(Photo by Jaela Eaton)

Washington Holds off USRowing

The Championship Four is generally a race dominated by collegians, but with a USRowing boat in the field, filled with Olympians, the colleges weren’t getting a lot of pre-race respect this year.

But the University of Washington Huskies surprised the Olympians and relished not only the win but the chance to have proved themselves against athletes they look up to.

“Racing against guys that you’ve essentially seen on TV, my whole rowing career, almost idolizing them in a way, and obviously seeing them at the Olympics this past summer, it’s definitely a cool opportunity to race against them,” said Harry Fitzpatrick, Washington’s three seat. “It’s definitely motivating to try to push them and see how we are against them in a way.”

Washington finished nearly 10 seconds ahead of the second-place USRowing boat, in a time of 15:34 followed shortly by third-place Princeton.

Washington led USRowing through all three check points. USRowing closed in the final stretch between Cambridge Boat Club and the finish line, but it wasn’t enough. The Huskies could not see USRowing or third place Princeton on the course, but felt they were having a good race. “We knew we had a shot, we knew it would be competitive,” said Lyle Donavan, Washington’s two seat.

(Photo by Jaela Eaton)

The Huskies rowed at Bow #15. “We were going off on one of the later bow numbers so we knew we were going to be coming up on some crews,” said Fitzpatrick. “We knew it was important to stay clean when we’re coming up into [another] crew’s wash, and keep a good rhythm throughout the whole race.”

USRowing took a different approach to the regatta. Two months past their Olympic training peak, the team entered the race with a primary focus on enjoying the experience.

“I think compared to a lot of the races we’ll do in the summer, it’s a lot more focused on just having a good time and making sure we’re staying loose and enjoying the ride instead of worrying too much,” said USRowing’s Kai Hoite. “And often when you’re having a good time, you’ll end up going faster anyway.”

A team consisting of Hoite at the bow, Paris bronze medalist Evan Olson, Olympic alternate Alexander Hedge, and United States Paris single sculler James Plihal at the stroke is not the typical competition for the 15 collegiate varsity teams in the Champs Fours.

“That doesn’t exist in any other races we go to,” said Princeton Head Coach Greg Hughes. The defending champion Tigers placed third in Sunday’s race. “To go and test yourself against crews that you wouldn’t normally race that are of a really high caliber, I mean that’s exciting.”