Blue Devils Take Seventh at Clemson Invitational

Saturday, April 14

Clemson, S.C.

All Day

Duke University

Clemson Invite

Blue Devils Take Seventh at Clemson Invitational

4/14/2018 7:52:00 PM | Rowing

By: Duke Sports Information

CLEMSON, S.C. – The Duke rowing team took on a stacked field Saturday at the Clemson Invitational, racing in four A Finals and one B Final, with the Blue Devils earning a seventh-place overall finish for the two-day event at Lake Hartwell.

The Blue Devils defeated two ranked teams in the team standings in No. 18 Syracuse and No. 20 Oklahoma.

Duke's V8, 3V8, V4 and 2V4 boats represented Duke in the top final while the 2V8 competed in the B Final. The Clemson Invitational is one of the top regattas in the country during the regular season as eight of the 21 squads in the event were ranked in the latest Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association (CRCA) national poll.

Ohio State won the event with 130 points, followed by Virginia (124) and Wisconsin (113) to round out the top three.

"Overall, we're in a solid place and we finished seventh as a team," said head coach Megan Cooke Carcagno. "Each of our boats figured things out about themselves, about our race plan and each other. The 3V8 and V8 really stood out this weekend. The 3V8 made the finals and that shows tremendous growth. The V8 raced in the grand final and went head-to-head against some highly ranked crews in the country. That is no small feat when they were outranked. Overall, we did a really good job but we do have a lot of work to do. We looked solid and that is exciting."

Duke's 3V8 began the morning session with a fourth-place finish in a time of 6:51.03 as No. 4 Ohio State's novice boat took the top spot in 6:36.94. The squad went on to compete in the A Finals and clocked in at 6:47.84 to place seventh.

The Blue Devils' 2V4 picked up a third-place finish in the morning (7:30.77), only trailing No. 4 Ohio State (7:16.98) and No. 18 Syracuse (7:28.76), before capturing third in the A Final in 7:19.46.

It was the V4 that secured a second-place finish (7:18.12) as they trailed only No. 4 Ohio State (7:10.62) in the morning session. In the A Final, the Blue Devils finished in sixth (7:14.31).

The 2V8 went fifth and sixth today in competition, kicking off the morning session with a fifth-place finish in 6:55.27 before clocking in at 6:14.39 this evening in the B Final.

Wrapping up the day on the water was the V8. In the morning session, Duke's top boat posted a third-place finish in 6:42.07, trailing only No. 4 Ohio State (6:32.78) and No. 15 Washington State (6:38.07). In the A Final this evening, the squad finished in seventh in a time of 6:21.88.

"Thank you to Clemson for hosting such a great event," Cooke Carcagno said. "It's always a great time that we look forward to."

The Blue Devils return to action next Saturday with a double dual against Ohio State and Michigan State in Columbus, Ohio.

Duke Lineups
V8 – Coxswain Meagan Lew, Lelia Boley, Katherine Maitland, Olivia Mendonca, Shannon Tierney, Sarah Fletcher, Caitlyn Carlisle, Olivia Hunt and Isabel Ruby-Hill
2V8 – Coxswain Tara Fagan, Rhea Bergman, Maya Blake, Katherine Lustig, Ema Kuczura, Sophie Simister, Tara Christensen, Abby Artmannand Taji Phillips
3V8 – Coxswain Anna Power Jestin, Grace Garverick, Savannah Herbek, Reed Kenny, Sydney Cikovic, Caroline Olsen, Margot Calmar, Sarah Hubner and Sydney Aquilina
V4 – Coxswain Leeloo Gilet, Laura Navarrete, Anne Klok, Madison Brown and Kiernan Spencer
2V4 – Coxswain Rani Duff, Marissa Donadio, Bailey Knight, Alexa Campbell and Anna Jenkins