CLEMSON, S.C. — With their highest finish in four years and two All-ACC performers to show for it, Clemson took a tie for fourth place at the 2019 ACC Rowing Championship on Lake Hartwell Saturday. Clemson tallied its most points at an ACC Championship since 2015 with a 58-point effort, highlighted by a third-place finish in the 2V8. Isla McRae (1st Team) and Aliute Udoka (2nd Team) each received All-ACC nods after their performance in the 1V8.
The Tigers’ best finish came in the 2V8 grand final, in which they took third place, netting the team 21 points with a time of 6:46.093.
👀🥉BRONZE for the 2V8+ #ClemsonRowing pic.twitter.com/hliuQYwzFR
— Clemson Rowing (@ClemsonRowing) May 18, 2019
The Saturday morning session was composed of five 6-boat grand finals and five 3-boat petite finals for the 3V8, 2V4, 1V4, 2V8 and 1V8 races, respectively. In Friday’s heats, Clemson qualified for all five grand finals, and the Tigers took advantage by tying for the fourth-most points out of the nine competing teams.
Virginia bested the field with a total of 95 points for its 10th straight and 19th overall ACC championship in the 20th year of the event. Clemson and Notre Dame tabbed 58 points apiece, but Notre Dame won the tiebreaker based on a better head-to-head finish against the Tigers in the 1V8 grand final.
The point totals were proportional for each race, with the 2V4 and 3V8 points increasing from one to nine, according to the order of finish. The 1V4 race brought with it a point distribution from two to 18, and the 2V8 race progressed from three to 27 points. The 1V8 point totals increased from four to 36. The grand finals determined places one through six, while the petite finals came with placements of seventh, eighth and ninth overall, according to the order of finish.
The Tigers’ best finish came in the 2V8 grand final, in which they took third place. In the 1V4 grand final, the Tigers finished fourth, while Clemson’s 2V4 boat was fifth in its grand final. The other two Clemson boats were sixth in the 1V8 and 3V8 grand finals. The third-place 2V8 boat, which was coxed by Erin Murphy, stayed true to its performance in the heats, when it produced the third-fastest overall time. The third-place result marked the first top-three finish in an ACC Championship grand final by a Clemson boat since 2015.