The Continental rowing teams brought some hardware back from their trip to Rochester on Oct. 6. Competing in the Head of the Genesee Regatta, the men’s first varsity 8 won the bronze medal, while the women’s first varsity 8 captured gold.

The men’s varsity 8 placed third out of eight boats, finishing the 5.2 kilometer course with a time of 14:47.09. That time put the men just 11 seconds shy of Ithaca College’s gold-medal winning effort. The men also took bronze in the second varsity 8 race, finishing third in a five boat field with a time of 15:36.85. This time it was RIT that captured the gold with a time 26 seconds faster than the Hamilton crew.

Trent Pfeiffer ’19, a member of the men’s varsity 8 boat, had a few takeaways from his team’s experience at the Head of the Genesee. “I think the varsity 8 learned that in order to win, we have to continue putting in more work on the ergs [ergometer machines] in addition to working on technique on the water,” he said. “Recently, we have been focusing on having fast, clean catches and a strong gather at the release. We will also be working on maintaining a high stroke rate for the duration of the entire head race.”

The women’s team continued to impress at the Head of the Genesee in their first return to competition after sweeping Colgate at the Bridge to Bridge Regatta in September. The Continentals’ varsity 8 finished first out of nine boats, besting runner up RIT by 18 seconds. The Tigers from the Rochester Institute of Technology managed to reverse that result in the second varsity 8 race, finishing 18 seconds ahead of the Lady Continental’s time of 16:58.09.

Elizabeth Foot ’20, a member of the women’s varsity 8 boat, attributes the team’s fall success to work put in during the offseason.

“We graduated five seniors last year so we were kind of unsure about where we stood entering this fall,” Foot said. “But everyone put in the work over the summer and came into the season ready to work hard so we’ve been able to put together a good boat.”

Danielle Schuman ’19 talked about continuing to build momentum for the spring season. “Over winter training the goal is to build speed and strength. I’m excited to see the girls push themselves to new levels so that we can hit the ground running for the spring season,” Schuman said. “During the spring, our championship season, we hope to come off strong against our big rivals such as Ithaca and RIT. Our ultimate goal is for both the varsity 8’s to have strong seasons so that we can earn a bid to the NCAA championship.”

In addition to varsity competition, both the men and women sent novice boats to compete at the Head of the Genesee. On the men’s side, a novice boat competing in the collegiate 4+ category placed 12 out of 16 finishers with a time of 18:35.31.

On the women’s side, Hamilton finished fifth of 13 boats in the novice 8 race with a time of 19:06.89.

Hamilton will return to the water on Saturday, Oct. 20 and Sunday, Oct. 21 at the Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston, MA. The men’s and women’s teams will then finish the fall season at the Head of the Schuylkill Regatta in Philadelphia, PA on Saturday, Oct. 27 and Sunday, Oct. 2.