Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox. Subscribe to our sports newsletter here.

Competing in the Lake Wheeler Invitational in Raleigh, North Carolina, this weekend, No. 10 Syracuse women’s rowing struggled. The Orange faced multiple ranked teams but had multiple lackluster performances.

In Friday morning’s slate of races, SU faced off against No. 5 Tennessee, No. 11 Penn, No. 18 Washington State, Georgetown and Boston University.

The third varsity 8 started this session by claiming second place, three seconds behind Tennessee in 7:16.7. It finished three seconds ahead of Penn and 41 seconds ahead of Georgetown.

Syracuse’s second varsity 4 also finished second to Tennessee, this time by eight seconds with a time of 7:44.6. Though it crossed the line ahead of Washington State, Georgetown and Penn.

Next, the varsity 8 came in third behind Tennessee and Penn and ahead of Washington State, BU and Georgetown with a time of 7:44.1.

The second varsity 8 then finished second, nine seconds behind the Vols, in 6:46.2. SU still had an impressive showing, beating Penn, BU, WSU and Georgetown.

In the last race of the morning session, Syracuse’s varsity 8 was defeated by Tennessee and Penn for a third-place finish, covering the course in 6:30.2. The Orange finished only six seconds behind the first-place Vols.

The afternoon session saw SU race against No. 16 Duke, Clemson and Boston College – while facing BU and Tennessee again.

To begin this slate of races, the third varsity 8 again fell to the Volunteers, this time by only four seconds with a time of 7:17.8. Syracuse placed ahead of Duke’s 4V8, Clemson, Miami and BC.

The second varsity 4 continued this trend by coming in second to the Vols in 7:48.4, again four seconds behind Tennessee.

SU’s varsity 4 rowed next and placed an all-too-familiar second in 7:51.2. This time, they were far behind Tennessee, which were 18 seconds ahead of the Orange.

The second varsity 8 fared the same – Tennessee in first with the Orange 11 seconds behind in second (6:57.8). SU was comfortably in front of the rest of the pack – Miami, Clemson, BU and BC – this time.

To finish the day off, Tennessee’s varsity 8 completed the 10-race sweep of Syracuse by beating SU’s V8, which claimed second place in 6:48.2. Freshman Olivia Bachert swapped spots with captain Izabela Krakic, who rowed in the 2V8 this session.

On Saturday morning, Syracuse competed against Duke, Clemson, UNC, Penn and Georgetown to cap off the meet. SU’s third varsity 8 started the day by placing second to Duke by only two seconds in 6:55.2. Syracuse’s second varsity 4 also finished second behind Duke with a time of 7:29.1.

Then, the varsity 4 captured third place behind Duke and Penn in 7:24.6, crossing the line two seconds after the Quakers and seven after the Blue Devils.

In Syracuse’s penultimate race of the invitational, the second varsity 8 finally got SU in the win column. It beat both Duke and Penn by under two seconds, covering the course in 6:38.6.

For the final event of the meet, SU’s varsity 8 continued its winning ways, again defeating Penn and Duke with a time of 6:28.8.

Syracuse will get three weeks to prepare for the ACC Championship from May 17-18, where it will look to dethrone Virginia as ACC champions for the first time in 13 years.

Published on April 27, 2024 at 1:28 pm

Contact Noah: njnussba@syr.edu