solid day of racing for UMass and congratulations to BC for a strong 3V8 showing and Bates for blowing the doors off of everyone in the V8 and 2V8. On to Dad Vail!