SARASOTA, Fla. – The Old Dominion Women's Rowing team competed in the Sunshine Invitational on Friday, March 29 and Saturday, March 30 in Sarasota, Florida.
On Friday the Monarchs competed in three races, the varsity 4, the first varsity 8 and the second varsity 8. The varsity 4 team featured Alexis Durand, Emma Spinelli, Kaila Smith, Catherine Wilson and Ellie Gortz was the coxswain. The team finished seventh out of eight teams with a time of 8:21.03.
The second varsity 8 was next which featured Jinjoo Noh, Olivia Kruse, Kendall Freeman, Gillian Battersby, Bekah Kimman, Sophie Sherman, Nikki DiBacco, Lilly Baumann and Savannah Hartlove as the coxswain. The team placed eighth with a time of 7:43.95.
The final race on Friday was the first varsity 8 which was represented by Lucy Brennan, Sydney Blackburn, Sofia Bespalova, Nicole Knight, Jo Copeland, Maddie Enns, Helen Schuette, Callie Crook and Libby Guindon was the coxswain. The team placed sixth out of eight teams with a time of 7:29.62.
"All of our boats had their best pieces so far this year which tells us that we are still finding speed. I think the crews should more poise in the races," said head coach Brian Conley.
"The Varsity 4+ started the day for us and had a good start that put them completely in the mix then it was a battle with Louisville down the rest of the course. It was great to see this crew gain that valuable race experience and confidence of being able to go with them through the race."
"The 2V8+ had their best piece of the year. They were able to hold onto the pack through the first 750 meters, but found the field moved away from them in the second half of the race," said Conley.
"The Varsity 8+ had the most mature race of our team. They got off the line and held contact with Kansas the entire race. Because they raced with confidence and stayed internal to move the boat, they were able to move through UMass in the 3rd 500 meters. It's really tough to walk through a boat once they are up so it was great to see that. Racing tomorrow will be great as it should get tighter as finals always bring a new level of racing."
On Saturday the Monarchs competed in the varsity 4 race, first varsity 8 and second varsity 8 races.
The first varsity 8 team started out the day by placing sixth out of eight team with a time of 6:55.10. The second varsity 8 squad followed shortly after placing seventh with a time of 7:18.66 and the varsity 4 finished the day for the Monarchs taking sixth with a time of 7:41.59.
"The varsity 8 went out and found themselves in a battle again with UMass and came up just short of them. The 2V8 learned a lot from one race to the next. While the result wasn't exactly what we wanted, I think from the heat to the final we learned more about how to race than anything else and that's going to pay dividends for the 2V8+ later in the season," said Brian Conley.
"The Varsity 4+ had the most exciting finish of the day. They raced very internal for the first half then made a hard charge in the last 500 meters of the race to push through Louisville. It was great to see such a young boat race as mature as they did."
"Overall, the team learned a great deal about what racing requires and how you can't always stick to the script if you want to win. We still have a lot of work to do, but I was happy to see where we were against our American Conference competitors and future Big 12 competitors. It was a great weekend to be a Monarch!"
ODU is back in action Friday, April 5 through Saturday, April 8 at the San Diego Crew Classic in San Diego, California.
Rowing Competes at Sunshine Invitational
