Editor's Note: Recap provided by head women's rowing coach Tom Sanford.

Marist Women's Rowing traveled to Saratoga, NY this past weekend to compete at the Head of the Fish Regatta, our favorite head race of the fall season!  The women boated twelve crews in eight events which included 1x, 2x, 2-, 4+s and 8s.
 
Although last week was challenging weather-wise and prevented us from testing out most of our lineups, the athletes were eager to hit Fish Creek and race aggressively down a course 3200m long, which is about 1800m shorter than the typical 5000m fall race. The weather was slightly nicer than a typical Head of the Fish weekend, with light, on and off drizzle and a welcomed slight tailwind for most of the day.  A large majority of our Marist athletes raced in multiple events throughout the day, the goal being to gain more racing experience as we continue to make up for last season's lost watertime.
 
Freshman Summer Starrett and sophomore Avalon Johnson stepped up to the plate to represent our program in the collegiate 1x and represent they did! Summer completed the course in a time of 14:56.9 which was good enough for 1st place, a gold medal and a coveted "Fish Head" trophy, while Avalon raced to a time 15:06.5 which placed her 2^nd overall and earned her a silver medal.  All in all a great way to start the regatta in what will likely be the only chance for anyone to race a 1x again until next year!
 
Next up was our freshmen 2x (double), Gabby Insero and Emma LeClerc. This duo raced down the course in a time of 14:40 which placed them 8^th of 11. Not too bad considering this was their first row together!
 
Our 2-(pair), Genevieve Anderson and Lauren Muhr, raced down the course in a time 14:50, which earned them a third place medal.
 
Next up was our Novice 4 which consisted of coxswain Phoebe Castellano and Jessica Zygmunt, Molly O'Donoghue, Alyssa Clark and Alissa Statler. This crew raced to a 4^th place finish out of 9 boats in a time of 15:03. It was a great experience for our walk-ons and for Alyssa and Alissa it was in fact the first crew race of their lives.
 
Our Varsity 8 raced next and consisted of coxswain Katie Moody, Summer Starrett, Lydia Giguere, Natalia Miklos, Emma Jauch, Avalon Johnson, Ashley Surette, Caroline Voorhis and Olivia Nasternak. This combination of athletes finished 11^th of 23 in a time of 11:36.8.  The top three finishers were Syracuse A, Syracuse B and Cornell A.  
 
We entered two second varisty 8's, an A and a B boat. The A boat consisted of coxswain Olivia Siyahian, Kassandra Nicholson, Genevieve Anderson, Chrissy Schone, Gabby Insero, Casey Hodge, Juliet Kirk, Lauren Muhr and Jennfier Liguori. MIT won the event and our A entry finished 4^th of 23 in a time of 11:50.4. The 2V B boat consisted of coxswain Abigail Cieplinski, Francesca D'Ugo, Hilary Anderson, Emma LeClerc, Allie Steingold, Jessica Zygmunt, Victoria Hamilton, Rebecca Paul and Emily Liguori. This crew had a strong showing by finishing 10^th of 23 in a time of 12:24.8.
 
Our Freshman/Novice 8 raced to a 16^th place finish of 19 boats in an event which was won by Cornell. Our coxswain Phoebe Castellano, Jessica Zygmunt, Molly O'Donoghue, Alyssa Clark, Alissa Statler, Emma Spiro, Phyia Walker, Colleen Bernhard and Alex Gibeault had a great experience and were excited to learn more about the sport which they all first discovered in September!
 
Our final entries were in the Varsity 4 event where we had and A, B and C entry. Each lineup was pulled from our 8s and the crews ended up being very competitive both in the large field of 42 boats as well as amongst themselves. The A boat consisted of coxswain Olivia Siyahian, Summer Starrett, Lydia Giguere, Natalia Miklos and Emma Jauch. This crew finished 9^th in a time of 13:07.07. The C boat edged out the B boat by .8 seconds and finished 11^th in a time of 13:11.08.  The C crew was comprised of coxswain Katie Moody, Kassandra Nicholson, Juliet Kirk, Chrissy Schone and Hilary Anderson. The B boat with coxswain Abigial Cieplinski, Avalon Johnson, Ashley Surrette, Caroline Voorhis and Olivia Nasternak was 15^th in a time of 13:11.83. Yes, that is correct, places 12, 13 and 14 (Williams, Cornell and Middlebury) finished between our C and B crews which were only .8 seconds off each other! An exciting finish to another successful day of racing for all of the Marist crews on Fish Creek, Saratoga!
 
The team is now preparing for its final fall competition which will be a 2000m race at Overpeck Park, NJ on November 14.