Sharing Spring Season Successes
This year’s spring season brought plenty of new excitement to Illini Rowing. From plenty of regattas to our new (and long planned) boathouse, the future of Illini Rowing is looking very bright!
Extending a helping hand, Illinois Rowers help move a T.V. for a Farmer City neighbor.
Soon after returning from our spring break training trip, we had our second Farmer City Community Day of the season! Here, on March 28th, many of our athletes had the opportunity to give back to the town who gives so much to us by volunteering for various odd jobs. This day, tasks included, but weren't limited to moving heavy electronics, various yard work, and packing trailers of wood. We would like to issue a great thank you to all those in the Farmer City area for your steadfast support toward our program; it means the world to us!
The next weekend, the team packed up and headed over to Grand Rapids, Michigan for Lubber’s Cup. There, on April 4th, conditions proved to be extremely cold and the windy. Although not dealt the best race day weather, our team persevered through and had a great time at our first official regatta. Congratulations are in order for all racing crews, including the NW8+ and the W2x who both earned silver.
Pushing past their perceived limits, the varsity men’s four “empty out the tank” on the last 250 meters.
Then came time for Illini Rowing’s annual ICRI and IJRI hosted at our site at Clinton Lake. Several weeks of hard work was put in by coach Peter Filice along with our athletes to get the site prepared for the record number of clubs attending. While only the races before noon were able to compete at ICRI due to the adverse conditions, it was still a great success for the team and allowed us to unveil our brand-new boathouse! Notable results had our NW8+ earning silver again. The next day, April 19th, Illini Rowing hosted IJRI, for junior rowers, which again was very successful, and we were even gifted a visit from the local CBS station. Watch that interview here!
Next up was MACRA in Indianapolis, Indiana, where we could not have asked for a better race day. Taking place on April 26th, the regatta was excellent in both weather and competition from our rowers. We enjoyed some great races with several exciting results including Men’s President Nicholas Slattery winning first place in the men’s varsity singles and both the NW8+ and W2x earning bronze! The team came together to cheer and encourage each other for the whole day, having high energy.
With their eyes set on a medal, Varsity Women, Ella Ghiorghias and Ananya Mani, soar down the course at MACRA.
Assessing boat damage, the team heads out to Weldon after the April tornado.
In our lead up to ACRA, we had two very different, yet important events. Our annual Soak-A-Rower fundraiser, back on April 28th, was a great time! Held on the Quad in front of the Union, rowers erged for several hours while friends and passersby could pay to throw water ballons, shoot water guns, or dump full buckets of water. No rowers left dry! In less great news, a tornado soon followed that night, tearing through the town of Weldon. Destroying homes and several boats the team had stored there; our team was unfortunately left. We’ve seen great support since then in helping us rebuild from the disaster, but if you are still interested in contributing to our team, you can do so out here.
Finally, the most anticipated event of the year finally arrived, ACRA Nationals. Following our finals week, our nine racing crews, NW8+, VM4+, VW4+, VW4-, M2-, W2-, M2x, W2x, and M1x, traveled to Oak Ridge, TN for the weekend of May 15th. On the drive down, the excitement was truly palpable. Finding the weekend to be full of great competition and team energy, our team gave a performance to be proud of and placed respectably. Sticking together through every high and low this year, we are incredibly proud of our team and had a wonderful end to our season!
Centering themselves before their final, the Novice Women’s 8+ huddles up.
Ending the year with the utmost morale, dedication, and attitude, our team has proven to have an overall great season. We can’t wait to get back to it in August- see you this fall, Illini!
Taking a moment after racing at ACRA this year, the team can be seen with all smiles all around for a great season.