Williams Women's Crew Overcomes St. Joseph's and Marietta
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Rowing into a 10-15 mile-per-hour headwind on the Schuylkill River, the women's first varsity eight crossed the line at 6:50.2, more than 20 seconds ahead of Atlantic 10 competitor St. Joseph's and Ohio Athletic Conference competitor Marietta. The first varsity eight also scrimmaged the Vesper Elite women's quad in the afternoon, racing three 1500 meter pieces.
"We've never raced St. Joe's before and weren't sure what to expect from a strong division 1 crew. We went in with a solid race plan and focused on our own performance in the first 500 meters of the race. We had a strong start and the momentum carried us through the rest of the day, including three race pieces with a quad of Vesper elite openweight women," said co-captains Anna Soybel and Adrienne Darrow, both seniors.
In a back and forth battle between St. Joseph's and Williams in the 2V race, Williams edged out St. Joe's by less than one second to finish with a time of 6:56.4.
"It was a very close and exciting race. Due to the staggered start and finish, we were not immediately sure who'd won," said 2V four seat Jane McClellan, a junior.
"It was very beneficial for the 2V to have such a close competition for our first race. We traded the lead with St. Joes throughout the middle of the race, and were pushed to perform at the highest level that we can at this point in the season," said 2V stroke Sydney Tooze , also a junior.
The varsity four put up a strong fight, finishing three seconds off of St. Joe's with a time of 8:08.4.
"Though it was our third time rowing this specific lineup, there was obvious power in the first half of the race. St. Joe's pulled a great sprint in the last 200. This week, we'll be looking to further consolidate our boat and find some more speed in the back end of the race," said coxswain Liz Zhu, a senior.
Williams' novice eight posted a strong finish at 7:28 to win by a half a length over St. Joe's.
"The race against St. Joe's frosh boat was a great first sprint race for us because it was truly a fight for the whole 2000 meters. We came out feeling proud of our victory, but also realizing that we still have much more practice to do," said novice eight coxswain Anna Hopkins.
"There was great team energy throughout the day, and it was a great start to the racing season. We're really excited about our performance and are looking forward to continuing our progress on our lake," said Darrow and Soybel.
The Ephs return home to train on Lake Onota this week in preparation for their first regular season race against Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Connecticut College and Simmons College in Worcester, Mass., on Saturday, April 9.
Lineups:
Varisty 8
Bow – Golden, sophomore
2 – Darrow, senior
3 – Deal, junior
4 – Haley, sophomore
5 – Shaper, junior
6 – Olsen, junior
7 – Soybel, senior
Stroke – Pelegri-O'Day, junior
Coxswain – Licht, senior
2nd Varsity 8
Bow – Laukitis, sophomore
2 – Amos, junior
3 – Amano, sophomore
4 – McClellan, junior
5 – Conklin, junior
6 – Swan, sophomore
7 – Wallace, junior
Stroke – Tooze, junior
Coxswain – Wilkes, junior
3rd Varsity 8
Bow – Shapero, senior
2 –Remec, sophomore
3 – Knapp, sophomore
4 – Kiernan, freshman
5 – Nikolau, freshman
6 –Van der Linden, sophomore
7 – Stuart, senior
Stroke – Kern, junior
Coxswain – Zhu, senior
Varisty 4
Bow – Remec, sophomore
2 – Shapero, senior
3 – Kern, junior
Stroke – Stuart, senior
Coxswain – Zhu, senior
Novice 8
Bow – Peters, freshman
2 – Wicker, freshman
3 –Lau, freshman
4 – Abujbara, freshman
5 – Kistler, sophomore
6 – Norkett, freshman
7 – Nikolau, freshman
Stroke – May, freshman
Coxswain – Hopkins, freshman
