ODU Rowing Competes In Loyola Maryland Tri-Race On Saturday

BALTIMORE, Md. – The Old Dominion rowing team competed in the Loyola Maryland Tri-race on Saturday. ODU raced four boats in the tri-race that featured Lehigh, Old Dominion and Loyola Maryland.
 
The first race of the day was the women's varsity 4 where ODU took third. The boat of Ainsley Diesi, Afton Stahl, Gillian Battersby, Kelly Bailey, and the coxswain being Libby Guidon finished with a time of 9:24.39.
 
The second race featured the second varsity 8 which was a boat made up of Jenna Protacio, Mary Rust, Haven Habhab, Marie Ahern, Izzy Bravo, Bekah Kimman, Lauren Norris and Emma Spinelli and the coxswain was Bella Peycelon. That boat took second place and finished with a time of 7:55.21
 
The varsity 8 team featured Ilianna Romanzo as the coxswain and her crew was Sofia Bespalova, Kinley Zink, Lucy Brennan, Annemarie Hoff, Jay Weber, Maddie Enns, Lily Baumann, and Sydnee Blackburn. They took first place with a time of 7:10.85. 
 
The final race of the day was the novice 4. The boat of Ainsley Diesi, Afton Stahl, Gillian Battersby, Mackenzie Scherra and the coxswain is Ellie Gortz defeated Loyola Maryland and finished with a time of 9:20.16. 
 
"We had a mixed day of results. Our 2nd Varsity 8+ and Varsity 4+ struggled to find their rhythm. Lehigh pushed out early off the start in both races and we couldn't recover to a strong base speed we've had in practice. It was a learning experience for both boats," said head coach Brian Conley. "The novice 4+ went out and struggled off the start but learned from the earlier races how to recover. They walked away in the last 1000m for the win which is exciting for their first year of college racing. The Varisty 8+ had the most exciting race of the day. All 3 teams got off the line together and it was ODU and Lehigh that battled the middle 1000 meters with ODU pushing out to a full length going into the last 500 meters. Lehigh then charged through the last 250m to close the gap, but ODU crossed the line just ahead of the Mountain Hawks."
"It was a great day of racing overall to walk away with a couple of W's for the team before we head into the last race and conference championships."