Oct. 6, 2007

Bronx, N.Y. - The Fordham University Varsity Women's Eight had one of their best races in Fordham rowing history as they placed fourth among seventeen shells at the Head of the Housatonic Regatta on Saturday, October 6th in Shelton, Connecticut. Only Yale and Northeastern placed crews ahead of the Lady Rams with Yale's first boat winning in a time of 14:42, followed by Northeastern in 15:25. Yale's second boat narrowly bested Fordham for third place. Yale is the defending NCAA Champions in the Varsity Eight.

As great an accomplishment as it was to be competitive with one of the best collegiate programs in the country, the Rams were more encouraged by who finished behind them. Both U Mass and URI, the number one and two teams in the Atlantic 10 conference, were in the field of seventeen crews. Fordham's first boat racing very aggressively posted a stellar time of 15:43, twenty-seven seconds ahead of URI who finished sixth, just two seconds behind Yale's third. U Mass finished in eight place, thirty-one seconds behind Fordham.

Head racing is done in a time trial format with crews starting one at a time, single file, and chasing those crews that start ahead of them. Starting order is based on finishing order from the previous year. Since Fordham had finished behind U Mass and URI last year the Rams started directly behind UMass and URI. Usually the goal is to attempt to close the gap on a strong crew in front of you and hope when results are posted your efforts were successful which would be confirmed by a faster finishing time. As this race developed, the Rams did not need to wait for results, as they not only clearly made up time on U Mass but caught and passed them by the last half mile of the three mile race. URI's significant starting lead had also been diminished by a very visible margin.

The Rams came off the water elated, knowing they had just beaten two of their biggest conference rivals. When the results were finally posted the obvious was confirmed along with some very impressive comparisons with Yale, the number 4 team at the NCAA Championships last spring. Yale had four eights beat Fordham at last year's Head of the Housatonic, with their second eight more than one minute ahead of Fordham and their third more than fifty-five seconds ahead. This year Fordham finished twenty-five seconds ahead of the third Yale crew and less than seven behind the second.

Fordham's second eight also raced well at the Housatonic, finishing 14th, ahead of Fairfield's first boat and both Army's and Sacred Heart's second boats. In the Novice Four event, Fordham continued their tradition of winning medals in Novice Head Races with a strong third place finish.

Racing Line-ups:

1st Eight Cox - Caroline Gibbons Stroke - Catherine Mascia 7 - Catherine Guisao 6 - Greta Fleishner 5 - Lauren Dickerson 4 - Ravelle Mohammed 3 - Jen Daniels 2 - Katie Bowens Bow - Steph Narduzzo

2nd Eight Cox - Christina Costa Stroke - Katie Helmer 7 - Chelsea Berry 6 - Nadia Abdul-ghani 5 - Sarah Stoycos 4 - Lis Knips 3 - Katie Hall 2 - Francesca Andrea Bow - Amanda Deal

Novice Four Cox - Christina Costa Stroke - Katie Helmer 3 - Nadia Abdul-ghani 2 - Trish Goduco Bow - Nora Leahy