ODU Rowing Competes In Kerr Cup

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – The Old Dominion Rowing team competed in the Kerr Cup on Saturday. All four of the boats that represented ODU competed in the grand final for the day.
 
The first varsity 8 boat that featured Sofia Bespalova, Kinley Zink, Lucy Brennan, Annemarie Hoff, Jay Weber, Maddie Enns, Lily Baumann and Sydnee Blackburn and Illianna Romanzo as the coxswain. This boat took fifth place in the grand final with a time of 7:58. 
 
The second varsity 8 had Ellie Gortz as the coxswain and they rest of the crew as follows, Jenna Protacio, Mary Rust, Haven Habhab, Marie Ahern, Izzy Bravo, Bekah Kimman, Lauren Norris and Emma Spinelli.  They took fifth place in the grand final with a time of 8:38.
 
The varsity 4 boat qualified for the grand final taking fifth place and finishing with a time of 9:22.9. The boat featured Ainsley Diesi, Afton Stahl, Gabby Cook, Kelly Bailey and the coxswain was Bella Peycelon.
 
The final boat to race in the grand final was the second varsity 4 boat which took fifth place as well with a time of 10:24.1. The boat was made up of Izzy Bravo, Stella Flynn, Gillian Battersby, Mackenzie Scherra and the coxswain was Libby Guidon. 
 
"Our top eights struggled a bit today to find their rhythm and not let the conditions dictate how we rowed. The second varsity 8 was able to come back in the later race and find some of the speed they've shown in practice. Both of our Varsity fours stepped up today which was great to see. Both boats also made the grand finals and improved upon the competition we've seen before. This is great for heading to conferences in those crews," said head coach Brian Conley.
"The performer and teammate of the day goes to Izzy Bravo, who excitedly jumped into two events today and raced four times (heats and finals in each event). She showed a lot of toughness and a great deal of improvement over the course of the past five weeks. We have final exams coming up and it will be a tough week of training and studying, but I'm confident we can make the steps forward we need to perform at our best in May."
 
ODU will be back in action at the American Athletic Conference Tournament on Sunday, May 14.