Pittsburgh, Pa. – The Duquesne University rowing team launched its 2024-25 season this past Saturday at the Head of the Ohio Regatta, claiming its second straight U.S. Steel Cup. Abundant sunshine greeted the team upon its arrival to the boat bay and, with comfortable temperatures and a breath of a tailwind, the Dukes were excited about their medal prospects on such a great day for boat racing.
VARSITY FOURS
The first crews to launch for Duquesne were a quartet of varsity fours, bow numbers 98, 103, 107, and 115, coxed by
Jessica DeSaro,
Rory Brouillard,
Kat Muha and
Serena DeCosmo, respectively.
Bow 98 was the second crew of the race to start in the time-trial format race, behind a crew from Case Western Reserve University, and the Dukes chased CWRU for a good length of the course before catching and passing the Spartans. The Dukes continued to push forward and earned themselves a finish that the regatta officials would eventually award a dual gold medal for, alongside a crew from Mercyhurst.
Bow 103 crossed the start line second for Duquesne, behind a crew from Denison University. The Dukes quickly overtook Denison and began looking for more crews to pass. Duquesne's search provided one more crew to chase down, bow 100 from Pitt. Thanks to a clean and smooth race, the Dukes earned a silver medal.
Bow 107 crossed the line third for Duquesne, behind a crew from Penn State. Duquesne worked hard over the course of the race to track down the Nittany Lions, and in their pursuit, passed a crew from Miami (Ohio). At the finish line, he Nittany Lions did enough to keep themselves from being overtaken by Duquesne, but Duquesne closed down enough of the starting margin between them and Penn State that they finished ahead of Penn State by 7.5 seconds, earning a 6th place finish overall for Duquesne.
Bow 115 was the last of the Varsity 4+ for Duquesne to cross the start line, behind a crew from crosstown rivals Robert Morris University. The Dukes worked hard and were able to catch and pass RMU and began tracking down a crew from Penn State. However, the Dukes ran out of course before they were able to catch Penn Stat and finished 11th overall out of the 22 crews entered.
FRESHMAN EIGHT
The first 8+ of the year to take the course for Duquesne was a Freshman 8+, entered in the Freshman/Novice 8+ event. Duquesne was the last to start in their time trial race, behind a crew from boathouse neighbors Carnegie Mellon University. The Duquesne freshmen had a fantastic race and set about chasing down every crew they could pass. In all, the Dukes passed six crews (Carnegie Mellon, Miami (Ohio), Ohio State (Club), Penn State, Case Western Reserve and Pitt), and earned themselves a victory in the race by a margin of over two minutes.
VARSITY EIGHTS
The final crews of the day for Duquesne were a trio of Varsity 8+s, with bow numbers 210, 215, and 216, coxed respectively by
Meghan Mangan,
Paige Engel, and
Rory Brouillard. Each crew was ready to take a shot at defending the title for the USX Cup, which they'd captured the year prior and wanted to retain for at least another year.
The first crew across the line for Duquesne was Bow 210, the first crew of the race to cross the line. Since they crossed the line first, there were no crews for them to chase down, and it was up to Duquesne to keep the newly-minted D1 Mercyhurst Lakers (Bow 211) behind them to keep the USX cup in Pittsburgh. Duquesne pulled a strong and confident race, though not without challenges from both Mercyhurst, as well as Robert Morris, but ultimately, Duquesne did just enough to earn the victory, with a margin of 1.3 seconds over Robert Morris, who earned silver over Mercyhurst by a margin of 0.3 seconds.
The second crew across the line was Bow 215, starting behind Penn State. The Dukes had a really strong start to the race and began to chase down the Nittany Lions, eventually passing them, and began to search for other crews to chase. Unfortunately, the next three crews in the start order (Robert Morris, Mercyhurst, Duquesne Bow 210), were flying down the course and were in an uncatchable position for Bow 215. Still, the crew had a really solid race and came off the water satisfied that they'd left everything they had on the course, their effort earning a fourth place finish.
The final crew of the day to start for Duquesne was Bow 216, directly behind their teammates from Duquesne in Bow 215, but with about 25 seconds separating them off the start. The Dukes quickly moved out on the crew behind them from Case Western and began closing down distance on Penn State, but the majority of the racing for this Duquesne crew happened by themselves vs the clock. Though Duquesne closed down distance on Penn State and finished ahead of them on the finish order, the crew didn't pass any boats directly on the water. For their efforts on the course, the third Duquesne 8+ earned a 5th place finish.
QUOTABLE
"Double racing is never an easy thing to do, especially during head race season," head coach
Matt Carlsen said. "It was great to come out at our home race and get three wins and a silver against teams who might not have double raced. We definitely learned a lot about ourselves and I think the biggest thing is that we have to handle hard better. A big shoutout to our freshmen for competing in their first collegiate race and to our freshmen 8 for having the biggest margin of victory on the day."
UP NEXT
The Dukes will continue their fall racing campaign at the Head of the Occoquan in Fairfax Station, Va., Saturday, Nov. 2.
RESULTS
Women's Open 4+: 1st (tie, 16:21.179), 2nd (16:25.789), 6th (16:44.253), 11th (17:14.602)
Women's Collegiate Novice 8+: 1st (15:09.449)
Women's Open 8+ (USX Cup): 1st (14:39.559), 4th (15:09.157), 5th (15:38.192)
LINEUPS
LINEUPS
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