James Madison Crew Starts 2015 Season

Warhawk Crew is finally back on the water! After a frozen river and two cancelled regattas, the James Madison Crew team was finally able to compete, albeit in blustery conditions, in April’s Noxontown Regatta, hosted by St. Andrew’s school of Delaware. The Noxontown Regatta is an initiation-only event featuring an elite group of rowers representing some of the fastest teams from the DC area (Walt Whitman, Bethesda Chevy-Chase, and TC Williams) and top prep schools, Lawrenceville (NJ), Holy Spirit (NJ), and St. Andrews (DE). Anchored by women’s team captains Francesca Gonzalez and Margaret Dail and men’s captains, Alex Manfredi and Ryan Roop, and numerous returning upperclassmen, the Madison boats looked strong on Saturday, despite rowing through brutal gusting cross-headwind throughout the day. The high wind made the start area very challenging, forcing race officials to cancel the men’s and women’s novice races.

Madison took five men’s boats to Delaware including the First, Second and Third Varsity Eights as well as the Novice and Freshman Eights. The Men’s 3V (2014 State Champions) looked strong once again, finishing in first place ahead of boats from Bethesda Chevy-Chase. In their first competitive row ever, the men’s freshman eight rowed to an especially strong second place finish, just behind Whitman. The Men’s 1V finished in 5th place, and in a tight race, the Men’s 2V finished in fourth place ahead of Lawrenceville. The brutal winds prevented the novice eight from rowing.

The women’s team fielded four boats, including the First, Second, Third and Freshman Varsity Eights, all racing through treacherous conditions. In fact, the women’s 2V boats (including Madison) were not able to safely get to the platforms, and thus they did a “race experience” - building off the paddle with general alignment for about 1200m of racing, where Madison finished ahead of Maryland powerhouse Whitman. The women’s 1V finished in fourth place, ahead of 2014 State Champs TC Williams, and the Women’s 3V finished in fifth, just behind Whitman. The women’s freshman eight raced as part of an exhibition with the varsity light weight boats.

Stayed tuned for results from last Saturday’s Darrell Winslow and the upcoming Al Urquia Regattas--both on the Occoquan.