Aggie Crew at Southern Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championship

By Jackson Petroll, '22

|Photo: Tanner Mallams, Nautilus Staff

Aggie Crew training for SIRA at Offatts Bayou

The Texas A&M University at Galveston crew team ends the season on a high, placing 4th in men's novice fours in the Grand Finals of the Southern Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championship or SIRA.

On April 19 and 20, Jody Hayden, Nathan Klobusnik ‘21, David Brizzi ‘22, Matthew Bury ‘19, and Jackson Petroll ‘22 raced in the novice four event at the SIRA Championship. There was a total of 18 teams competing from across the Southeast portion of the United States. SIRA is a collegiate rowing tournament that welcomes crew teams from all over the nation to race 2000-meter sprints, but only South and Southeastern crews typically attend due to it being in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The men's novice four was the only boat from TAMUG that raced at SIRA, qualifying for the event at the Heart of Texas Regatta by receiving 2nd in collegiate men's novice four.

Each event at SIRA is divided into different races. Boats start by racing in time trials, and are divided into A and B semifinals and A, B, and C finals. Time trials were held on the first day of the regatta, April 19. During time trials, boats are sent individually down a 200-meter shoot where they pick up speed and then race 1800 meters. Boat's time for the 1800 meters determines whether they are sent to the A and B semi finals or the C finals. If a boat has a time in the bottom six of the event, they are sent to the C finals. C finals are held the same day as the time trials, April 19. Boats in C finals are finished rowing immediately after that race. If a boat is in the times above the bottom six, they are either sent to the A semifinals or the B semifinals. Top three boats from both the A and B semifinals race in the A finals. Bottom three boats from the A and B semifinals race in the B finals. The TAMUG crew team managed to get in the top eight times of the time trails and continued into the A semifinal held on the 20th at 8:00 am. In the A semifinals, the crew raced against Vanderbilt, Ohio State, Florida State, Jacksonville, and Auburn University. The team finished 2nd in their semifinals, behind Vanderbilt and Ohio State followed finishing 3rd. They then proceeded to the A finals held on April 20 at 12:35pm, competing with the top sixout of the 18 boats in their event. The crew was against Vanderbilt, Georgia Tech, Rollins Men's, Ohio State, and North Carolina State University. The race finished with Vanderbilt in 1st, Georgia Tech in 2nd, Rollins Men's in 3rd , TAMUG in 4th, Ohio State in 5th, and N.C. State in 6th. The Aggies were very satisfied with their race. "Everyone in the boat put a lot of time and effort into being prepared for SIRA, and it showed on race day," elaborated David Brizzi, boat member and team captain of the crew team. SIRA was the crew team's last regatta of the year. All the members of the boat are excited about attending the race next year to race as varsity members of TAMUG Crew.