"We really wanted to come down and have a good race the first heat," said Drexel coach Paul Savell, whose squads both posted come-from-behind victories. "We were going out planning to win it.
"They were both tough races. But I think we still have faster speed in us tomorrow."
The Dragons men's team of bowman Jacob Sloan, Tim Drake, Kyle Fabel, Michael Faust, Lorenzo Albala, Aleksandar Radovic ,Gregg Francis, steerman Kurt Linton and coxswain Randall Lee covered the 2,000-meter course in 5 minutes, 57.84 seconds. Jacksonville, which finished second in 5:59.10, was the heat's other automatic advancer.
On the women's side, Drexel's squad of bowman Dana Haneman, Casondra Clawson, Emily Coyle, Kayla Wroblesky, Mallory Sykes, Julia Jackson, Alexa Antonioli, teerman Elizabeth Bratton and coxswain Kerry Walsh won its heat in 6:50.35, ahead of second-place finisher Connecticut (6:52.37).
Old Dominion University (6:44.74) posted the fastest time of the 12 automatic qualifiers. St. Joe's, which posted the second-fastest qualifying time (6:49.63), is the only other local automatic qualifier.
For the men, Delaware (5:52.57) was the fastest automatic qualifier. Temple (6:04.25) is the area's other varsity heavyweight eight qualifier.
Contact staff writer Keith Pompey at 215-854-2939 or kpompey@phillynews.com. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/pompeysgridlock.
