Mountain Hawks host successful Class Day

Saturday, October 29

Lake Nockamixon; Quakertown, Pa.

Lehigh University

Head of the Halloween

11/2/2016 4:40:00 PM | Men's Rowing, Women's Rowing

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The Lehigh rowing team held its inaugural Class Day this past weekend as part of the Head of the Halloween Regatta at Lake Nockamixon in Quakertown, Pa. In a competition between the classes, the Mountain Hawks' juniors won the two-and-a-half mile race with a strong time of 10:27.30.

"We made it a little bit more fun in the fact that the lineups were decided by the student-athletes themselves," said Lehigh head coach Brian Conley. "They were selected last Wednesday after their most recent test on the rowing machines. After the selection process of the actual boats, they were then put in charge of the next couple days of practice, coming up with a practice plan and going through that whole leadership process of how to get yourself prepared for race day. It turned out to be a lot of fun."

Common within the sport of rowing, this was the Mountain Hawks' first, and hopefully not last, Class Day.

"The student-athletes had a little bit of trash talk, going back and forth, but it was all done in fun and led to some great racing on the day," said Conley. "The juniors jumped out to an early lead, the seniors followed chase and the freshmen tried to make a push for the lead, but the seniors and juniors pushed them back. The end result ended up being the juniors coming away with the trophy at the end of the day."

The event itself featured much more than simply the final race. It taught competition within the team, along with leadership.

"They had to select the lineup within their own class," said Conley. "The only boat that had difficulty was the seniors, because there are only two seniors on the team. As a reward for four years on the team, they got first pick of every other class then they had to wait until the other classes filled their boats."

The experience was unique, and is something that could pay dividends.

"It teaches a little bit of leadership because they had to come up with the practice schedule and they had to come up with what they're going to do in terms of a race plan," said Conley. "They were in total control of all of those things, along with, where each individual person fits in the lineup, which tends to be very difficult to figure out."

Following a strong weekend at the Head of the Charles, last Saturday was a good break from the norm while also featuring a strong step forward.

"The other added aspect that I think is a long-term goal is they can hold onto this bond as a class and potentially bring it back every year, even after they graduate, to potentially race against the current athletes," said Conley. "I'm hoping a lot of alums start to get very interested in coming back and participating in this event, so they can compete with the current athletes or other classmates from past years."

The Mountain Hawks will wrap up their fall schedule next Saturday (Nov. 12) when they take part in the Frostbite Regatta.

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Results
Juniors: 10:27.3
Seniors: 10:49.85
Freshmen A: 10:52.61
Sophomores: 10:58.29
Freshmen B: 12:24.94
Freshmen C: 12:42.64

Victorious junior class
8 - Kyle Hayes
7 - Jules Malachin
6 - Kyle Schipper
5 - Zev Koffsky
4 - Zach Hille
3 - Alex Zulauf
2 - Jessica Rivera-Rincon
1 - Amanda Slominski
Cox- Laura Parks