The 15th annual Don Lubbers Cup Regatta was held on April 3rd on Spring Lake, MI. The GVSU Lakers played host to several top programs from around the Midwest. The morning opened with a time trial for the eights to place the teams into their lanes for the finals. The conditions for the time trial were beautiful with warm weather, calm water, and minimal wind. On the women’s side, GVSU fared well in their morning row. The first varsity led all crews, while the second varsity and novice eights placed first at their level as well. On the men’s side, the University of Michigan showed its programs depth with its 1V, 2V, 3V, and 1F all leading their time trial. Grand Valley placed second on the 1V and 1F level for the time trial, roughly 4 seconds and 7 seconds off of UM respectively.

Following the morning time trials, the grand finals for the eights were run. In the first event, the Laker novice women’s eight won the ‘Michelle Golightly Cup’ placing first in a time of 7:57, ahead of Michigan State at 8:42. The ‘Paul Springer Cup’ for men’s novice eights was contested next. GVSU found themselves down after a rough start and struggled to pull even to the leaders throughout. The Lakers place fourth in a time of 6:58, behind UM-A at 6:41, MSU at 6:48, and UM-B at 6:52. In the men’s second level final for the ‘Chad Jedlic Cup’, Michigan again asserted its depth with a first, second finish in their third varsity and second varsity eights. GVSU placed fourth behind the two Wolverine eight as well as Notre Dames second level eight. The women’s varsity eights raced next for the ‘Nancy Lubbers Cup’. The Lakers used a strong start to separate from the field early and were never pushed the rest of the way. GVSU won in a time of 7:13 to Eastern Michigan’s 7:41 and Ohio State’s 7:49. In the day’s premier event, the men’s varsity eights competed for the ‘Don Lubbers Cup’. The race included three of the top ten nationally ranked ACRA eights in UM, Notre Dame, and GVSU. The race did not disappoint as the three top crews took off from the field early and raced nearly even across the two-thousand meter course. In the end, the Michigan and Notre Dame men used their power to overtake the Lakers. GVSU finished third in a time of 6:20.8, just behind UM at 6:18.6 and ND at 6:20.2. The slower times on the lake were contributed to the headwind that picked up throughout the day as races progressed.

In other racing, the UM novice men’s four won the ‘Spring Lake Yacht Club Cup’ in a time of 7:27, the GVSU varsity women’s four won the ‘Michaud Family Cup’ in a time of 8:38, and the UM varsity men’s four won the ‘Frank Yates Cup’ in a time of 7:41.

On the strength of its women’s performance, Grand Valley won the overall team points trophy with a total of 59 points. The Laker women contributed 44 points to the total and took home the women’s team points trophy. On the men’s side, University of Michigan walked away with the trophy with a total of 45 points.

Grand Valley will return to practice for the next two weeks in preparation for the SIRA Championship regatta on April 17th in Oak Ridge, TN.

Complete Results may be accessed at www.row2k.com/results/.

Video of the eight’s events are accessible on the Grand Valley Rowing YouTube channel.

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