Carnegie Mellon club crew takes the silver medal at the Knecht Cup

The Carnegie Mellon club rowing team was in Camden County, N.J. this past weekend for the Knecht Cup, hosted by Villanova University. The event is one of the most competitive races of the year for Carnegie Mellon crew.

Schools travel far and wide to attend this event, and even Stanford University sent boats to this year’s race. A number of top rowing schools were in attendance at this year’s race, representing some of the best teams in the northeast and the nation, including the University of Massachusetts, Fordham University, Bucknell University, the University of Pittsburgh, Penn State, Wisconsin University, Holy Cross University, Boston College, and University of Connecticut.

Carnegie Mellon brought six boats: lightweight men’s and women’s fours, a women’s four, a women’s pair, and novice men’s and women’s fours.

The light men’s four narrowly missed qualifying for a final, losing by two seats to the University of Maryland, and the light women and novices also raced hard but were unable to qualify for the finals.

The women’s four, with sophomores Alex Cirillo in stroke seat, Alyssa Fogel, Megan Larcom, and first-year Emily Anderson, and sophomore Tom Lewkowitz coxing, posted the second-fastest heat time in their event, easily making their final on Sunday.

Unfortunately, the team caught a crab in the final, and dropped from medal contention. The women’s pair, with juniors Judith Vogel and Natalie Weir, also made it to the finals. They rowed well, taking the silver medal behind Villanova.

“This is one of our toughest races with the competitors that we’re likely to see at nationals in May, so it was great to make it to finals and scope out the competition,” Larcom said.

The weather on the Cooper River cooperated and offered a high level of competition at the Knecht Cup, despite mixed results from the boats.

This Saturday, Carnegie Mellon has a home race against the University of Pittsburgh and Duquesne University set to begin at 9 a.m.

The Car-Du-Pitt race is a tradition for the Pittsburgh rowing programs and will be held on the Allegheny River between the 40th Street and 31st Street bridges.