BOSTON, Mass. – The Stanford men’s rowing team jumpstarted its 2013-14 season with a third place finish in the Men’s Championship Four at the 49th Head of the Charles Regatta.
“We were up against some tough competition today,” said senior Austin Hack. “It was a good checkpoint for us and showed we are where we need to be. We know we have to get back to work.”
The Cardinal posted the top time by a collegiate boat for the second straight year and third time in school history at the Head of the Charles with a 16:45.385 to cross the finish line just under 10 seconds behind the first place Camp Randall Rowing Club and second place USRowing boats. Stanford also was the top college in 2007 when they won the race.
“We are happy with the result and that we finished first among the colleges in the race,” said junior Kaess Smit. “It showed we have some good baseline fitness. We are looking forward to more work this fall.”
After winning the race a year ago, Stanford had the honor of starting first out of the gate. After the first leg of the race, Riverside, the Cardinal Four stood in seventh place with a split of 4:04.193. They picked up the pace in the Weld section with the fifth fastest split to move up three spots to fourth overall. After several boats made a big push through Cambridge, Stanford stood sixth overall.
However, the five members of the Cardinal team saved the best for last as they posted a 2:38.75 for the second fastest split to close out the last fourth of the race. The finish was over five seconds ahead of the next best collegiate team with Washington coming in fourth overall.
“Finishing strong was something we were talking about before the race,” said Hack. “We really wanted to empty our tanks at the end and being able to do that helped us out for our finish.”
The five-member crew for the Cardinal consisted of sophomore coxswain Nathalie Weiss, Smit in bow seat, freshman Ryan Hails in the two seat, junior Scott Roycroft in three seat and Hack in stroke seat. For Hails, a Sarasota, Fla. native, the race was his collegiate debut.
Next up for Stanford will be the Head of the American, Monady Oct. 28 in Gold River, Calif.
Stanford Lineup
Nathalie Weiss - Coxswain
Kaess Smit - Bow
Ryan Hails - 2
Scott Roycroft - 3
Austin Hack – Stroke