The women’s crew team soared to victory this weekend on the Erie Canal. The regatta hosted by the Continentals took place in Rome all day Saturday, April 13, and ended with a boat-load of victories against RIT, William Smith College, and Smith College. The nationally-ranked #9 Continentals had their work cut out for them against the #11 RIT, and the #8 William Smith, and the #5 Smith.
The women Continentals raced 3 separate varsity 8 boats. Both the first and second varsity 8 boats achieved victories in their first heats, allowing both to advance to the finals. Both varsity 8 boats after advancing to finals won their grand final races.
The first varsity 8 boat included Rachel Sutor ’20 (coxswain), Emily Norum ’22, Perrin Salewood ’21, Ann-Sophie Koglin ’20, Danielle Schuman ’19, Vicky Xu ’19, Pauline Santry ’21, Elizabeth Foot ’20, and Kat Buckley ’21.
The first heat of the first varsity boat ended in a clear victory for the Continentals. The varsity 8 flew past RIT in their first 2,000-meter race beating RIT by approximately 12 seconds for a final time of 6:44 compared to 6:56. The second and final race concluded with a much smaller margin between Smith and the Continentals. However, the Continentals were able to squeeze through the finish line first with less than half a second to spare for a final time of 6:44.51 to 6:44.94.
The second varsity boat also came out on top, winning both their first heat and final race.
The second varsity boat included Michaela Murdock ’22 (coxswain), Lily Charron ’21, Elizabeth Atherton ’22. Jesse Chapman ’22, Ally Marenco ’22, Jane Fanning ’22, Sarya Khandare ’22, Katy Shepard ’22, andAlison Veitch ’20.
The second varsity boat defeated RIT in the first heat by approximately 9 seconds, with a final time of 7:01 to 7:10. The final race, like the first heat, looked similar to the first varsity boat race against Smith. The second varsity 8 pulled slightly ahead of Smith in the final race, defeating them by under 2 seconds for a final time of 7:02.24 to 7:03.71.
Buckley was happy with her first varsity 8 boat’s performance. “We had one of the best sprints I’ve ever been a part of in our final race against Smith,” said Buckley. “Their coxswain was on our bow seat, almost a full boat length up, at 550 meters to go, and we decided to sprint early at 500 meters to go. We made up all of that distance and managed to win by 0.5 seconds.”
The third varsity 8 ended up behind Smith in their race and ahead of RIT, finishing comfortably in second place with a time of 7:37 and beating Smith’s time of 7:15 and RIT’s time of 7:47. The Continental’s novice boat of 4 also achieved victory on Saturday with a time of 8:15, barely beating Smith’s time of 8:16, and William Smith’s 8:24.
The team also competed with Hamilton rowing alumni in a race once the regatta had ended.
This weekend, the women Continentals will be hosting another home regatta in Rome at the Erie Canal against Union College, St. Lawrence University, University of Rochester, and Vassar College
The men’s rowing team also competed this weekend on the Erie Canal on the same day as the women. The Continentals faced just one opponent, RIT, on Saturday,April 13.
The men’s team also raced 3 different varsity 8 boats. Unfortunately, they fell behind RIT in all three races, though the time difference varied.
The first varsity 8 on the men’s team was made up by Haley Raphael ’20 (coxswain), Nick Wilkins ’22, Trent Pfeiffer ’19, Eric Fischer ’20, Thomas Marsh ’20, Will Grimes ’21, Andrew Vorrath ’20, Grant Kiefaber ’19, Josh Hollenberg ’21. The first varsity 8 finished just behind RIT with a time of 6:06 to 6:04, a relatively close race.
The second varsity 8 finished behind by an even closer margin with a final time of 6:16.35 to 6:14.59. The third varsity 8 finished with a time of 6:42 to RIT’s 6:27.
The men’s team will also be hosting another regatta this weekend alongside the women on Saturday, April 20. Like the women, the men will be competing this weekend against Union College, St. Lawrence University, University of Rochester, and Vassar College.
