November 3, 2018: Case Crew took their top eights and an additional women's four to the Head of the Hooch for the fourth year in a row and earned medals in two races. Across very deep fields Case showed they could hold their own agains the best college club teams in the south. The course in Chattanooga and early November date allows teams to extend their on-the-water season and guarantee good, fast and fair racing conditions. This year saw lots of rain in the region, and water conditions were exceptionally fast compared to previous year.
The regatta has become so large that they instituted a requalification scheme a few years ago. Case easily requalified for the 2018 event based on the top 10 performances last year. The Hooch has become one of the largest regattas in the country and pulls in colleges across the south and a number of Midwestern colleges. This year the women's varsity eight took silver against a field of 30 other colleges and clubs while the men took sixth against 34 other teams. Showing the depth of the women's squad, the team brought a JV to compete in the college and club fours event and took third against 38 other crews!
Head of the Hooch silver medalists in the women's college & club 8+!
Pezzuto (s), Piccirillo (7), Carlson (6), Pearson (5), Wetzel (4), Kluender (3), Francissen (2), Iversen (b) Scherner (cox)
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The two-day event hosted over 200 teams and over 2,000 entries with the regatta site right in downtown Chattanooga, Tennessee. The 5,000 meter course is fairly straight, fair and easy to pass. With the city center venue and excellent course, the Hooch has grown into one of THE premier head races in the country. For northern crews, the early November timing also extends the competitive season. Conditions were fair but the current was extremely strong leading to very fast times - almost two minutes faster than last year.
The Case varsity women were event #9 and with the fast current this year crushed the course with a time of 16 minutes 6 seconds. After winning the event last year, the crew finished second behind the University of Florida by 30 seconds. This year marks the third medal in a row in this event and a fourth place in 2016 - can you sense dynasty! The line-up of Dani Pezzuto (s), Madison Piccirillo (7), Sarah Carlson (6), Emmeline Pearson (5), Kirstin Wetzel (4), Lindsay Kluender (3), Katie Francissen (2) Ingrid Iversen (b) and Natalie Scherner (cox) finished ahead of 29 other teams and ahead of Georgia Tech again (!) who took bronze.
Head of the Hooch Men's Varsity 8+
Nehila (s), Nutt (7), Steiner (6), Hittson (5), Swyers (4), Norchi (3), Mann (2), Warren (b) and Tompkins (cox)
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The men's varsity 8+ of Tim Nehila (s), Sam Nutt (7), Ian Steiner (6), Finn Hittson (5), Andy Swyers (4), Ryan Norchi (3), Sean Mann (2) and Will Warren (b) with Maria Tompkins (cox) faced a deep field and finished 6th overall and four spots better than last year's finish. The crew continues their grudge match against UAA rivals WashU from the last couple years. Case has been just slightly off the pace of the crew from St Louis for the last three years, but picked up some of the gap this year. WashU finished 3rd overall for the second year in a row, and only 10 seconds ahead of the Spartans. Vanderbilt took top honors with Central Florida grabbing silver with the top eleven crews breaking 15 minutes.
Head of the Hooch bronze medalists in the women's college & club 4+!
Judge (s), Magliato (3), Braunegg (2), Sanderson (b) and Sorgatz (cox)
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The women's JV 4+ of Emily Judge (s), Sam Magliato (3), Annelise Braunegg (2) and Helen Sanderson with Aleksa Sorgatz coxing took home the bronze medal against 37 other crews. They finished 15 seconds off the winners from Clemson and 2 seconds behind Florida. In fourth place were UAA rivals WashU along with Emory in 9th and cross town rivals John Carroll in 29th. With the two women's crews earning medals this shows the depth of the women's squad this year.
The Hooch runs a qualification system for guaranteed entries in the next year's race. All three crews easily re-qualified for 2019 entries.
Race results for the Head of the Hooch can be found HERE.