Wednesday, May 11, 2011

DES MOINES, Iowa - The Drake University rowing team heads to Philadelphia, Pa. for the Aberdeen Dad Vail Regatta, the largest regatta in North America, this weekend. The Bulldogs will compete on the Schuylkill River May 13-14. The finals of the regatta will be shown live on ESPN3.com

Drake travels to the Dad Vail Regatta after a spring season full of canceled and shortened meets. The Mid-America Collegiate Rowing Association Championships on May 1 were first moved from Indianapolis, Ind. to Grand Haven, Mich. because of flooding, then canceled after a handful of races because of high winds. Drake's appearance at the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championship also was canceled because of wind, dashing the hopes of the Varsity Eight squad, which had aspirations of a MAAC championship.

Without a doubt, the Bulldogs' most successful weekend came April 5 at the Sacred Heart Invitational. The team of Leslie Sabick (Bloomington, Ill.), Kat Moore (Brooklyn Center, Mich.), Susan Goulette (New Brighton, Minn.), Andrea Piekarczyk (Downers Grove, Ill.), Samantha Williams (Oxford, Iowa), Hilary Dietz (Schaumburg, Ill.), Kelli Beimal (North Riverside, Ill.) and Brittany Michael (Pleasant Hill, Iowa) won the Varsity Eight race, finishing in a time of 8:36 and beating runner-up Army by more than three seconds.

This weekend's Dad Vail Regatta will be the last of the season for Drake Crew.