WORCESTER, Mass. - The Trinity College men's rowing second-varsity eight finished third in its grand final race at the New England Rowing Championship (NERC) Regatta this afternoon on Lake Quinsigamond.  The Trinity's varsity eight and its third-varsity eight both won petit final races, while the Bantams placed sixth in the Overall Points Trophy Standings and eighth in the Men's and Women's Overall Points Trophy Standings.  The Bantams return to Lake Quinsigamond for the National Invitational Rowing Championship (NIRC) Regatta next Saturday.
 

"The conditions for racing were spectacular and all of our crews took advantage to improve their racing experience and expertise," said Trinity Head Coach Kevin MacDermott. "The results were highlighted by the bronze-medal winning performance by the second varsity.  This crew has improved steadily throughout the year, working hard to maximize their speed.  It was great to see them rewarded for their efforts this afternoon.  There are four first-year and fours sophomore in the crew, so I am excited to see them develop over the coming years."

Trinity's second varsity posted a second-place time of 6:03.2 in its preliminary heat, just over two seconds behind Holy Cross and more than six seconds faster than third-place Worcester Tech.  In the final, Trinity's time of 6:00.81 was over 1.50 seconds better than fourth-place Wesleyan, earning the Bantams a medal.  Holy Cross won the gold and Williams took the silver.

The Bantam varsity eight came in third in of three preliminary heats with a time of 5:54.59, which was the fifth-fastest time of all the boats in the opening races but not enough to qualify for the grand final due to sub-5:50 times by Holy Cross and Tufts in the same heat.  Trinity rallied to take the petit final by just under three seconds with a time of 5:55.59.  Trinity's third varsity was fourth in its heat with a time of 6:28.12 and won the petit final easily at 6:22.34.

"The varsity drew a brutal heat with top-seeded Holy Cross and Tufts," added MacDermott.  "They couldn't match the speed of these two crews and were disappointed to be relegated to the second-level final.  I was impressed with their wire-to-wire win in the afternoon final.  WPI put down a strong effort and kept the race close all the way.  In the end, the crew was able to pull away and produced one of their better 2000 meter efforts of the season.  Similar to the varsity, the third-varsity had a challenging heat and were not able to advance to the top-level final.   They produced a dominant win in the second-level final and showed some of their potential as a crew.  It was great to see this response from both crews – hard, determined, high-intensity racing following frustrating preliminary heats.  We have  short week with three practices before we head back to Worcester for the NIRC regatta.  This serves as the NESCAC championship and will determine  the final selections for the IRA Division III national championship.  The crews are eager to execute and achieve our season-long goals."