U of I are State Champions, U Chicago reclaims Women's Points Trophy
Over the weekend, U of I hosted schools from across the state and Midwest in the 2nd Annual Illinois Collegiate Rowing Invitational. The event featured men's and women's racing in 11 categories. Crews finishing in top spots in each event would score points which contributed to the races for the Men's Points Trophy, Women's Points Trophy, and Illinois State Championship.The 4+'s racing saw a large variety of crews atop the podium. Northwestern managed to claim two golds and two bronzes in four races. Kansas claimed a gold and a bronze in the Men's Varsity 4+, as well as two silvers in other 4+'s events. Illinois did reach the podium in all of the 4+'s races, including two gold medal performances from the Novice Men's 4+ and the Novice Women's 4+. The also won 1 silver, and two bronzes in other 4+ events. U Chicago also made the podium with a silver in each of the Women's Varsity 4+ and the Women's Novice 4+.The 8+'s events we dominated by U of I. The Fighting Illini claimed gold in the Novice Men's 8+, both Junior Varsity 8+'s, and both Varsity 8+. U Chicago did pick up the win in the Women's Novice 8+ in a two boat race with Northwestern. U Chicago also picked up 3 silvers in the 8+'s, coming second to Illinois in the Women's JV8+, Men's JV8+, and the Women's Varsity 8+. In the Men's Novice 8+, Northwestern claimed a silver while DePaul outpaced Chicago to claim bronze. Northwestern took two bronzes in other 8+'s events. KU wrapped up their first visit at the ICRI with a powerful second place finish in the Men's Varsity 8+.At the end of the day, the points were tallied. Illinois topped the Men's Points Standings. Kansas claimed second, 3 points ahead of Northwestern. For Women's Points Standings, U Chicago outmatched Illinois on the strength of a full set of entries and solid performances including a gold in the Novice Women's 8+. Illinois again fell shy of matching Chicago despite this year claiming the Varsity 8+ race. Northwestern finished 3rd in Women's points. The scores for Men's and Women's Points were then tallied to determine the Illinois State Champions. For the second year, U of I sat atop the standings with 148 points. U Chicago pulled ahead of Northwestern this year in points, netting 114 to Northwestern's 102. DePaul rounded out the standings with 28 points from their Men's Team.Thank you to our sponsors National Metal Works and Foster Swift. Next Year's ICRI prep is already underway - the next year's race will be April 18th, 2015.