April 7, 2006

NEW YORK, NY - Pioneer spring racing got underway Saturday on the Harlem River in New York City, where Manhattan College hosted an invitational regatta for local crews. Sacred Heart, Fordham, Iona, Hofstra, SUNY Maritime, NYU and USMMA joined Manhattan College for a morning of sprints on a day that promised rain but delivered sunshine. As a northern tailwind gathered throughout the morning and kicked up the strong southerly current, racing became slow and even more challenging for all boats after the first few events.

SHU's first boats out were two varsity pairs--eager not only to race each other but also to see how they fared against NYU's entry in that event. It became a two-boat race when NYU scratched, so sophomore/junior pair Caitlin Rousseau and Caroline Picknally went out against soph/soph pair Melissa Allen and Ivanna Williams in still relatively calm conditions.

The boats hadn't been matched prior so the outcome was completely uncertain. Rousseau and Picknally led for the body and finished ahead to take gold from their crewmates, but all remained happy for the chance at competing. The men's pairs rowed the course immediately following the women, but their fastest boat (SUNY Maritime) finished 5 seconds slower than the SHU winners.

Most women's crews attending fielded boats in the novice fours event, so the racing was split into heats and finals. Sacred Heart frosh stroke Amy Dion led classmates Kristina Dolan, Katie Schlosser and Jillian Crisci to an easy lead in their heat against Fordham B and Manhattan, while Fordham A maintained a similar spread in their heat against Iona and NYU. Fordham A won the final by 22 seconds; a push in the last few strokes by Iona put them one second ahead of SHU, who placed third, more than two minutes ahead of Fordham B.

Five boats raced in a straight V4+ final. Seniors Desiree Johnston, Casey Lyth, Erin Nash and junior Laurie Ladouceur raced well for Sacred Heart in very tough conditions for the smaller boats. Fordham again dominated by 25 seconds, but the four others battled evenly the length of the course to all finish within a spread of six seconds. USMMA, Iona, NYU and Sacred Heart placed in that order after a push by Iona gained that crew two places in the final strokes--3 and 4 seconds ahead of NYU and SHU respectively and two seconds behind USMMA.

Fordham and Iona placed in that order in both the V8+ and N8+ events, while SHU trailed slightly.

Results are up on www.row2k.com.

The Pioneers head to Camden, NJ this weekend for very tough racing at the Knecht Cup, hosted by Villanova.