Drexel’s crew teams had outstanding 2016 seasons, both in sports and academics — both here and abroad.
In June, the men’s team (outfitted in dapper blazers designed by Drexel first lady Cara Fry) flew across the pond to participate in Oxford’s historic Henley Royal Regatta, which has been pitting rowers against each other on a 2,300-meter race on the Thames River since 1839. Drexel’s eight-man team beat the University College of Dublin, winner of eight national championships, by more than two lengths. The win marked the first time Drexel men have won at Henley, and the second Henley win for Drexel ever (in 2010 the women’s team won the Elite Race). The four-man team then went on to beat the University of Surrey the following day. Both teams lost in their second races, the eight-man team to the University of California–Berkley and the four-man team to Oxford Brookes University.
The English races were feathers in the cap of Drexel’s rowing team, after having cleaned up at the Dad Vail Regatta on the Schuylkill River just a month earlier. Drexel Crew won its fourth consecutive overall team championship in May, winning two gold medals and five silver medals on the way to the title. There, the team also set program records by sending 11 boats to the grand final, recording top-five finishes in 11 grand finals and sending all 14 boats to the second day of competition. The Dragons won gold medals in the men’s second varsity eight and the men’s freshmen eight competitions. Men’s varsity eight, women’s varsity eight, women’s second varsity