On an afternoon when Georgia Tech and Clemson moved closer to renewing their football rivalry in the Atlantic Coast Conference title game, the schools' rowing crews continued theirs at the Head of the South Regatta.
The Yellow Jackets and the Tigers were a part of a large ACC contingent that took to the Savannah River on Saturday, joining Wake Forest, North Carolina State and Virginia Tech. The five schools were the most from any conference. The Southeastern Conference was second with three teams -- Georgia, Alabama and Auburn.
Virginia Tech and N.C. State came away with victories -- the Wolfpack won the Men's College/Club Novice 4 event, and the Hokies took the Mixed 8 -- but Clemson and Georgia Tech consider the other its biggest rival.
"The ACC rivalry is a big deal to us -- especially Tech," said Clemson coach Chris Czech, whose team came away with several titles including the Men's Club 8 . "We'll shake hands with them out of the water but when we're in the water, we want to crush them."
The Yellow Jackets brought more than 100 athletes to Augusta, the largest crew of any collegiate team, mainly because of an increase in their novice program this year. Georgia Tech also came away with the most first-place finishes among ACC schools, with wins in the Women's Club 8 , Women's Lightweight 8 , Men's Lightweight 1x and Men's Novice 1x.
"We had some really good battles today. Overall, I'd say we had a really good day from both our men's and women's teams," said Georgia Tech coach Rob Canavan.
The two teams were coming off strong showings at the Head of the Hooch Regatta in Chattanooga, Tenn., last week, which featured a de facto ACC championship. Since no official conference title is handed out, rowers on crews around the conference say they use regattas such as Head of the South to size themselves up against the ACC's best.
"We love coming out and competing in events like this since we really don't have an ACC championship so it's hard to measure yourself up against other teams. It's hard to know where you rank," said Clemson crew member Jason Taylor.
By day's end, those at the regatta still weren't quite sure where they stood. The computer system crashed early in the day, meaning the overall winners of the collegiate, high school and club divisions may not be known until early this week.
Reach Joey Jones at (706) 823-3304 or joey.jones@augustachronicle.com
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