April 15 & 16, 2023
Cooper River Racecourse
Cherry Hill, N.J.
This past weekend, the Duquesne Dukes travelled across the state of Pennsylvania and made an additional jump across the Delaware River to race at the Knecht Cup on the Cooper River in Cherry Hill, NJ. After a strong performance two weeks prior and a weekend off for Easter, the Dukes were eager to get out and test their speed against conference rivals LaSalle, Fordham, and St. Joe's. In addition to the conference foes, the Dukes would get their first look of the season at the teams from Villanova, West Virginia University, and Eastern Michigan University, which they'll see next week, as well as line up against some historically top-tier programs including the Boston University Lightweights, Radcliffe Lightweights, and Drexel.
Varsity 4+
The weekend promised lots of excitement and lots of racing, and the first boat to get themselves on the course and immersed in the racing atmosphere was the Women's Varsity 4+. In their heat, the Dukes lined up against TCNJ, Eastern Michigan, Fordham, Radcliffe Lightweights, and Delaware. The progression model would advance the winner of each of the three heats, as well as the top three times across all three heats that did not win their heat to the Grand Final, and the next six times to the Pettie Final, while 5 crews would be eliminated. Off the start, Radcliffe jumped out to a solid lead on the field, and once the boats settled into their race plans, the Dukes held a very slight edge on Delaware. As Duquesne and the Blue Hens battled down the course, one boat would make a move, the other would respond; both boats traded punches up to the 500m to go mark, more often than not the advantage in Duquesne's favor. At 500m to go, the Delaware coxswain called her sprint and pushed herself ahead of the Dukes to try and steal a second place finish, but the Dukes responded with a sprint of their own and edged out Delaware at the finish line by 0.9 seconds, which would prove enough to earn the final spot in the Grand Final.
For the Varsity 4+ final on Sunday, the Dukes faced a steep challenge, as each other crew in their event posted a faster time the day prior. Undaunted, the athletes backed themselves into the stakeboats with an "if you've got a chip, you've got a chance" mentality and looked to stay internal, execute their race plan. Off the start line, Lafayette and Drexel separated themselves from the field, battling for first and second, leaving a field of Radcliffe Lightweights, Boston University Lightweights, UCONN, and Duquesne to decide on positions 3 through 6. The Dukes did their utmost to hang on to the pack but fell off the pace around 1000m into the race. Ultimately, the Dukes finished 6
th overall in the Varsity 4+, and accomplished their dual goals of having an excellent row, and being the fastest V4+ from the A10 Conference on the course.
Second Varsity 4+
The second boat to take the course for the Dukes on Saturday was the Second Varsity 4+, the event with the greatest percentage of boats that would be eliminated from heats to finals. With 11 entries in the event, the progression model would cut the field to a six boat Grand Final only, taking the top two finishers from both heats, as well as the two fastest times across both heats that didn't finish top two. The Duquesne 2V4+ approached the start line with a solid race plan, and a goal of earning a first or second place finish, not even bothering with the two time-qualifying positions if they could help it. Off the start line, the Dukes jumped out to a slight lead, but were hotly pursued by Delaware and Boston U Lightweights. Over the length of the course, both Delaware and BU Lights would make several charges at Duquesne to shrink their lead and possibly break through and earn themselves a lead. The most notable challenge would come from a furious sprint by the BU Lights closing in on the finish line that took the BU Lights from 3
rd to 2
nd, but Duquesne did just enough to fend off the Terriers and win their heat.
For the Sunday Grand Final, the Dukes 2V4+ knew they were in for a good race, having been pushed hard at the end by the BU Lights and Delaware in their heat, and they looked to defend themselves additionally against the boats which progressed from the other heat, Drexel, Fordham, and an additional boat from Delaware. Once the race started, the Dukes got off to a furious start, taking open water on the field by the 500m mark. Drexel made a solid push back into the Duquesne boat, pushing their bow ball up to the stern deck by the 1000m mark. After the 1000m mark, the Terriers made a great move to pull themselves up into the lead boats, and gave Drexel a very strong push again; the Dragons pushed their bowball up to the stroke seat of Duquesne's boat before the final sprint, but the Dukes mounted a very convincing final sprint to secure their gold medal, withstanding the exceptionally strong challenges from Boston U Lights and Drexel.
Third Varsity 8+
The Duquesne Third Varsity 8+ was the only boat from Duquesne to race on Sunday only; all else had heats on Saturday. With their event being a Grand Final only event, the 3V8+ only had one shot at the course and their opponents to make a statement and earn a medal. When the race started, Duquesne and Drexel got off to strong starts, with UCONN slightly trailing the lead two boats. As the race progressed, the Dragons found themselves some open water over Duquesne, and Duquesne worked hard to open up water on the Huskies. By 1500m, Duquesne found their open water, and secured their silver medal, while Drexel secured their first place finish.
Second Varsity 8+
The Second Varsity 8+ started their Saturday off in a four boat heat that would advance the top two to Grand Finals, bottom two to Petite Finals. Without any "wildcard" spots open to qualify on time, the work was very clearly cut for the Dukes against Fordham, Villanova, and LaSalle. Off the start, Duquesne was last out of the stakeboats with LaSalle taking a slight edge, but once the crews settled into their races around the 500m mark, a very slight lead belonged to Duquesne. At the 1000m mark, Duquesne had a very defined lead over Villanova, not quite breaking into open water, but a boatlength lead, with Fordham pushing up on Villanova. By the 1500m mark, Fordham overtook Villanova, and LaSalle pushed up on the Wildcats too, but the Dukes held their lead on the field, and with a final sprint, took about a boatlength victory over Fordham to win their heat and qualify for Grand Finals.
For the Sunday Grand Final, the Dukes lined up against MIT, Drexel, Delaware, Fordham, and UCONN. From the start, Duquesne got off to a slow start again, but by the 500m mark, the Dukes had themselves in a four boat fight for first with Delaware, Drexel, and Fordham. By the 1000m mark, Delaware overtook Drexel, but not by much, while Duquesne began seriously challenging Drexel. In the third 500m of the race, Fordham mounted a serious challenge to both Drexel and Duquesne, pushing perhaps a bowball into second, Drexel third, Duquesne 4
th. Entering the last 500m, Duquesne timed their sprint perfectly, sprinting back on Fordham and Drexel, to earn a silver medal, the Blue Hens took home gold, and Drexel came back to earn a bronze medal over Fordham by half a second.
Varsity 8+
The Varsity 8+ was the only Duquesne crew to race three times in the weekend. The first race on Saturday morning was to seed afternoon semi-finals, and the afternoon semi-finals would decide which crews went to the Grand Final, Petite Final, and Third Final. In their heat, Duquesne got off to a strong start, sitting second to Delaware, but maintaining a slight advantage over Villanova, UCONN, and MIT. Once the field came to the halfway point, Duquesne closed down some of the lead the Blue Hens owned but the lead still belonged to Delaware, while the lead two crews had at least a boatlength on the rest of the field. As the boats came in for the final sprint, Delaware found an extra gear in their sprint to hold off the Dukes, while the Dukes endured a strong challenge from Villanova to finish second in their heat.
In their Saturday afternoon semi-final, Duquesne lined up against Stetson, Eastern Michigan, Fordham, and Drexel. When the race started, Duquesne found themselves in fourth, down to Drexel, Fordham, and Stetson. With only the top two crews advancing to Grand Finals, next two to Petite Finals, last to 3
rd Finals, Duquesne found themselves in quite a battle with the other crews. As the race progressed, Drexel had a commanding open water lead on the field by the halfway mark, while Fordham led Duquesne and Stetson, who were locked in a fierce fight for third, trading the position back and forth, stroke for stroke. With 500m to go, Drexel pretty well ran away with the win, while Fordham tried to endure challenges from the Dukes and the Hatters, who furiously were fighting each other for third and a chance at stealing second. In the end, Fordham endured the challenges for second, Duquesne prevailed over Stetson, and both the Dukes and Hatters headed to the Sunday Petite Finals.
In the Petite Final, Duquesne faced off against Villanova, West Virginia, Stetson, LaSalle, and St. Joe's. With two conference rivals and a Stetson crew that gave them a good race the day prior, the Dukes were in for an exciting race. Off the start, the race lived up to its billing; by the 500m mark, Villanova, Duquesne, WVU, and LaSalle were all within half a boat or less of each other for first place, with St. Joe's and Stetson beginning to fall off the pace a bit. With a seventh place overall finish on the line, no crews were going to relent, and by the 1000m mark, only LaSalle dropped off the lead pack, with a stroke-for-stroke battle happening between WVU, Duquesne, and Villanova, three boats that will face off against each other this coming weekend. Crossing through the 1500m mark and starting their sprint, WVU was able to find a final gear to finally get almost a boatlength over Duquesne and Villanova, while the Dukes and Wildcats were in a battle of wills, neither one yielding. With a final push, the Dukes were able to finally cement their argument for second, earning a half a boat victory over Villanova, and trailing WVU.
Reaction and Results
When asked about his crews' performances at the regatta, which netted them a gold medal and two silver medals, Head Coach
Matt Carlsen said "this weekend was a giant step forward for our program. To walk away with 23 individual medals and to be able to be competitive within our conference and against other top conferences is what we want to see as a coaching staff. We are going to put our foot on the gas pedal over the next week to get ready for the next race at George Mason."
A summary of Duquesne's performance is below, and full results are
here. The Dukes will return to action next weekend at the George Mason Invitational in Fairfax Station, VA.
Â
Results
Varsity 8+: 8
th of 16
2
nd Varsity 8+: 2
nd of 15
3
rd Varsity 8+: 2
nd of 5
1
st Varsity 4+: 6
th of 17
2
nd Varsity4+: 1
st of 10
Lineups
Â
Â
Â
