Drexel comes out on top in Dad Vail Regatta shortened by rain
With heavy rain pouring down from the start of Saturday’s races, regatta officials decided to end the competition after the last grand final at 10:35 a.m.
On a day that only the ducks bobbing on the surface of the Schuylkill could love, Drexel embraced the lousy weather Saturday and took charge of the Dad Vail Regatta yet again.
The Dragons posted victories in both the men's and women's varsity eight in the first 20 minutes of competition and rolled to their fifth consecutive overall points title in the 79th edition of the nation's largest college regatta.
The steady heavy rain that fell from the start prompted regatta officials to end the competition after the last grand final was conducted at 10:35 a.m. because of "deteriorating conditions and for the safety of the athletes and the volunteers." Consolation finals scheduled for the late morning and early afternoon were cancelled.
Drexel won five races overall in taking the overall crown with 56 points and also prevailed in the women's championship, with 28.
The Dragons set the tone early with their women capturing the varsity eight at the Dad Vail for the first time in program history, scoring a convincing victory over perennial power Massachusetts in 6 minutes, 30.064 seconds on the 2,000-meter course.
"It's almost indescribable," said senior Marina Forster, a Lower Merion graduate. "We already knew at the 1,000 that we had it, so it was just like, 'Oh my gosh, did this really just happen? Did we really beat them by this much?' It's so satisfying."
Dragons coach Paul Savell said he was delighted to see his women break through in the featured women's event of the regatta.
"It was huge," he said. "We've been working toward that for a long time. Last year we got the silver [medal], and you know there's a lot of fast teams out there. So we weren't going to take anybody for granted."
Ten minutes after the women's victory, the men's varsity eight came down the river and outdueled St. Joseph's and Delaware for its first victory in the event since 2013, timed in 5:39.633.
"It was probably one of the greatest moments of my life, and I'm sure all the other guys on the boat can say the same," senior Joe Masgai said. "We've been putting in an incredible amount of work the past few months to kind of reach this point, so for all that to come to fruition was really a great experience."
Masgai called it "a pretty nasty morning" with the rain and that a "hefty tailwind" helped the rowers. But he added, "Our coaches have been putting us in all sorts of weather all year to prepare for these situations."
Drexel also picked up victories in the women's junior varsity eight, the women's third varsity eight, and the men's freshman/novice eight.
Delaware outdistanced the Dragons for the men's points championship and finished second overall. The Blue Hens took both the men's lightweight eight and the men's lightweight four while also winning the women's junior varsity four.
St. Joseph's, which had gone without a gold medal at the Dad Vail since 2010 on the men's side and 2011 on the women's side, picked up three on Saturday — men's junior varsity eight, men's third varsity eight and women's freshman/novice eight. The Hawks finished second in the women's point standings and third in the men's and the overall competition.
Georgia Tech's men's crew won three races — the varsity four, the junior varsity four and the varsity pair.
The eight winners of one championship each included Pittsburgh, which took the women's varsity pair. The Panthers lost laptops, backpacks and equipment in a theft after vandals broke into two of their vans Thursday.