Madison Crew Takes Top In State — Again

, Madison High School's first and second eight boats demonstrated   their dominance in their state by cruising to first place victories  at the Virginia Scholastic Rowing Championships.  

The women's first and second eight boats both defeated the National Cathedral School (NCS)  boats with times of 5:10:00 and 5:35:40, respectively. Also receiving   medals yesterday were the women's junior eight who placed second in   the state, just behind Lake Braddock with a time of 5:51:19.

The Madison men's boats also posted strong performances. The men's  
first eight placed fifth in the state (4:53:63) in a very tight  final won by St. Alban's.  It was one of the most exciting races of the day with only two seconds separating the second, third, fourth and fifth place winners.  The men's second eight also placed fifth in the   state with a time of 5:02:04.  Also competing yesterday were the men's lightweight four and the men's first four.

Next weekend, Madison crew travels to Philadelphia to compete in  
the 86th Annual Stotesbury Cup Regatta, which will attract  923 boats, 198 high schools and more than 5,000 athletes.

Treeby Brown contributed reporting to this story.