SARATOGA, New York - Marist women's rowing traveled to Saratoga on Saturday to race at the New York State Championships. The women traveled with the 1^st and 2^nd varsity 8s and the Varsity 4 and 2^nd Varsity 4. The race format was heats and finals in all events.   

• The Varsity 8 consisted of coxswain Katie Moody, Kassie Nicholson, Gabby Insero, Natalia Miklos, Lydia Giguere, Summer Starrett, Emma Jauch, Lauren Muhr, and Ashley Surette. 
• The Second Varsity 8 consisted of coxswain Abigail Cieplinski/Catie Stiffler, Genevieve Anderson, Caroline Voorhis, Elizabeth Kelly, Avalon Johnson, Molly O'Donoghue, Mary Schone, Hilary Anderson and Francesca D'Ugo.  
• The Varsity 4 consisted of coxswain Phoebe Castellano, Casey Hodge, Emily Liguori, Jennifer Liguori, and Rebecca Paul.  
• The 2V 4 (V4 "B") consisted of coxswain Emma Spiro, Jessica Zygmunt, Victoria Hamilton, Sophia Ledda, and Alexandra Gibeault. 
• In the morning heat, the V8 won, seven seconds ahead of Colgate while Ithaca won their heat finishing 11 seconds ahead of Rochester.  Our V4 won the heat over Colgate by two seconds and our V4 "B" entry won its heat by 15 seconds over Vassar's A entry. 
• Our final heat of the morning round ended with our 2V8 winning by eight seconds over Colgate.  Each Marist crew successfully completed our initial task of making the grand final in each event.  
• After a quick turnaround, with finals being a mere two hours after the heats, the Marist crews were excited to race for the championship. The intensity and competition of the final as compared to a heat is elevated to say the least, as is the case in any Olympic sport. Our crews knew not to relax based upon their "victories" in the heats and were mentally prepared for battles in each of the finals. 
• Our Varsity 8 flew off the line and led from start to finish to defend its 2019 championship (Covid canceled the 2020/2021 championships), in a time of 6:52.0. Ithaca was second, 2.4 seconds behind and Colgate finished third, 6.9 seconds behind.

• Next up, our Varsity 4 "A" crew also led start to finish to win in a time of 7:59.0. Colgate's "A" entry was second with an 8:09.2 and our V4 "B" boat finished third with a time of 8:14.4.  Ithaca "A" was 2 seconds back in 4^th.

• Our final race was the 2V8 and we knew we were in for a battle, after Ithaca had posted a heat time which was one second faster than our heat winning time. After an unsettling start, our crew raced valiantly; however, never really settled into a strong rhythm for the middle of the race, something which we have really done well up to this point. 
• We were basically even with Ithaca for the first 1500m, however, in the final 500m of the race, Ithaca was able to mount a more effective sprint and pushed out for a 2.9 second victory, in a time of 7:07.0. Our 2V settled for the silver medal and is looking forward to getting back to work!

• After racing finished for the day, we celebrated our seniors and their parents by highlighting each their accomplishments over the last four years and presented them with senior gifts.

• Full results from the regatta may be viewed at www.Row2k.com 

• The Marist women's crews will be racing in Worcester, Massachusetts next Sunday at the Women's Sprints on Lake Quinsigamond.