“It was a dramatic day of racing,” head coach Joel Furtek said. “The windy weather, loop course, and novel 5k/500m format made for a great challenge to our Griffs – and 14 of them earned the right to do double duty racing both events twice.”
The reagatta featured two part scoring beginning with a 5k and concluding with a 500 meter sprint. At the conclusion the race officials assigned a score based on the each event.
The varsity eight consisting of Alexandra Heinz, Sydney Bichsel, Kira Voyer, Tara Federow, Jessica Fabian, Kathryn Hobika, Molly Murphy. Patricia Beaulieu, and Kaitlyn Taylor, took first in the 5k portion of the course, while finishing the 500m portion with a time of 1:32.18. With the added time, the Griffs finished second overall, as the Mercyhurst varsity eight clocked in with a time of 19:55.48 in the 5k and 1:38.95 in the 500-meter sprint for an overall time of 27:20 .23.
The second varsity eight featuring Emma Vicaretti, Madeline Kurka, Mackenzie App, Michelle Turner, Bridget Lillis, Shannon Pritzker, Audrey Rieman, Brooke Stanley, and Grace Horner, also excelled in the 5k race, placing third with a time of 20:46.78. That time bested the Lakers second varsity eight, with their boat coming in with a time of 22:40.1.
“Our eights really attacked the 5k and the results show it, “ Furtek said. “With a solid first place win for our first eight and a very strong third place finish from our second eight. A very talented and well-coached Mercyhurst first eight separated our Griffs; in addition to Adrian Spracklen’s foreign national team coaching experience there are some strong international rowers in the Laker crew. We’re pleased to have matched up well.
“We expected Mercyhurst to be well coached and to their credit, they were better prepared to execute the 500m sprint in the eights, and once all the math was done they eked out a win in the combined totals.”
In the varsity fours the Griffs sent out four boats to compete in the event. The first varsity four had a malfunction to its rudder which proved to be problematic to the 1000m portion of the race. The squad finished with a time of 23:31.80, as Fabian, Hobika, Murphy, Beaulieu and Taylor did their best to overcome the problem. For safety reasons the first varsity four did not compete 500m sprint.
While Mercyhurst’s first varsity four topped the field with an overall time of 30:32.77, the Blue and Gold placed all four of its entrants ahead of the Lakers second varsity four.
The fastest varsity four proved to be the “B” boat for the team, as Voyer, Federow, Heinz, Bichsel and Horner placed second with an over all time of 31:38.97. The Griffs’ “D” varsity four, featuring Liz DelBarba, Chanel Davis, Alexandria Holt, Erin Grim and Misa Gamble, came in fourth with a combined time of 33:34.54. Meawhile the “C” boat placed fifth, as Lillis, Kurka, Reiman, Stanley and Gianna Ortolani clocked in with a time of 33:39.60.
The Griffs first varsity four, even with its boat complications placed ahead of Mercyhurst’s second varsity four with a time of 34:52.85.
“In the fours, our A boat had their rudder jam up backward just 1000m in but Kaity Taylor managed to bring them around the course using power alone,” Furtek said. “This is incredibly difficult to do on a race and it meant a lot of extra work and distance for the crew. For safety Kaity chose not to race the tight-quarters 500m min the other boats we saw some great internal completion including a thrilling 500m sprint between our C and D boats that came down to a fraction of a second. Mercyhurst was the class of the fours with their top end speed, but I’m proud that even with the A boat’s rudder issue we put all four crews ahead of Mercyhurst B.
“I’m proud of how hard our women raced, but I’m more proud of their dissatisfaction – we did not perform to our expectations and we’re not okay with that,” Furtek said. “It was compelling to see the fire in their eyes and hear the conviction in their voices as we broke down the race.”
The Griffs now get ready for its home regatta on Oct. 16, as the squad hosts the Head of the Niagara/Wright Regatta at West Side Rowing Club. That is the final race before the Griffs embark on its journey to the Head of the Charles on Oct. 22.
“We’ll enjoy our exhaustion for the rest of the day and then get right back into action tomorrow morning as we continue our Fall Camp,” Furtek said. “It will be great to get right back at it and take the next step. We’ll have a chance to measure our progress at home next Sunday.”
from GoGriffs.com via IFTTT
