RALEIGH — Saturday’s meet against West Virginia and George Mason turned out to be a bit of a mixed blessing for North Carolina rowing coach Sarah Haney.
The Tar Heels won each of the four races held at Lake Wheeler in the team’s first competition of the spring season, but per team tradition, the sweep meant Haney had to walk the plank.
“If your boat wins a race, you get to throw your coxswain (into the water) and if your whole team sweeps the entire race, the coaches get to go in,” UNC senior Kelsey Grich said.
Haney was nearly spared during the third race of the day, the second varsity eights.
After winning the two novice events in convincing fashion, the Tar Heels began the race by sprinting to an early lead. But midway through, UNC veered slightly off course, disoriented by buoys in the lake that were not part of the race.
In the end, UNC finished with a time of 7:23.60, less than two seconds faster than George Mason.
“You have to continue to cox your crew to make sure that you’re still letting them know that you’re there and that everything is fine, and then gradually guide yourself back on the course,” said Emma Shaw, a junior captain and the team member in charge of steering the boat as its coxswain.
The final race of the morning — the first varsity eights — was even closer. After starting the race several strokes behind George Mason, the Tar Heels slowly made up ground as the two boats headed for the finish line. Battling a tailwind, the Tar Heels nosed ahead at the very end, edging the Patriots by six-tenths of a second.
“We’re quite confident in our race right now,” Grich said. “The middle is where I think we’re strongest. Where other boats may tend to lose a little bit, we tend to keep our stroke rating.”
