Canes Win Cal Cup at San Diego Crew Classic
SAN DIEGO — The University of Miami 1V8+ entered Sunday at the San Diego Crew Classic with a chance to do something special and they left Mission Bay as champions.
The Hurricanes won the Cal Cup at the 2016 San Diego Crew Classic, Miami’s second Cal Cup victory since 2013. Head coach Dave Sanderson was proud to see his top varsity boat achieve its goal.
“The varsity has been training well and putting the pieces of a good race together little by little,” Sanderson said. “Today, they executed everything they have been working on and raced a great piece. I’m proud of them for race, of course, but also how they just kept trying to improve throughout the weekend. It’s a great win for them today and we will be looking to keep picking up boat speed into next week’s racing.”
Miami was one of six boats in the Grand Final on Sunday and the Hurricanes turned in a time of 7:11.845, beating runner-up Tennessee by nearly eight seconds. Loyola Marymount, Old Dominion, San Diego State and Kansas State followed across the finish line to close out the race.
The Canes’ path to the Cal Cup trophy began on Saturday morning as they won Heat B in the Women’s Collegiate Varsity Cal Cup preliminaries with a time of 6:52.121 that was over seven seconds faster than the runner-up in the heat, Kansas State.
“They had a good row this morning to put themselves in a good position for the final,” Sanderson said following Saturday’s race. “We will try to address a couple things to improve on, but we are excited for the opportunity.”
The Hurricanes also had their 2V8+ in action on Mission Bay this weekend. Miami’s 2V8+ finished fifth in Heat B of the Women’s Collegiate 2V preliminaries with a time of 7:19.462. The Canes advanced to the third level final, where they finished first with a time of 7:18.776.
“The 2V had a great race,” Sanderson said Saturday. “They really improved on this morning’s race and executed their plan well.”
In addition to this weekend’s San Diego Crew Classic, Miami will also travel to Mercer County, N.J., to compete in the Knecht Cup on April 9-10.
The Canes will host UCF on April 23 in the lone home event of the 2016 season. In addition to racing against the Knight, Miami seniors Aschebrock, Lowe, Nielsen, Joletta Silva, White-Parsons, Whitty and Williamson will race on their home course for the final time.
The Hurricanes will close out the 2016 spring season at the ACC Championships on May 13-14 in Clemson, S.C.
Miami Lineups
1V8+: Lily Wittle (cox), Caitlin Lowe, Taegan Lynch, Alison Whitty, Sarah Aschebrock, Alex Gunner, Jane Moore, Hannah Nielsen, Caitlin White-Parsons
2V8+: Jackie Lippincott (cox), Taylor Richard, Catharine Tayler, Caroline Shaw, Elise Wiley, Gigi Williamson, Alyssa Basdavanos, Alexa Aguilar, Katie Robinson
For official updates and information please visit our website at HurricaneSports.com or “Like” us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/canesrowing. You can also “Follow” Miami rowing on Twitter at http://twitter.com/canesrowing. The program is also on Instagram.
