Duquesne vs. Dayton
March 26^th, 2022, Indianapolis, Ind.
Eagle Creek Reservoir
 
INDIANAPOLIS - This past Saturday, the Duquesne traveled to Indianapolis to take on Dayton in a head-to-head match-up. The weather was far from ideal; with sustained winds of 16-18 mph including gusts of up to 25 mph. The temperature was in the mid 30s, and as the morning wore on, snow flurries began to dance their way down toward the racers on the course. With the cross-tail wind from the WNW churning up chop on the lake, the day would be raw but raceable, so the Dukes and Flyers took to the course.
 
The first boats to race down the course were the 1^st Varsity 8+ in a head-to-head matchup. After alignment and the starting command, Dayton's 8+ jumped out to a slight advantage. As the surface of the water worsened after 500m, the Dukes were able to make up some ground, and both boats were locked in a fight for the middle 1000m. The Flyers held a small advantage and the Dukes weren't able to push their bow ball out front, but the two boats furiously traded strokes as they approached the 1500m mark. At the 1500m mark, Dayton's coxswain called a gutsy early sprint and shot out ahead of the Dukes, who responded in kind, but the advantage the Flyers took on their move proved to be too much to make up, and Dayton took the race by 10 seconds ahead of Duquesne.
 
The next race up featured a similar head-to-head matchup between the 2^nd Varsity 8+ from both programs. At the start of the race, Duquesne got an early lead over the Flyers, but neither separated from the other. With about a half boat advantage to the Dukes, the boats were stalemated; Duquesne would surge, Dayton would respond, Dayton would surge, Duquesne would respond. At about the 1000m mark, the Duquesne coxswain really laid into her crew and her verbal commands resulted in the Dukes surging forward, eventually opening up about boat length advantage by the last 500m. Both the Dayton and Duquesne coxswains called sprints at a similar time, and Duquesne executed slightly better than Dayton, earning themselves a 6.5 second victory in a hard-fought race.
 
After the 1^st and 2^nd Varsity 8+s dueled, next up was another face-off between the 1^st Varsity 4+s from both programs. As the aligner got the boats ready, the wind began pushing the boats around, so that when the starter gave the command to start the race, both coxes were about 30 degrees off of parallel to the course. With adjustments on the rudders, both coxes were able to steer their boats back on a straight course, and their crews settled into the race. Duquesne settled to a higher stroke rate than Dayton, and moving efficiently, led the race wire to wire. The Duquesne boat controlled the pace of the race and for their efforts were rewarded with a 21 second victory.
 
In what would be the final race of the day, a three boat race launched between the 3^rd Varsity 8+s from Dayton and Duquesne, as well as Duquesne's Freshman/Novice 8+. Similarly at the start, because the wind was beginning to affect the starting area, all three boats started with their bow off course and the coxes had to adjust back to the course. From the start, the Dayton and Duquesne 3V8+s ran off from the Duquesne F/N8+ and found themselves locked in a fight with each other. As the Dayton coxswain began to wander out toward the middle of the lake, the Duquesne coxswain kept herself close to the lane line and straight, so while Dayton appeared to move ahead, both boats were approaching the finish line at a similar speed. Right around the 1000m mark, the Dayton coxswain spurred her crew on, while the Dukes began to feel the effects of the wind on the course. Dayton began to slowly build a lead that turned into an open-water 9 second victory over the 3V8 and about 1 minute over the F/N8+.
 
With a break for lunch, the Duquesne and Dayton coaches mutually agreed that the course conditions deteriorated too much to pull off the 500m sprints planned for the afternoon, so the day ended after the 3V8 + F/N8 race.
 
"All in all, I'm pleased with the day" said Interim Head Coach Stephen Eckstein. "We have some tangible things to work on, and while we're not quite where we want to be yet, it's nice to bring home a couple of victories for some of our boats and we can use our experience in Indianapolis to build on the rest of the season. It was a cold day, but I appreciate the efforts of our athletes and the Dayton athletes for getting out there and having some good races, and a huge thank you as well to the fans and parents who came out to cheer everyone on."
 
The Dukes will return to action April 3^rd on Ford Lake in Ypsilanti, MI, against Eastern Michigan University.

Varsity 8+

1. Dayton – 7:06.2
2. Duquesne – 7:16.20

2 Varsity 8+

1. Duquesne – 7:18.26
2. Dayton – 7:23.7

3 Varsity 8+

1. Dayton – 7:49.44
2. Duquesne – 7:58.14
3. Duquesne N – 8:48.91

Varsity 4+

1. Duquesne – 8:06.92
2. Dayton – 8:27.00