No. 10 Orange Sweep No. 11 Wisconsin in First Spring Race

Saturday, April 6

Chicago, Ill.

Syracuse University

Wisconsin

No. 10 Orange Sweep No. 11 Wisconsin in First Spring Race

4/6/2019 12:41:00 PM | Men's Rowing

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – No. 10 Syracuse opened the spring racing season with a sweep over No. 11 Wisconsin in Chicago, Ill. The Orange avenged last year's loss in the varsity eight with a dominant victory on Saturday morning.

Syracuse crossed the finish line in under six minutes (5:54.4) while Wisconsin finished in 6:04.6 giving the Orange a 10.2-second win.

"The varsity guys had a clean start and shifted to a high-rating base speed in the first 500m," assistant coach Jason Elefant said. "It was pretty even with Wisconsin through most of the first 250m, but our guys had really good length and poise and the base speed was really effective. Even though we have not done much work at race cadence yet this season, the crew was able to row 37-38 with good rhythm in the body of the race. As the race went on, the varsity was able to stretch their margin out and stride out their cadence as they kept pulling away. It was a well-executed piece and a very good first race of the season."

In the second varsity eight, the Orange gave Syracuse another win by more than 10 seconds. It marks the second straight year Syracuse's 2V8+ has beat the Badgers.

"The 2V race played out in a similar fashion to the varsity eight," Elefant said. "Syracuse had a pretty good start and was able to get a few seats on Wisconsin in the first 250m, and then by 500m was able to establish a powerful base speed at 36-37 to keep pushing the margin as the course went on. The 2V is a mix of some seasoned veterans from last year as well as some youngsters who stepped up to the plate over winter training. It will be fun to see how this boat develops as the season goes on. It was certainly a promising start today."

In the final race of the day, one that came down to the final 100m last year, the third varsity eight took a lead 750m in and never looked back to win by over nine seconds.

"Finally, the 3V races charged down the course to close out the slate of races," Elefant said. "The 3V race was tight for the first 750m, with Syracuse earning maybe a three or four-seat advantage at that point of the race. As the crews approached the 1000m mark, the Orange 3V were able to really dial in their rhythm and started marching away from Wisconsin in the latter stages of the race. Last year, the 3V won several nail-biters en route to a 4-0 dual season. It was great for this new-look 3V, with plenty of new faces on board, to keep that tradition going and start the season off with a convincing win.

A clean sweep to start the season for @CuseRowing 🧹🧹🧹 pic.twitter.com/99UWjYSG15
— Syracuse Athletics (@Cuse) April 6, 2019

Syracuse will not race next weekend. The Orange return to the water to compete for the Goes Trophy against No. 12 Cornell and No. 15 Navy on April 20 in Annapolis, Md.