STAFF REPORTS
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Despite a challenging day of racing the Blue and Gold achieved a portion of its weekend goal, as the varsity eight and varsity four advanced out of their heats and into the semifinal rounds at the Knecht Cup on Saturday.
“Today’s racing by the varsity four and varsity eight was exactly what we were looking for in this weekend’s Knecht Cup,” head coach Erin Neppel said. “We wanted to advance to the semifinals, and in doing so we are the first Canisius team to make it past heats in the history of the program, so I’m proud of the racing efforts today in reaching that goal.”
In the varsity four event, the team of Liz DelBarba, Chanel Davis, Melissa Frank, Erin Grim, and Kaitlyn Taylor moved in their heat as they finished the course with a time of 8:08.67. Rules of the varsity four is the four fastest times in each heat and the next five fastest times moved on to the semifinal round.
The Griffs varsity four, finished their heat in fourth for the automatic bid to the semis. The Blue and Gold bested Army, Villanova and MAAC opponent Sacred Heart in their respective heat.
In the varsity eight the team of Alexandra Heinz, Shannon Pritzker, Sydney Bichsel, Mackenzie App, Tara Federow, Patricia Beaulieu, Brooke Stanley, Kathryn Hobika, and Misa Gamble also advanced onto the semifinals, finishing the course with a time of 7:09.08. While in the varsity eight the top-three teams in a specific heat automatically move on, and the Griffs placed four, they did have of the six fastest remaining overall times and received entry into the semifinals.
“Tomorrow we look to advance our second varsity eight, who has been in a holding pattern all day, and I know they’re chomping at the bit for their turn down the course,” Neppel said. “There have been some really strong performances from some of our fellow MAAC teams, and I expect more of the same on Sunday which looks to be a very busy day of racing.”
The second varsity eight will compete at 7:12 tomorrow morning, looking to advance, while varsity four will take off at 9:12, the varsity eight at 9:54, with semifinals and finals rounds taking place later in the day.