Sports > April 3, 2008

By Allison Lange | Assistant sports editor

The field was composed of junior and college clubs, which included 31 different races, all which competed on Lake Hatfield.

The Wake Forest rowing team traveled to Clemson March 22 to participate in the Clemson Sprints Regatta.

The Wake Forest team entered five four-person boats – the lightweight varsity men’s, women’s varsity A & B boats, men’s novice and women’s novice. Wake also entered a boat in the single scull race.

In the single scull race, sophomore Carl Jablonski came in third place in the preliminary round with a time of 8:01.25.

The women’s varsity A boat came in second in prelims and finished fourth in the finals with a time of 8:28.53.

The women’s varsity B boat placed fifth in prelims with a time of 8:45.53.

The women’s novice boat placed first in the preliminary round and finished third in the final round with a time of 9:54.30.

The men’s novice boat, which had the highest finish of all Wake Forest boats in the regatta, placed third in prelims and second in the final heat at 8:20.26.

Last, the men’s varsity lightweight boat finished second in the final round with a time of 7:47.72.

“The team did really well. Five entries brought in one fourth, one bronze and two silver finishes. The men’s freshmen four was the best finishing club boat in its event,” sophomore Adam Fernbach said.

As the competition and the day went on, water conditions worsened as the water became choppier, making it difficult for the crews to row.

“These conditions posed a problem to our boat,” freshman Gabriella Almeida said.

“But I think as the season goes on we will become more familiar with various conditions and be able to row better in those types of conditions.”

Even though the team was challenged with the rough water conditions, they pulled through with a successful meet, which can hopefully translate to the rest of the season.

“Not winning any golds was certainly a disappointment but not enough to weigh down the team’s good feelings after such an all-around successful regatta,” Fernbach said.

“Wake Crew has medaled at every regatta except the 2007 Dad Vail since Fall 2006 and it doesn’t look like there is an end in sight.”

The crew team looks to its second regatta in Oak Ridge, Tenn., April 5-6.