POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. - The Marist Athletics Department has released the 2013 spring schedule for both the men's and women's crew programs. The two teams will return to the water at the beginning of the semester following a strong fall schedule that saw both programs place well at several events.
"We are very excited to get back on campus to continue to build on the work we put in this fall as we prepare for our spring season," said Marist Men's Head Coach Matt Lavin. "We are building on the successes of fall and the lessons we learned during it and last spring. The team has been working hard over the break from classes and we are making gains during this critical period. We are looking forward to put all our hard work into action this spring as well take on excellent competition our schedule holds."
The spring season will start for both squads the week of March 16-23 when the entire Marist program takes its annual spring break trip down to Clemson, S.C. While there, the Red Foxes will train in the warmer weather and compete against programs from other schools.
Upon returning from spring break, both programs will travel to Storrs to take on the University of Connecticut on Saturday, April 6. Other teams that will be racing there include Trinity, Colgate and the United States Coast Guard Academy.
The two teams will stay in the state of Connecticut for the night as they will both compete in the Sacred Heart Invitational the following day, April 7.
The following weekend, April 13-14, the Red Foxes will head to Cherry Hill, N.J. to race in the two-day Knecht Cup.
On Saturday, April 20, Marist will make the trip to West Point for the annual President's Cup regatta with Army. Last spring, the Red Foxes defeated the Black Knights handedly in Poughkeepsie, to retain the trophy.
The Red Foxes will compete in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Championships on Saturday, April 27 on Lake Mercer in West Windsor, N.J. Last season, the Marist men's team won its unprecedented 11th consecutive MAAC Championship while the women's squad just missed out on the 10th MAAC title in program history, falling by two points to Drake.
This season, the winner of the MAAC Championships on the women's side will receive an automatic bid into the NCAA Championships. The NCAA expanded the field for the Women's Rowing Championships from 16-22 starting this spring and the MAAC will be one of just 11 conferences to receive an automatic bid.
The weekend following the MAAC Championships, both Marist squads will compete in the New York State (NYS) Championships, held at Whitney Point on May 5-6. In last year's championships, the Varsity Eight boats for both the men and women's teams came in second while both squads' Novice Eight boats took home first place.
The two programs will split up the following weekend as the men's team will travel to Worcester, Mass. to race in the ECAC Championships on Saturday, May 11. Meanwhile, the women's squad will be at the two-day prestigious Dad Vails regatta in Philadelphia.
Based on their results throughout the season, both programs will have the opportunity to compete in national championships on the weekend of May 31 - June 2. The women, if they win the MAAC Championship or qualify with times during the season, will race in the NCAA Championships in Indianapolis. The men can qualify with their race times to compete in the IRA National Championships in Sacramento.
"We are looking forward to getting back to work as a team after a long, well deserved break," Marist Director of Rowing and Women's Head Coach Tom Sanford said. "I anticipate the team has continued to work over the break and will be ready to pick up where we left off at the end of the fall. With a lot of depth and the return of four key juniors from their semester abroad the whole team is very excited about the prospect of qualifying for the NCAA Championships for the first time ever by winning our conference. This has been our goal since crossing the line at the MAAC's last spring, .01 seconds short. We are working hard to achieve our goal and we are hungry!"
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