Courtesy of UR Athletics
On Friday, April 24, the University of Rochester’s Women’s Rowing Team headed east across New York State to compete in the Liberty League Championships on Saratoga Lake. The Yellowackets put out an impressive performance and placed third overall.
The team’s strongest showing came from the first Varsity 8+. This boat consisted of seniors Juliana Orlov, Serra Sevenler, Emily Widra and Allie Born, juniors Bella Clemente and Clare McMahon, sophomores Crystal Hoffman and Alice Bandeian and freshman Rebecca Fuchs.
In the prelims of this event, the ‘Jackets sped down the race course, out rowing both St. Lawrence and Skidmore, winning the heat and earning a spot in the finals.
The final of this event proved to be tougher competition. The ‘Jackets crushed their previous preliminary time by over 20 seconds, finishing the race with a time of 7:35.43. However, it wasn’t enought to overcome RIT and William Smith, who battled for the first-place finish. Both teams were neck and neck, but William Smith showed true heart and out-raced RIT in the end, with William Smith finishing at 7:26.2 and and RIT at 7:27.4.
“We had two great races on Friday,” said Orlov. “We finished first in our heat and third in the grand final just behind William Smith and RIT.”
The second Varsity 8+ also finished third in their respective race, with a time of 8:41.03.
This boat consisted of seniors Lilly Camp and Stacy Miller, juniors Becky Chu and Kathy Dupree, sophomores Jessica Bernstein and Morgan Miller and freshmen Shae Rhinehart, Gianna Macri and Sarabeth Rambold.
In this event, William Smith and RIT once again went one and two. The real battle was for third place. Skidmore and UR were neck and neck. However, the Yellowjackets ultimately pulled ahead and finished two seconds ahead of Skidmore.
Also competing in this regatta were a Varsity 4+ and Novice 8+. The women’s Varsity 4+ finished in third place, behind William Smith and Union; the Novice 4+ finished in second place behind St. Lawrence.
The overall victors and newly crowned Liberty League Champions were powerhouse William Smith. This marks William Smith‘s fifth consecutive win at the Liberty League Championships.
The Yellowjackets will finish out their 2015 spring season this weekend in the New York State Championships.
Cozen is a member of the class of 2015.
