The Drexel University men’s and women’s rowing teams took home their sixth consecutive overall title at the 80th annual Jefferson Dad Vail Regatta on the Schuylkill River May 11-12. They also managed to secure their second straight women’s title as part of their overall seven medals — three gold, two silver and two bronze.
The Dragons competed in the heats and semifinals May 11 to start out the competition. After the races were over for the day, the Dragons sent a dozen boats into the grand finals May 12.
The Drexel teams pulled out impressive performances across the board to take gold in the women’s second varsity eight, men’s third varsity eight and men’s second varsity four. There were silver medals for the women’s second varsity four and the women’s quadruple sculls, and bronze for the women’s varsity four and the women’s third varsity eight. The women’s varsity eight finished just short of podium placing in fourth.
The women’s second varsity eight in the Cara Fry boat, finished with a winning time of 6:41.053 which earned them the gold and the Coleman D. Boylan trophy.. They ended up beating University of Massachusetts for the second year in a row by more than six seconds. The men’s third varsity eight, racing in the Lois Krall I boat, powered to the finish in 6:01.075 beating the University of Delaware by more than three seconds for their win. With a time of 6:44.475 in the Bella Santorum boat the men’s second varsity four was the fastest in their category..
The women’s team took home silver medals with the second varsity four and the quad. The second varsity four A, racing in the Sandra Lee Sheller, finished in 7:32.724, just two seconds behind first-place Bowdoin College. The quad debuting the Trick boat t finished in 8:09.012 but couldn’t beat Brock University who took home the gold. The women’s varsity four and the women’s third varsity eight earned bronze medals for Drexel. The varsity four in the Diane Corle, reached the finish line in 7:15.767, behind impressive performances from Florida Institute of Technology and Bowdoin. The third varsity eight closed out the medal tally, racing in the Marlene Buckley II boat, and finishing in 7:48.537 behind Bucknell University and Saint Joseph’s University.
The women’s team then turned their focus to the Colonial Athletic Association Championship on the Cooper River May 13. The women’s varsity four managed to secure the gold medal in a winning time of 8:07.209, finishing ahead of second-place Northeastern University by 6.5 seconds. This victory marks the first time the varsity four have ever won CAA gold. After earning a gold medal at Dad Vail, the second varsity eight took the silver at CAAs with a time of 7:27.761 as Northeastern took the gold. The varsity eight finished with the bronze behind Delaware and Northeastern. Racing in the Marlene Buckley II boat, the third varsity eight finished in fourth place. The Dragons placed second overall at the CAA championships, while the team from Northeastern took home the overall team title.
The women’s team will now look ahead to traveling to London, England for the Henley Women’s Regatta June 22-24.