Duke’s weekend regatta was a 10 out of 10.
The Oak Ridge Cardinal Invitational pitted Duke against a trio of top-25 teams — No. 19 Alabama, No. 18 Notre Dame and No. 15 Indiana — along with host Louisville. In their first spring regatta led by head coach Adrian Spracklen, the Blue Devils secured gold in all 10 of its races.
“Coaches always want to start seasons off on winning notes,” Spracklen said. “It was really rewarding and somewhat relieving to know that everyone came away with a really positive experience and feels good about what they did and the improvements we made.”
Weather concerns plagued the opening day of the competition, pushing back the Saturday morning session and canceling the evening session, meaning the Blue Devils wouldn’t get the opportunity to face off against the Crimson Tide.
“We had crews go out, they warmed up, we were about to get into the starting blocks and they canceled the racing,” Spracklen said. “It’s never easy, but you learn to adjust.”
Although delayed in driving their oars into the waters of competition, when the races commenced, Duke dominated. In the opening matchup, a 6:52 finish gave Duke’s Third Varsity Eight an eight-second advantage over second-place Notre Dame. Duke’s Varsity Eight boat followed to add a second gold to the team’s collection.
The Varsity Four caught another gold, but it wasn’t without struggle, ending only five seconds ahead of the Notre Dame boat in a race Spracklen saw as not the team’s best. Luckily, victory was still achieved and matched by Second Varsity Eight and Second Varsity Four. The Blue Devils opening day of spring competition ended with five first-place finishes.
“It was a great relief for people to know that with all the sacrifice and the winter training they’ve been doing they’re starting to see what the potential is and what they're capable of doing,” Spracklen said.
As soon as the five-race Saturday sweep ended, the Sunday sweep began.
The Blue Devil crews faced No. 15 Indiana and championed another five first-place finishes. On day two each Duke boat saw improvements.
“It was just learning about ourselves and realizing, ‘Okay, we’re really good here, but we can do better in this area of the course,’” Spracklen said.
Duke’s 3V8 crew duplicated its gold-worthy efforts to beat out the Indiana boat. The next two boats — V8 and V4 — tied for the greatest of the team’s improvements, each clocking in eight seconds faster than they had the day before. For a V4 crew that struggled on day one, their second race on Sunday exemplified great strides.
The 2V8 didn’t share the experience of early lead. Indiana’s boat came on strong in the opening 500, putting Duke’s uniquely behind.
Nevertheless, the boat — consisting of coxswain Mia Khamish, Isabella Moreno, Erin Temple, Cecily Shaber, Florine Lijesen, Nora Conaty, Francesca Morland, Eliza Straayer and Justine Medveckus — remained persistent. Their efforts in the second 1,000 meters allowed the crew to push ahead to add another top-of-the-podium finish to Duke’s collection.
“That was really impressive to see them come on really strong in the second 1,000,” Spracklen said. “They're the only crew that was down and came back through them, and I think that shows a lot of character and it builds confidence within the crew.”
The V4 added the final touch to Duke’s perfect competition with an 18-second final lead over Indiana’s boat. Duke secured its 10 out of 10 — a commanding start to its season.
The Blue Devils’ next regatta is set for April 4-5 at the first-ever Rocky Top Invitational in Oak Ridge, Tenn., where they will face a talented No. 3 Tennessee team.
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