In the team standings of the 2016 Atlantic Coast Conference Championships, No. 16 Syracuse shared runner-up accolades with No. 19 Duke, marking their best overall finish since joining the league in 2014. Once again, No. 5 UVA swept the competition to earn the conference title for the sixteenth time in seventeen years. Former Big East dominator and rival No. 15 Notre Dame rounded out the team medal podium in third place. The rest of the field included: Louisville, Clemson, Boston College, Miami, and North Carolina.

The Virginia Cavaliers convincingly defended the conference title with victories in all five events. [photo credit: ACC Rowing]

TEAM STANDINGS
1 Virginia (99 points)
2 Duke (75 points)
2 Syracuse (75 points)
3 Notre Dame (68 points)
4 Louisville (60 points)
5 Clemson (47 points)
6 Boston College (31 points)
7 Miami (22 points)
8 North Carolina (16 points)

“When Syracuse, Louisville, and Notre Dame joined the league, we knew we were really strengthening the rowing programs. In the third year, we have seen a clear change of speed in the field. I think it is possible moving forward to put three, four, or even five teams into the NCAA Championship.”

— Head Coach Justin Moore

The Cavaliers claimed their 7th straight conference title, bringing the total tally up to 16 championship wins out of the 17 years the regatta has existed. For the forth year in a row they have won all five boat categories. In fact they have won an outstanding 59 out of 65 events ever raced in the ACC. UVA's Varistiy 8+ crew was also named ACC Crew of the Year. Virginia remains undefeated in every respect and their victory granted them an automatic entry at the NCAA Championships. However, other teams have been closing the gap and the conference is becoming one of the strongest in the nation as a result. Syracuse, Notre Dame, and Louisville joined the field as the previous top performing teams in the Big East and Duke has clearly gained some speed in the last year as well.

Duke, despite the disadvantage of not being able to field a second varsity four and having been expected to place middle of the field based on seedings, shocked everyone with impressive and suspenseful second place finishes in each of the NCAA events (1V8, 2V8, and 1V4). The new head coach of the No. 19 Blue Devils, Megan Cooke Carcagno, was appropriately named ACC Coach of the year. This is the first year since 2004 that Duke has been nationally ranked and based on their performance this weekend, there is a strong argument for them to move up that list. There is a fair chance they may be snagging an NCAA bid as well.

Your 2016 #ACCROW results:@UVARowing 99@Duke_ROW & @RowOrange 75@NDRowing 68@UofLRowing 60 pic.twitter.com/4m1COPmUvS
— ACC Rowing (@ACCRowing) May 14, 2016

Lake Hartwell has served as an amazing venue for the ACC Championships for 14 years. Thanks to Clemson University and the ACC for organizing the regatta to make it a pleasure for athletes and spectators alike! Conditions on Lake Hartwell during the Saturday morning heats were impeccable - flat water, calm wind, plenty of sunshine, and temperatures in the low 70s. In anticipation of forecasted winds, the finals schedule was adjusted/reversed to start off Saturday morning finals with the Varsity 8+s and end with the 3V8+s.

In Syracuse's first race of the day, the Varsity 8+, it was a nail-biting photo finish for second place that was determined by hundredths of a second. UVA maintained the lead, crossing with open water about 5.5 seconds ahead, while Duke and Syracuse battled it out in the final 500m for the runner-up prize. Starting a few seats down on the Blue Devils, the Orange made a powerful surge to close the margin, fighting for each inch in the final sprint to get their bow ball in front. Despite the tremendous effort, Duke finished in 6:20.444, a mere .041 seconds ahead of Syracuse's time of 6:20.485. Although the Orange placed third, there were two positive outcomes. First, Syracuse finally got on the other side of Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish, who also transitioned to the ACC in 2014 with the collapse of the Big East Conference, had defeated Syracuse in the championship regatta for over a decade. They were the dominating victors of the Big East for 10 years straight despite some close finishes with the Orange in 2012 and 2013, a trend that continued in 2014 and 2015. This year, Syracuse beat Notre Dame by just over a length. (Across the board, Syracuse edged out Notre Dame in every event except the second varsity eight.) Second, the Orange continued to close the margin on UVA. Previously, the Orange were finishing about 10 seconds back, but on Saturday they reduced that margin nearly in half to 5.5 seconds.
In the grand final of the 2V8+, there was another photo finish for second between Duke and Notre Dame, but Syracuse was not in that battle, placing fourth. They crossed the finish about 5 seconds behind those two crews and 12 seconds back of winner Virginia.
The Varsity 4+ final included a tight race for second place with Duke, Syracuse, and Notre Dame overlapping shells as they crossed the finish 6-7seconds back of winner Virginia. Within the span of a second, Duke prevailed to take second in a time of 6:20.1, a margin of .6 seconds over 'Cuse, who had a margin of .4 seconds of Notre Dame.
The last races of the day were the non-NCAA boats, the 2V4+ and the 3V8+. However, these crews' performances were what allowed Syracuse to earn the team points to share the runner-up award as Duke edged out Syracuse in the V8+ , 2V8+, and V4+, but did not have the same level of depth to compete in the other events. The 2V4+ posted the best Orange result of the day, with a second place finish behind UVA, while the 3V8+ finished third behind Virginia and Louisville respectively.

Special thanks to Marlis Humphrey for capturing these incredible images of all crews at the start!

results

LINE-UPS

1V8
C – Vasiliou, McCann, Lee, Fitzpatrick, Caldwell, Tomeny, Taylor, McQuay, Johnson
2V8
C – Spraggins, Gill, Allen, Konishesky, Tobias, Hughes, Ratcliff, Adams, Richard
14V+
C – Menillo, Thornton, Jones, Warnecke, Dorner
2V4+
C – Rodriguez, Humphrey, Habjan, Hemida, McDonald
3V8
C – Litovsky, Moller, Torcivia, Preston, Andolfatto, Ezeamama, Puro, Bengis, Rodgers

ACC ACCOLADES

2016 ACC Rowing Crew of the Year: UVA Varsity 8+
2016 ACC Rowing Freshman/Rookie of the Year: Heidi Long (UVA)
2016 ACC Rowing Coach of the Year: Megan Cooke Carcagno (Duke)

2016 All-ACC Rowing Teams

First Team
Coxswain—Colette Lucas-Conwell, Virginia
Jennifer Reid, Virginia
Tessa Dikkers, Virginia
Sam Casto, Virginia
Alex Stonehill, Duke
Katie Duckovich, Duke
Deidre Fitzpatrick, Syracuse
Joanna Mulvey, Notre Dame
Kristie Harrison, Louisville

Second Team
Coxswain—Simone Pitre, Duke
Mackenzi Sherman, Virginia
Kari Tomeny, Syracuse
Hilary Shinnick, Notre Dame
Katie Nord, Louisville
Paula Wesselman, Clemson
Catherine Goldberg, Boston College
Chelsea Gustafson, North Carolina
Ally White, Miami

2015 was a record setting year for @UVARowing at #ACCROW. What records will fall this year? pic.twitter.com/BQiloobnsw

— ACC Rowing (@ACCRowing) May 13, 2016

NEXT STEPS
There may not have been any record-setting results this year, but overall the Orange had a strong showing at the ACCs and posted fast times on the course that are on par with elite collegiate crews. After a successful season demonstrating increased speed and team depth, the Orange anxiously await the announcement of selections for the NCAA Championships. The NCAA DI Rowing Selection Show will air Tuesday, May 17 at 5:00 pm ET on NCAA.com. The eleven conference champions will earn automatic bids and the remaining eleven spots in the 22-team field will be filled by at-large bids. For the last three years, Syracuse has just missed out on an NCAA appearance, being highly considered, but not selected. Every training session, every seat race, and every competition has been executed in the hopes of accomplishing the ultimate goal of making it the the national championship to race against the best crews in the country. If the Orange make the cut, they will race at the NCAA DI Rowing Championships, May 27-29, in Gold River California.

Orange Women Tie for Second at ACC Championships

cuse.com article

theacc.com article

proud to be orange.