ACC Championship
RALEIGH, N.C. – Clemson Rowing program put on its best performance of the year in the Lake Wheeler Invitational, winning the Carolina Cup and finished fourth overall out an 18-team field in the Lake Wheeler Invitational. Over the weekend, the Tigers amassed 67 total points and finished above No. 24 North Carolina and fellow ACC rivals Miami, Louisville and Boston College.
LINEUPS
The Tigers put on a show during Friday’s races. Clemson started the morning with three third-place finishes by the 3V8, 2V4 and 1V4 with official times of 7:04.231, 7:41.146 and 7:29.897, respectively. In the first 2V8 race of the day, the Tigers placed second over No. 24 North Carolina and finished seconds behind No. 18 Duke with a final time of 6:44.668. In a tight race for the 1V8, the Tigers finished on top of Duke and North Carolina for the program’s first first-place finish under Adrienne Martelli for an official time of 6:32.648. With the win over Duke and North Carolina, Clemson won the Carolina Cup for the first time since 2016.
In the afternoon portion of Friday, Clemson showed its dominance. The 3V8 finished first, eight seconds ahead of the next closest boat, with a time of 7:00.111, with the 2V4 having an even more dominant finish, this time 11 seconds ahead of the next closest boat with a time of 7:31.160. The 1V4 grabbed another first place finish for Clemson, six seconds ahead of Navy, with a time of 7:23.789, and the 2V8 grabbed the Tigers fifth first-place finish the day after finishing with 6:44.632. The 1V8 finished up Friday’s affairs with yet another first place finish for Clemson, this time with an official time of 6:38.163. Thanks to the powerful afternoon showing, Clemson finished Friday in third place overall, behind Duke and No. 12 Virginia.
“It was a great weekend of racing. I feel like we took a lot away from the Big10 Invitational and kept the momentum going this weekend,” said Martelli. “For our first round of racing of Friday morning, all boats did awesome, but it was highlighted by the victory in the 1V8, which meant we won the Carolina Cup. It was a super tough, hard fought race and exciting to see us come out on top there. For the afternoon, we had a clean sweep in all the races. It was a great moment for the team and a testament to all the work every individual has put in this year.”
The 3V8 started the Saturday morning session with a second-place finish at 7:01.626, behind No. 20 Columbia and 26 seconds ahead of the next closest boat. The 2V4 followed up with another second-place finish, 7:34.238, only three seconds behind Columbia and the 1V4 notched a third-place finish at 7:26.691. In the 2V8, the Tigers finished second with a time of 6:38.485, less than a quarter of a second behind Columbia and the 1V4 finished fourth with a 6:30.499 to close out the regatta.
“To wrap up the regatta, we had another tough round of racing,” commented Martelli on Saturday. “Some performances were not as solid as we would have liked and will to improve upon them going into ACCs, but the highlight was definitely the 2V8, who narrowly missed out on first with a really gutsy battle against Columbia all the way down to the last stroke. That group has been super feisty all year and they’re so fun to watch.
We continue to be really proud of what this group has done so far this year. They just continue to build belief in themselves and in each other and it’s an honor to be a part of their growth. We look forward to the next couple of weeks where we’ll look to fine tune and gain a bit more speed. A big thank you to Duke and UNC for organizing the racing!”
UP NEXT
Clemson Rowing will host the ACC Championships at Lake Hartwell on May 16th and 17th. More details will be announced on Clemson Rowing social media and on ClemsonTigers.com.
TOP-FIVE OVERALL RESULTS
RACE RESULTS (points earned)
3V8 – R1H1
2V4 – R1H1
1V4 – R1H1
2V8 – R1H1
1V8 – R1H1
3V8 – R2H1
2V4 – R2H1
1V4 – R2H1
2V8 – R2H1
1V8 – R2H1
3V8 – R3H1
2V4 – R3H1
1V4 – R3H1
2V8 – R3H1
1V8 – R3H1
