May 12, 2007
Philadelphia, Pa. - Fordham's Varsity Eight qualified for the Grand Final at the Dad Vail Regatta on the Schuylkill River on May 11-12, finishing seventh overall of the 33 crews entered. The Dad Vail Regatta is the largest collegiate regatta in the United States, with 119 colleges and Universities from the U.S. and Canada competing this year.
In their initial heat on Friday, the Rams raced Temple, Michigan State, Santa Clara, Army and Robert Morris with two to qualify to the semi-finals on Saturday morning. It was not their best racing but a very resolute Maroon Crew edged out Temple for one of the two qualifying spots finishing second to heat winners Santa Clara.
In the semi-final, the Rams were determined to fight their way into the Grand Final and they did just that. Off to a good start they battled their way into second place after 500 meters of this 2000 meter, two to qualify, competition. Entering the turn at the Strawberry Mansion Bridge a few strokes further into the race, Fordham appeared to be locking up at least a second place position when disaster struck! George Mason in the lane adjacent to Fordham cut the turn too sharply, entered Fordham's lane and crashed into the Fordham shell causing both teams to stop momentarily until they could separate and resume racing.
After the collision, the Maroon's hopes seemed shattered just like some of their blade tips from the impact of striking the Mason hull. It appeared they had lost too much water to the other four crews and could not make up the open water deficit. The Lady Rams had a different view of this apparent catastrophe, and decided it would not end their season. They kicked it up a notch and fought their way back into the race. By the one thousand meter mark they had already overtaken Temple and set their sights on a place in the Grand.
Their heroic efforts got them close but fourth at the finish line. This would guarantee them a place in the petite finals. As they crossed the finish line Jen Roussil raised her hand to notify the referee of the collision and within minutes a decision was made to place Fordham in the Grand Final since they had not been given a fair race because of the collision. This decision was strongly influenced by their very close finish to the qualifying crews. The referee felt if they were that close after a boat stopping collision they more then likely would have qualified without interference.
The great news was a spot in the Grand Final the not so great news was Fordham would be assigned to lane zero, which is not on the race course and goes through a different arch of the Strawberry Mansion Bridge than the racing lanes. Despite this obvious handicap the Rams gave it their all and finished a strong seventh in their final race of the season.
Fordham's Novice Women also raced well in their heats at the Dad Vail. Both the Eight and Four were eliminated in their heats on Friday missing the semi-finals by just one place. In the Eight, the Rams were one of thirty-six shells fighting for the eighteen places in the semis. In their six boat heat with three to qualify, the Maroon finished fourth just five seconds behind the third qualifier U of Florida. In the Four, with a total field of forty-one, Fordham needed a top two finish in their heat and they just missed. The Rams finished in third just 1.5 seconds behind second place U. Conn. And less than six seconds behind the heat winner Penn. State.
All the Lady Rams ended their season encouraged by their results throughout the year and confident their strong racing at the Dad Vail will lead to success next season.
Varsity 8 - (cox) Jen Roussil, Catherine Mascia, Shelia Taylor, Greta Fleischner, Catherine Guisao, Lauren Dickerson, Stacia Kroetz, Kristina Fabijanic, Jennifer Daniels
Novice 8 - (cox) Christina Costa, Katie Bowens, Sarah Stoycos, Chelsea Berry, Lis Knips, Katherine Hall, Ravelle Mohammed, Jaclyn Schmader, Francesca Andrea
Novice 4 - (cox) Norah Janson, Catherine Troost, Stephanie Narduzzo, Trisha Goduco, Nora Leahy
