2000 RAOUL CUP
Doc’s Side:
On Friday afternoon April 14,
McCALLIE’S Varsity 8 won the William Raoul Cup from Baylor. This was McCALLIE’s second straight victory in this race and it brought us even with four (4) victories each in "The Cup" series.McCALLIE’s boat, Sophomores, Mark Richmond, Prentice Stabler, Brad Stewart, Juniors, Wayne McLemore, David Gardner, Anders Swanson, Ashby Graham (coxswain) and Seniors Taylor Banks, and Captain, Chris Underwood were cautiously optimistic going into the Raoul Cup race based on their victory by 24.2 seconds over Baylor two weeks earlier. McCALLIE the "Cup" led for all but the first couple of strokes, establishing a boat length lead after the first 500 meters and building the margin to two boat lengths of open water at the 1,000 meter mark. The margin of victory was 22.6 seconds over the 1,500 meter course which roughly translates to four to five boat lengths of open water separating the two crews. From a coaches perspective our first eight rowed a strong race with no major glinches. While we were happy to win, we still have work to do to prepare for a race against defending national champions, Cincinnati, on April 22, and the Southeastern Championships three weeks later.
On Saturday morning the McCALLIE’s two novice eights also defeated Baylor. A strong first novice boat, Craig Kilgo, Matt Morrow, Shan Morrow, Madison Perry, Zach Thomas, Andrew Boston, Al Hicks, Bennett Walton and coxswain Owen Evans pulled away early and never looked back. Like the Varsity Eight this was their second victory over Baylor, and they are looking forward to the challenges ahead.
As far as the Raoul Cup competition goes I think that we are young and strong with great potential to regain the lead in the "Cup" series. But there are miles and miles of rowing and many hours on the ergs that will tell that tale.
Many thanks go to Mr. Grant Law (McCallie ’64) who provided the Raoul Cup itself and attended this year’s event.
Row Hard, Good Luck, and Have Fun,
R.A. "Doc" Swanson