Purdue takes overall title at Dad Vail Regatta

Purdue won the men's varsity heavyweight eight and claimed the overall point trophy Saturday at the 70th Dad Vail Regatta on the Schuylkill River.

Purdue won its second straight Richard O'Brien Trophy by defending its title in the varsity heavyweight eight in 5 minutes, 47.40 seconds. Colgate was second in 5:49.34, and hometown favorite Temple was third in 5:52.29.

"They were just better today," Temple coach Gavin White said of the Purdue varsity-eight crew. "Our kids rowed as fast as they could. We could not get any more out of them."

The Boilermakers took the overall title (men's and women's combined) with 36 points, ahead of Grand Valley (32) and Delaware (29).

In the men's points standings, Delaware was first with 29, Georgia Tech second with 20 and Purdue third with 18.

In the women's competition, California-Davis captured the women's varsity heavyweight eight in 6:34.01, ahead of Sacramento (6:35.76), Purdue (6:36.89), Buffalo (6:42.12), San Diego (6:43.10) and Saint Joseph's (6:45.44).

The Hawks finished fourth in the women's points standings with 15, behind Buffalo (21), Purdue (18) and Grand Valley (16).

"We got everything out of everyone," St. Joe's coach Gerry Quinlan said. "There were just a couple of teams faster. We did all we could do."

Temple won the silver in the freshman/novice four.

The Dad Vail Regatta features more than 3,000 rowers from 120 schools in the United States and Canada. *