Dedicating the Debbie Permenter

The team competed this past weekend at SIRA, highlighted by the Men's Varsity 8+, Novice Men's 8+, and Novice Women's 8+ improving on last year's performance with 10th, 6th, and 4th place finishes respectively. 

In the Men's Varsity 8+ petite final, Georgia Tech squared off against familiar opponents in UNC and Clemson, guests from the north in No. 10 ranked Fordham, as well as varsity programs in FIT and Stetson. In an absolute barn burner with the field in full contact at the 1k mark, the GT 8+ called their sprint early to walk through the Clemson 8+, finishing with a time of 5:59.928, 7 seconds ahead of UNC, 3 seconds behind Fordham, and 5 seconds behind FIT. It's incredibly exciting to see the Varsity 8+ begin to compete once again with top-ranked ACRA and Varsity programs! The Men's Novice 8+ reached the Grand Final and finished 6th after a gutsy race behind Fordham and Purdue. The men's squads look to continue building speed as they re-tool and head into ACRA Nationals together, combining their speed with the goal of putting out three 8+'s at the regatta. 

The Novice Women's 8+ improved throughout the regatta, finishing 4th in their final, 3 seconds behind No. 10 Liberty, and 20 seconds ahead of UGA, which finished over a minute faster than the squad earlier this fall at Head of the Hooch. 

Head Coach Lauren Sabo says "Over the past few months, I’ve watched the novice women fall in love with this sport and show up to every practice ready to become better athletes and teammates. They’ve welcomed the challenge of 2ks and learned how to push through discomfort, trust their training, and lean on each other when it mattered most.

After their heat at SIRA, the NW8+ were aware of their 15-second gap to Liberty and showed up on Sunday with a practiced mindset: be better than yesterday. In their final, they narrowed the gap to Liberty down to just 3 seconds, ultimately placing fourth. That kind of growth in a single weekend speaks to their resilience and focus.

I’m excited to see this class of novice women move up to varsity and continue to work hard to become faster than yesterday. They’re coachable, they’re hungry, and they’re eager to line up against their SIRA competition again in the fall. This group will add to the momentum building within our varsity squads, and we’re excited to see how they continue to grow together as one team."