American Collegiate Rowing Championships

Beach Crew traveled from the sunny skies of Long Beach to Oak Ridge, TN, for the second annual American Collegiate Rowing Championships.

In its second year as a Championship Regatta, ACRAs got underway this weekend in a new venue. After construction forced them away from Oklahoma City, they contested club national championships in Oak Ridge.

Despite the distance to travel and limited funding for these programs, 47 programs from all over the country competed in sweeping and sculling events.

Because it is a late season regatta and newer on the circuit, many schools have not yet figured out how to fit ACRA into the budget. Even
more importantly, they haven’t all been able to keep athletes from taking those summer jobs that start in late May. The result of this is reshuffled lineups and lots of smaller boats.

Hot and calm weather saw many great races come down the course in Oak Ridge. All Long Beach boats made it to Sunday’s heats. The Women’s Novice 8 placed first in the petite final agsinst the Universitys of Texas and Illinois. The Men’s Lightweight 4+ placed first in the petite final against the University of Georgia and Northwestern. The Men’s Novice 4+ was in a close dogfight against Emory, Michigan State, the University of Kansas, Penn State, and managed to take third in the petite final. The Women’s Novice 4+ placed sixth in the Grand Final with Northwestern, USMA, Kansas, University of Chicago, and UC Santa Barabra. CSULB entered two boats, Varsity and Novice into the Women’s Lightweight 4+, bothing managing to make it to the Grand Final. The Novice boat finished sixth while the varsity boat fought through University of Georgia and Binghamption University to medal for third in the event.

Beach Crew would like to specially thank the Glacer, Ramos, and Dooros families for providing lunches, the team tent, and hosting the closing team dinner on Sunday night. They flew all the way out to Oak Ridge just to do this for us. Thanks again!

The team will go sightseeing in Knoxville, TN, before flying home on Memorial Day. It was one long, rewarding, and rememberable weekend to finish off the season.