Robinson Crew Coach: 'Good Things Happening At All Levels' at Saturday's Regatta

The Robinson Crew Men's 2nd varsity (2v) won a historical race at Saturday’s Smokey Jacobs Regatta at Sandy Run Regional Park, edging out Washington-Lee for first place with a time of 5:38.90

Although it was the first 2v win in the ten years he has coached Robinson, head coach Jon Barrett said he sees "good things happening at all levels." Robinson entered 12 events overall and finished first or second in six of them.

"The girls 2v had a good recovery week, they were off the pace two weeks ago, but they put things together this week and finished second," Barrett said. "The novice girls also won their third win of the year.  All of our novice and lower boats are faring very well, and it’s all because of their commitment starting back in November when we began winter training."

The boys had "close to a sweep" with the first varsity coming in second with a time of 05:20.96.  The fourth varsity also won its race with a time of 06:19.20.

The only disappointing finish was the men’s third varsity, which was leading by a significant amount before they lost their fin about halfway through the race, making steering nearly impossible, especially given the wind. 

“I've never seen that happen to a Robinson boat in any regatta before, Barrett said. “They were likely going to win, so it will make them hungry going in to their final race before the championships. I can't imagine something like that will happen again.” 

At this point in the season, Barrett is looking ahead to state championships.  He hopes the team’s continued progress will lead to favorable lanes and heats in the state championships.  “We're pretty excited heading into the championship races. There's still work to do, and we will try to squeeze out a few more seconds of speed over the next couple weeks. We will be rowing against some very good teams.”

All race results can be found at www.vasra.org