Illini Bring Home Medals in Two Event in Double Header Season Opener

The Fighting Illini started their season with a grueling two day, double header opening weekend to the 2011 Fall Season. The Illini started their weekend in Moline, IL for the Quad Cities Classic Regatta where the Illini took home gold in the Men's Novice 8+ in an unprecedented 3-way tie, and the Novice Women's 4+ took home bronze. At the end of the day, a special tie-breaker was held between WashU, Kansas State, and Illinois to decide medals - the Fighting Illini edge out Kansas State by three tenths of a second to claim victory and the gold - all three crews still share first place honors. The Varsity Men's 8+ finished in 4th place, just off the podium.The crews moved onto the Head of the Rock in Rockford, IL Sunday morning where they race a much larger field of 57 crews, among them last years Men's National Champions University of Michigan and 2011 NCAA D1 Women's Rowing Championship Petite Finalists Wisconsin. The novice men were able to row themselves into a 5th place finish right behind Michigan State, and right ahead of Kansas State whom they tied the day before. The novice women came 8th in their race. The varsity men struggled to get a foothold in their race, and slipped to 21st.