United States Coast Guard Academy - Department of Athletics - Men's Crew - Bears Win Silver at ECAC National Invitational

WORCESTER, MASS.--(5/11/08)--In the Men's Varsity Four event, an event that that CGA had qualified for the first time ever, the Bears qualified for the Grand Finals by winning their heat in the morning in a real battle with Tufts, who had beaten them last weekend at the New England Championships.

In the afternoon Grand Final, the CGA four had the best race of the season and had a brilliant last 500 meters to place themselves into a four boat 'photo finish' and to to ultimately capture the silver medal, the first medal ever won by a CGA crew at the ECAC's. The Bears finished just 0.8 seconds behind the University of Virginia and 0.5 seconds and 0.7 seconds ahead of Tufts and Marist respectively.

The Coast Guard Academy Men’s Second Varsity 8 also qualified for their Grand Final by finishing second in their heat on Sunday morning. In the Grand Final, the Bears finished fourth, 6 seconds out of a medal, behind Trinity, Michigan and WPI and ahead of Wesleyan and Cal San Diego.

The Men’s Varsity 8 qualified for the C/D Semi- Final by finishing fourth in their heat on Saturday evening. The Bears then went on to easily win their Semi and then later on Sunday, racing for finishing positions 13 through 18, the Bears paced the three lead crews but entering the last 500 meters of the race, the Bears were out sprinted by Hobart and UNH to finish third in the Final and fifteenth overall.

In the Men's Novice 8 event, the Bears qualified for the Petites in the morning and then finished their season with a solid performance, finishing in fourth place in the Petite, behind Hobart, Williams and Cal San Diego for a tenth place finish overall.

As a team, the CGA Men's team, finished 5th in the points total out of 28 teams competing. The complete results can be found in the Results sections at www.row2k.com.