ACRA 2016
This year, Illinois took 6 different boats down to Georgia for the ACRA championships. These included a Varsity 8, Novice 8, and double on the men's side and a Varsity 4, Novice 8, and pair on the women's side.The weekend was filled with exciting and close racing with some particularly strong performances. The men's varsity 8 took 2nd in the D-final of a historically strong field. Similarly, the novice men's 8 raced hard but were just edged out by DePaul to take 4th in the C-final.On the women's side, the novice women's 8 came together for their best race of the year to take 4th in the B-final. The varsity women's four, racing as a lineup for the first time after injuries left us without a full 8, pushed through some tough crews and just nicked WashU at the line to take 5th in their B-final.To add a little bit of drama to the weekend, the varsity women's pair of Kat Rains and Lindsey Cusack was in the lead in their repechage, in clear position to make the grand final, when an old knee injury reared its head as they faltered across the finish line in second. On Sunday, determined to finish on a strong note, the pair lined up for the start of the B-final and raced neck and neck with UC Davis down the course, well ahead of the rest of the competition. They slowly extended a small lead in the second half of the race and managed to hold off a desperate sprint from the Aggies to win the petite final!This marks the final race for a number of senior athletes who have given their all to the team over the last few years:
- Lizzie Diamond
- Andrew Holm
- Billy Hrabak
- Michael Lyons
- Kevin McGing
- Christopher Murphy (novice)
- Katharina Rains
- Nathan Tucker
Additionally, we are excited to announce that Andrew Holm has been named to the ACRA Great Lakes All-Region Team and ACRA All-American First Team.Finally, in a true showing of what it means to be a student athlete, the Illini had 4 First Team Academic All-Americans and 5 Second-TeamFirst Team
- Dana Brecklin
- Justin Baker
- Abby Mackay-Zacker
- Christopher Murphy
Second Team
- Kevin McGing
- Allison Schroeder
- Jennifer Buschbach
- Savannah Henderson
- Kathleen Hu