BOSTON, Massachusetts – The Marist women's rowing team traveled to Boston this weekend to compete at the Head of the Charles. On Saturday the Club 4 and Club 8 raced, and on Sunday the Championship 4 raced.
The plan was to build upon the positive racing experience gained last weekend in Worcester and once again to have all three crews come off the water feeling good about how they performed in their particular event. Keeping in mind that fall races challenge the steering skills of coxswains each weekend, particularly the Charles course, our coxswains had studied the course meticulously leading into the regatta and memorized all of the twists and turns they would encounter and bridge abutments to avoid. They each steered exceptional courses and avoided the all too often occurring clashes with other crews and/or bridges!
The Club 4 was our first crew down the course on Saturday. The weather conditions were great with relatively mild temperatures, sunshine and a welcomed lack of any significant breeze. The crew started in the 19
th spot of 54 based on the last outing at the regatta two years ago, but fell to 28
th by the end of race. Although not overjoyed with this final standing, the crew had its best row of the week and were able to point to some portions of the race where it felt we had been moving very well. This crew was in a very large field of boats which were filled with a lot of other strong and skillful rowers and were reminded that we can only control what happens in our boats, we cannot control how fast others are or what happens in their boats. The athletes in this lineup will live to fight another day and come back hungry to work hard toward next weekend's race in Saratoga!
The Club 4 consisted of coxswain
Abigail Cieplinski,
Kassandra Nicholson,
Juliet Kirk, Mary (Chrissy) Schone, and
Jennifer Liguori.
Next up was the Club 8 which consisted of coxswain Katie Moody,
Summer Starrett,
Elizabeth Kelly,
Natalia Miklos,
Emma Jauch,
Avalon Johnson,
Olivia Nasternak,
Casey Hodge, and
Emily Liguori. Having not competed in this event in a few years, the crew found themselves placed in the 29
th starting position out of 31 crews and was able to work its way to a 19
th place finish by the end of the race. This crew gained valuable racing experience over the course of this race.
Sunday found similar weather conditions to Saturday's, just a bit cooler with a slight but swirly breeze and it was the Champ 4's turn to come down the course. The Champ 4 consisted of coxswain
Olivia Siyahian,
Genevieve Anderson,
Lauren Muhr,
Lydia Giguere, and
Caroline Voorhis. This crew knew the task at hand was a tough one by starting in the 5
th position in a field of 14 top notch crews which included a lineup from Team USA! We rowed an aggressive race, averted a potential slowdown at the turn coming into the Eliot Bridge and managed to best two crews in the field of 14. We had stressed the final placement of this crew was not the most important thing to worry about, but rowing a strong, aggressive rate and controlling what could be controlled in our own boat was what was important.
Full Results may be found at www.row2k.com or www.hocr.org.
From Coach Sanford
"We would have liked to place a bit higher in each event this weekend, but to have three crews race at the Head of the Charles over the course of two days was a great experience for the team and each boat put together solid portions of the course in each race. We are looking forward to a good week of hard work as we prepare for our next regatta at the Head of the Fish in Saratoga next weekend."
