The North Carolina rowing team’s six boats advanced to the grand final this weekend at the Knecht Cup, and two boats took home first place. With this strong finish, the team gained momentum heading into the rest of the season.
What happened?
The North Carolina rowing team headed north to Cherry Hill, N.J., to participate in the Knecht Cup. The tough competition lasted two days. In order to advance to the second day the team’s needed to qualify in the respective heats. On Saturday, six different boats hit the water for North Carolina, and each single one advanced to the grand finals on Sunday.
The UNC women’s varsity four was the first group to hit the water on Saturday morning for the Tar Heels, and got off to a quick start. The group won its heat with a time of 7:39.58 and advanced to the grand finals.
In addition, the North Carolina women’s frosh/novice four secured first place, with a time of 7:58.95 and beat four other teams in its heat. Also, UNC’s women’s second varsity eight stormed out of the gate early and finished first in its heat, with a time of 6:46.93. Two teams, the UNC third varsity eight and the UNC varsity eight both placed second place in their heats. The UNC varsity eight advanced to the semifinals, where they rowed 6:39.59, which placed them in third place and they advanced to the grand finals.
Lastly, the UNC second varsity four finished third in its heat, with a time of 8:13.43. In this race, six teams advanced to the grand finals, the top-two teams in each heat, and the two additional teams who finished with next best times. Although UNC finished in third place in their heat, they did row the fifth best time out of the eight teams that competed, which allowed them to advance.
On Sunday, all six UNC boats competed in the finals. The UNC women’s frosh/novice four placed second in the grand finals behind Boston University.
The North Carolina women’s second varsity four also competed in the grand finals and finished in third place, with a time of 8:01.02. In addition, the UNC women’s third varsity eight finished its grand finals in third place as well.
The women’s varsity four stormed out of the gate and won its grand final. The boat finished in first place, with a time of 7:32.38, a full 8.61 seconds before second-place Temple was able to finish. In addition, the North Carolina women’s second varsity eight won its grand final as well. The team edged out second-place finisher, Temple, and rowed a time of 6:57.48.
