The UF crew team, a sports club, will look to continue the momentum it obtained last weekend, when it won several medals at the Head of the Hooch race, Saturday at the fall state championships.
At the Head of the Hooch, a 5,000-meter race held on the Tennessee River every fall, the team won three medals on the women's side. This year the race spanned Halloween weekend and featured 1,300 college, high school and club rowing teams from all over the country.
The women's team received exceptional results, with the women's varsity eight-woman boat finishing first out of 17 teams. The women's varsity four-woman boat also finished first out of 27.
"This year we finally got our reward for all the hard work we have put in since our novice year," club vice president Emily Congdon said. "It's exciting to see us reach such levels of success, considering something like this has never happened before for us."
The women's novice eight-woman boat finished third out of 23 teams.
"I am amazed at the speed at which these girls have been able to learn the sport," coach Brian Scanlon said. "Two weeks ago they didn't even know how to row all eight together or how to feather the blade. This weekend was a testament to the hunger that these girls have to succeed."
In the men's categories, the varsity eight-man boat finished seventh out of 13 in the championship event - a category reserved for teams who have performed well in past years. The varsity four-man boat came in seventh out of 17 - also part of the championship event.
"This weekend was definitely a major step forward for the team," said Matthew Kuhl, president of Florida Crew, mentioning that the team is one of the largest club sports at UF. "The success our team had across all levels is something not very common in rowing."
The competition is run as a time-trial, with each boat starting 15 seconds apart.
"It's the best performance at the Head of the Hooch that our team has ever had," said Justin Knust, coach of the men's varsity team.
Now it's time to see if they can have an even better performance at states.
