FINDLEY LAKE, N.Y. – The No. 1-ranked Mercyhurst College women’s varsity eight continued its dominance, this time against the nation’s Nos. 3 and 4 teams in Dowling College and Philadelphia University.
In the first race of the day, the Lakers crossed the line in 6:53.6, just under 10 seconds faster than second-place Dowling and 13 seconds better than Philadelphia.
The unit, coxed by
Michele Handzel, kept the race close in the beginning but slowly began to pull away from the other two squads and would not back down, picking up steam in the final 500 meters to take the victory. At bow for Mercyhurst was
Abbey Celarek, followed by Ali Bogart, Rachel Millard,
Annie Schiller,
Amanda Carlyon,
Alicia Peterson,
Bethany Brun and
Leah Niecgorski.
The conditions for racing included cross headwinds increasing throughout the day.
On the day, Mercyhurst added three more victories, including the women’s pair 2 (Schiller, Niecgorski), the men’s pair 2 “A” (
Kurtis Boyd,
Jovan Jovanovic) and the men’s pair 2 “B” (
Michael Baggaley,
Chris Register).
The women’s varsity four dropped a close race to Philadelphia, crossing the line in 9:09.74 in comparison to the winner’s time of 8:45.57. Coxie
Lindsey Crosby,
Sally O’Brien,
Ashley Lif,
Lauren Moss and bow Michele Olivares completed the unit.
For the men’s varsity eight, the Lakers fought a close race the entire length against Philadelphia but were unable to close the gap in the final 500 meters as they finished just over seven seconds behind at 6:26.86. At bow for Mercyhurst was
Ben Caplinger followed by Baggaley,
Michael Orzolek,
Ben Wells,
Stanislov Kostic, Registrar, Jovanovic, Boyd and
Ryan Browning as the coxen.
The Lakers will next compete in the Mid-American Collegiate Rowing regatta in Allendale, Mich. on Saturday, May 2nd.
Men's Varsity 8:
Philadelphia University 6:19.5
Mercyhurst College 6:26.8
Men's Frosh/Novice 4:
Philadelphia University 7:19.0
Mercyhurst College 7:30.0
Men's 2- 'A':
Mercyhurst College 'A' 7:26.7
Mercyhurst College 'B' 7:41.4
Philadelphia University 'A' 8:05.8
Men's 2- 'B':
Mercyhurst College 'C' 7:42.3
Mercyhurst College 'D' 8:04.34
Philadelphia University 'B' 8:21.97
Women's Varsity 8:
Mercyhurst College 6:53.6
Dowling College 7:01.5
Philadelphia University 7:03.4
Women's Varsity Four:
Philadelphia University 8:45.5
Mercyhurst College 9:09.7
Dowling College 9:38.2
Women's Frosh/Novice 4:
Philadelphia University 8:37.2
Mercyhurst College 9:06.8
Women's Varsity 2-:
Mercyhurst College 10:06.1
Philadelphia University 11:06.0