Rowing Begins Fall Season Saturday

CLEMSON, S.C. — The Tigers take to Lake Hartwell on Saturday for their first regatta of the fall season. Stephen Frazier Wong’s team will compete in the Tail of the Tiger, hosted by the Clemson University club team. The head races are 5,000 meters in length, and will end at a finish line out in front of the program’s rowing center.

“I know the team is looking forward to the excitement and adrenaline of racing, but as a coach, this Saturday I am looking forward to making new mistakes,” Frazier Wong said. “That might sound strange, but we spent a great deal of time last year working on our approach to competition and our preparation in practice, and now I want to evaluate how well the team learned those lessons as we begin our 2015-16 racing season.

“Hopefully, we make some new mistakes tomorrow instead of the same ones we tried to minimize last year. Every practice, every race, every day is an opportunity to learn and to improve; new mistakes will let me know what we need to focus on moving forward.”

Clemson has entered varsity boats in the collegiate 8+, open 4+ and 2x competitions. The Tigers will also have a total of three boats in the novice 4+ and novice 8+ competitions Saturday.

The first event is the novice 4+, set for 8:30 a.m. That will be directly followed by the collegiate varsity 8+, featuring four Tiger boats. Clemson will face competition from the university’s club team, as well as club boats from College of Charleston and Davidson.

The open 4+ is set for 9:55 a.m., and will feature four Clemson boats only. The final race of the morning session for the Tigers is the open 2x, featuring six Clemson entries.

The lone afternoon competition for the Tigers is the novice 8+. Clemson’s two boats will compete against Auburn’s club team, as well as several boats from Clemson’s club organization.