Madison Novice Eight Places Fourth in State

The Madison women’s and men’s novice eights posted encouraging performances  on the Occoquan at the 2012 Ted Phoenix Regatta –the state championships for lower boats.    

Out of an original field of 15 novice eight boats competing in three heats, Madison Women’s novice eight was one of six boats to advance to the final with a hard-fought second place in Heat 1, finishing just behind Yorktown.

In the final, won by Glouster, Mt. Vernon (5:57:21) edged over Madison (5:58:21) for third place; second-place Yorktown (5:56:88) beat Madison by just more than a second. 

“The girls have worked so hard all season," Madison Novice Women’s Coach Anne FitzSimons said. "To go from not knowing how to row to being a competitive boat in the state finals is a tremendous accomplishment. “

The men’s novice eight also posted a strong third place performance in the fastest heat of three freshman races (5:22:47) but did not achieve the second place finish needed to qualify for the Novice Eight finals.  

“We entered the Ted Phoenix Regatta ranked eighth in a fifteen boat field and ended up in the fastest heat," Men’s Novice Coach John Findley said. "I thought the novices rowed their best race of the year against very tough competition.”

Both novice boats will compete  as part of Madison Crew’s entries at the Stotesbury Regatta, May 18 and 19 in Philadelphia.

Madison crew’s upper boats will compete May 12 at the Virginia Scholastic Rowing Championships on the Occoquan.

Treeby Brown contributed reporting for this story.