SEATTLE – Washington's two primary goals at the Head of the Lake Regatta were to build team depth and challenge its top oarsmen. For this regatta, the Huskies created two equal top eights the "Purple" and "White" boats. The goal being to use the skills and rhythm of the top oarsmen spread across top two boats to bring other team members up.
"Two weeks ago at the Head of the Charles we displayed we have a very strong eight," said head coach
Michael Callahan. "Our goal now is to develop the rest of the team."
In the men's collegiate event, Washington's "Purple" had a final time of 16:12.368, and was enough to place second in the event, just seven tenths of a second behind the Stanford Cardinal.
"In a lot of ways we accomplished what we wanted to today," said Callahan "We would like to have finished on the other side of Stanford, but Stanford is a strong and aggressive racing team. We got the racing we wanted, just not the final result."
The Washington "White" boat racing in the Collegiate JV division with a time of 16:08.670 the fastest time on the water today.
"Both boats showed mature racing and raced the rhythm we wanted. We didn't get on the right side of the collegiate Varsity Eight division, but I think the whole team is moving the right direction. We are maturing every week."
Washington swept the collegiate third varsity eight event, placing first (16:47.676) and second (17:19.641), ahead of various schools from around the Pacific Northwest. To finish off the day Washington raced three boats in the men's open eight, the only boats competing in the event.
After the eights racing the top oarsmen raced again in small boats including singles, doubles and fours with coxswain. The very top oarsmen raced in the singles to determine the top dawg.
Ben Davison, an Inverness Fla. native, was crowned Head of the Lake Champion this Sunday on Lake Washington after an impressive victory in the men's open singles. With a time of 20:33.088, Davison finished ahead of the second place single, junior Victor Pivac, by over 27 seconds.
"We have a lot of talented scullers here, and Ben came out on top today," said Callahan. "Inter-squad competition is a central part of our development system. We want to create opportunities for our guys to challenge each other and make each other better"
Davison, who rowed for the Huskies as a freshman in 2015, returns to Washington after taking the year off to pursue his dream and train for the summer Olympics. Now back at Washington, Davison is already on his way to a successful season after a strong showing this fall.
"It is great to be back, I missed the team," said Davison. "The atmosphere, there is nothing quite like training with all 50 guys. Just a lot of energy, I have missed them all."
Throughout the day the men's team competed in seven different events. The Huskies have been focusing on small boats throughout the fall, and had ten rowers compete in the men's singles and two boats competing in the men's doubles. After Davison's first place finish in the men's singles, Washington placed eight boats in the top nine in the event.
Up next were the championship fours, where the Huskies finished five boats in the top six. The first place boat, stroked by senior Guglielmo Carcano, finished with a time of 18:08.093 which was 24 seconds ahead of the next Washington boat.
The Huskies will begin their 2017 season on Saturday, March 25, with the annual Class day Regatta on the MontlakeCut.
