The Massachusetts rowing team had an exciting bounce-back weekend at the Doc Hosea regatta in Coventry, Connecticut, earning four top-three finishes at the event and dominating cross-state rival UConn in another regatta Saturday morning.
“We had a great weekend of racing,” Head Coach Jim Dietz said following Sunday’s races. “All the teams performed very well and each time we raced we got considerably better”.
UMass raced in four events on Sunday and had its best finish in the Second Varsity 8, earning second place. The Minutewomen crossed the line at 7:00.89, just five seconds behind first-place Penn who won the race at 6:55.50.
Shortly following that race, UMass placed third in the Varsity 4 as well as in the Second Varsity 4, finishing with times of 8:08.38 and 8:08.49, respectively. Cornell won both events.
In the Varsity 8, the most competitive race of the day, the Minutewomen claimed fifth place with a time of 6:59.77. Penn won the race with a time of 6:46.80.
In the Saturday races, the Varsity 8 team earned the best finish of the day placing third with a time of 7:23.96. The Second Varsity 8 finished fourth in 7:16.52 and the Varsity 4 placed fifth with a time of 8:17.58. Minnesota swept all three races finishing first.
“It was nice competing against some of these teams from the Big 10, the Ivy League and our own conference in the Atlantic-10. To have all our boats racing at this level early in the spring is great to see,” Dietz said.
UMass starts weekend strong
The Minutewomen kicked off the weekend of racing with a strong performance against UConn, winning all but one event.
In the most impressive race of the day for UMass, the Second Varsity 4+ finished first with a 13 second lead over the next two Huskie boats. The boat finished at 8:05.09 and included Emily Christensen (cox), Caroline Garvey, Victoria Roach, Lauren Jubb and Meghan Ouellette.
UMass also had a big win in the Varsity 8+ finishing with a time of 6:43.57, 11 seconds ahead of UConn which finished at 6:54.05. The boat was comprised of coxswain Haley Eovine, Haley York, Emily Mann, Daniella du Toit, Hadley Irvin, co-captain Nicole Destefano, Zoe Hill, Natalie Boisvert and Sam Kolovson.
The Minutewomen also earned first place finishes in the Second Varsity 8+ finishing at 6:53.11, and the Varsity 4+ earning a time of 7:47.8.
UMass completed the dual regatta with a second place finish in the Third Varsity 8+ finishing with a time of 7:45.83. The Huskies won the race in 7:35.25.
Next weekend the Minutewomen will travel to West Windsor Township, New Jersey to compete in the Knecht Cup regatta.
“The Knecht Cup is another really good event that will feature many more of our A-10 conference opponents and also some other high profile schools,” Dietz said.
“We have to cram a lot of racing in the six week spring period and every weekend we hope to be getting faster and faster,” Dietz said. “Our intention for this is to be our absolute fastest come conference championship time in May.”
Ryan Ames can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @_RyanAmes.
