Mason Invitational
April 24th, 2022, Fairfax Station, Va.
Sandy Run Regional Park - Occoquan Reservoir

FAIRFAX STATION, VA - This past Sunday, the Duquesne Dukes traveled to northern Virginia for their first of four consecutive weekends of racing. The team was excited for the trip; it would be the first time this spring the weather would be warmer than 35 degrees F on race day, and there was no snow in the forecast. In fact, the weather could not have been better; 60s in the morning, creeping into the upper 70s in the afternoon, bright sun, and a hint of a tailwind that barely disturbed the surface of the water. This would also be the first race this spring for the team with stakeboats and buoys, which provided a good preview for the races at the upcoming Atlantic 10 Championship. The racing format was heats in the morning, finals in the afternoon.
 
The first boat to take the course was the Second Varsity 4+, in a race for lanes. Since there were only three entries in the event, the first race was a good opportunity for the Dukes to work some kinks out in their new lineup, and they used the race for a race-pace, full effort rehearsal. Coming down the course, the Dukes held contact with West Virginia and Jacksonville for about the first half of the race, and then WVU and Jacksonville pulled away, in that order, as the boats approached the finish line. Coming off the water in 3^rd of 3, the Dukes had tangible things to improve, and a goal for the afternoon to go out and clean up their racing, and pull a faster time. In their race in the afternoon, Duquesne did what they set out to do, cleaning up their technical approach to the race and they pulled a faster time as well, shaving off 7.3 seconds, and while they finished third, Jacksonville second, WVU first, the Dukes were happy to have a solid race against solid competition and are looking forward to future races.
 
The next boat of the day was the Varsity 4+, which ran a true heats-finals format; the top two would advance to grand finals, the bottom two to petite finals. Duquesne lined up against West Virginia, Villanova, and Dayton for their heat. With a solid start, the Dukes launched themselves off the line well, grouping themselves into the lead pack, but as the meters passed, WVU and Villanova slipped away. However, the Dukes were able to maintain their lead over Dayton, and finished third, qualifying for petite finals. In their petite final, the Varsity 4+ lined up against Dayton, Delaware, and George Mason. Again, the Dukes had a fantastic start, and got themselves involved in a two boat fight for first with the Blue Hens. In the end, it was Delaware that pulled off first place by about 6.5 seconds, but Duquesne made a fight of it, and stayed solidly ahead of the Flyers and Patriots.
 
Next up for Duquesne was the Third Varsity 8+, lining up against Delaware and Villanova. In their heat, the winner would advance, and then the next two best times from the non-winners in both the Dukes heat and the second heat. In their heat, the Dukes had a good start, but also had trouble managing their stroke rate, and raced a couple strokes per minute higher than they intended, finishing third of three and moving on to petite finals in the afternoon. With the lesson learned and experience gained from the morning, the Duquesne Third Varsity 8+ launched out again for their petite final against Dayton and West Virginia. In their race, Duquesne was in a tight three boat pack for the first 750m of the race, and then ran into a bit of race-day chaos when their bow seat's oar popped out of the oarlock. After about 200m passed, bow seat was able to get her oar back in the oarlock and add back in, but the chaos set the Dukes back from a hotly contested front pair of boats; Dayton beat WVU by just 0.9 seconds, while Duquesne finished 8.4 seconds back on WVU.
 
The penultimate boat of the day for Duquesne was the Second Varsity 8+, who faced off in their heat against West Virginia, Villanova, and George Mason. In this heat, top two advanced to grand finals, bottom two went to petite finals. While the Dukes got off to a quick start, they also had trouble settling into their race plan, which caught up with them for the second half of the race. Ultimately, Duquesne beat out conference foe George Mason but fell 5 second shy of second to Villanova, while WVU pulled out a 4 second victory over Villanova. Duquesne then went to the petite final, facing off with Delaware, Dayton, and George Mason. In their petite final, Duquesne did a much better job of settling into and executing their race plan, and it showed in their race. For the length of the course, Duquesne was either slightly ahead of or slightly behind the Blue Hens, but solidly ahead of the Flyers and Patriots. Delaware held off a late sprint from Duquesne and beat the Dukes by 3.9 seconds, but the Dukes also had solid margins over their A10 opponents Dayton and George Mason.
 
The final boat of the day was the Varsity 8+, who raced St. Joe's, Jacksonville, and Dayton. In their heat, top two advanced to grand finals, the bottom two went to petite finals. The Dukes got off the line competitively with the other crews, but coming through the 1000m mark started to fall off the pace a bit. When they approached the finish line, the Dukes tried to get in a sprint but ultimately was too far back, and the finish order was Jacksonville, Dayton, St. Joe's, Duquesne. In the petite final, Duquesne went back out with a reworked race plan and a goal of getting their time under 7:00. The Dukes took the course again and lined up against George mason, St. Joe's, and West Virginia. The race was better for the Dukes, despite a couple of wakes that disrupted the entire field, and they managed to accomplish their sub-7 time but fell short of a tight group of boats at the front, finishing fourth in petite finals.
 
Of the day, Interim Head Coach Stephen Eckstein said "Overall, it was a good day. Obviously, we'd have liked to have our boats ahead of some more boats, but each boat showed improvement between heats and finals, and that's what's great about these kind of races. You can race, retool, race again, and try to make permanent some significant improvements. We're grateful for a beautiful day for racing, and for all the parents and fans that came out to support the team!"
 
The Duquesne Dukes will return to action this weekend on April 30^th in a Double-Duel format race on the Susquehanna River against Lehigh and Delaware, hosted by Bucknell.

1^St Varsity 8+:
Coxswain: Elizabeth Kuhn
8: Allison Barrett
7: Britta Wheeler
6: Isabella Trovato
5: Mikayla Bayto
4: Madison Barker
3: Hannah Valenty
2: Rebecca Swanson
1: Brigid Haugh
 
2^nd Varsity 8+:
Coxswain: Alexandria Catalano
8: Mikaela Nestel
7: Isabella Abbott
6: Bridget Hennessy
5: Kayla Eads
4: Sarah Ricketts
3: Jillian Peters
2: McGinley Jones
1: Maggie Ray
 
3^rd Varsity 8+:
Coxswain: Julia Laurie
8: Sydney Lynch
7: Julia Strimling
6: Kiran Dahnke
5: Ava Bonita
4: Olivia Sullivan
3: Kat Oliver
2: Michaela Bosworth
1: Michelle Catao
 
1^st Varsity 4+:
Coxswain: Rory Brouillard
4: Bridget Abbott
3: Eliza Mance
2: Maggie O'Brien
1: Celia Gambacorta
 
2^nd Varsity 4+:
Coxswain: Catherine Egan
4: Kelly Ardrey
3: Kathryn Ackerman
2: Fiona Riordan
1: Brianna McDonagh
 
 
Results:
2V4+ Heat:

1. WVU: 7:56.3
2. Jacksonville: 8:17.4
3. Duquesne: 8:34.0

2V4+ Final:

1. WVU: 7:41.4
2. Jacksonville: 7:57.8
3. Duquesne: 8:26.7

V4+ Heat:

1. WVU: 7:53.9
2. Villanova: 8:04.2
3. Duquesne: 8:19.3
4. Dayton: 8:26.5

V4+ Petite Final:

1. Delaware: 7:56.4
2. Duquesne: 8:03.7
3. Dayton: 8:23.2
4. George Mason: 9:29.7

3V8+ Heat:

1. Delaware: 8:04.2
2. Villanova: 8:26.5
3. Duquesne: 7:49.4

3V8+ Petite Final:

1. Dayton: 7:32.5
2. WVU: 7:33.4
3. Duquesne: 7:41.8

2V8+ Heat:

1. WVU: 7:04.6
2. Villanova: 7:10.2
3. Duquesne: 7:15.3
4. George Mason: 7:56.6

2V8+ Petite Final:

1. Delaware: 6:59.7
2. Duquesne: 7:03.6
3. Dayton: 7:19.6
4. George Mason: 7:45.7

1V8+ Heat:

1. Jacksonville: 6:52.4
2. Dayton: 6:56.7
3. St. Joe's: 6:59.0
4. Duquesne: 7:10.0

1V8+ Petite Final:

1. St. Joe's: 6:44.7
2. WVU: 6:48.8
3. George Mason: 6:52.5
4. Duquesne: 6:58.0