April 19, 2008
Pennsauken, N.J. -
The Fordham University rowing squad took eighth place of nine teams at the 2008 Atlantic 10 Women's Rowing Championship on the Cooper River this afternoon. The Rams were led by the gold medal-winning Lightweight 4 as well as the Second Varsity 8 which won the petite final.
The University of Rhode Island captured its first-ever Atlantic 10 Women's Rowing Championship, snapping a 12-championship title streak held by Massachusetts which was the longest streak in any sport in Atlantic 10 history. Rhode Island (135) beat out second-place Massachusetts (119) by a 15-point margin. Saint Joseph's (113) finished in third-place, just six points off the Minutewomen, while Dayton (81) was fourth. Rounding out the scoring was Duquesne (78) in fifth, George Washington (72) in sixth, Temple (61) was seventh, Fordham (47) finished eighth and La Salle (18) was ninth.
Fordham's women's varsity eight survived an unexpected challenge from Duquesne to qualify for the grand final. Top-seeded Rhode Island won the heat, followed by Dayton. Fordham had to hold off a challenge from the Dukes to qualify with a 2.2 second margin. LaSalle trailed.
In the final, URI took the early lead and held it against challenges from UMass and then Saint Joseph's. The Hawks nipped the Minutewomen by 0.4 seconds for second place, as they trailed URI by ¾ length. Fordham fell behind early, but battled with George Washington through the second half of the race, ultimately finishing in sixth place, with Dayton taking fourth.
The second varsity was also surprised by Duquesne in the heat, and fell short in a comeback at the finish, as the Dukes (7:37.8) edged Fordham (7:38) for the last berth in the grand final, as Dayton (7:34) took second behind URI (7:19.7). This first heat was much faster than the second, in which GW qualified for the grand in third place in 7:40.5.
In the two-boat petite final, Fordham rowed a crisp race, beating Temple by nearly 32 seconds, with a time that would have placed second to UMass in the grand, raced just 10 minutes later.
The novice eight finished sixth in its heat and trailed Duquesne in the petite final.
Four rowers from the varsity boats rowed a third race of the day in the lightweight four event, and put forth a gallant effort that fell just short of a gold medal. A fresh URI four broke to the lead early in the race, followed by St. Joseph's and Fordham. Fordham moved away from the Hawks in mid-race and set their sights on the leader. The Rams mounted a strong sprint, but fell short at the finish by 1.6 seconds.
Fordham, with just four crews entered, finished in eighth place overall in the team points standings, as Rhode Island became the first school to dethrone UMass as A-10 champions, with Saint Joseph's a close third.
Next week, the Fordham crews will compete in the Spring Metropolitan Championships at Orchard Beach Lagoon.
