May 14, 2012
Complete Results
Philadelphia, Pa. -
The Fordham University Women competed in the Dad Vail Championship this past weekend with one hundred and thirty-two colleges entered from across North America. Fordham Rowing finished the weekend with a record breaking performance of seven crews advancing to the Saturday semi-final racing. The previous record was five which was set in 2006. Amongst the advancing crews, the Women's Varsity 4, Varsity Lightweight 4, and Freshmen 4 all advanced to the Grand Final.
The Freshmen 4 won both their heat and semi-final advancing to the grand finals with the fastest times of the competition. During the Grand Final, the Freshmen 4 sprinted to win the Dad Vail by open water with a time of 7:45.411 over Fairfield (7:49.448), Grand Valley University (7:52.554), University of North Carolina (7:55.071), Florida State (7:57.712), Old Dominion University (8:15.853).
The Freshmen 4 was comprised of Ashleigh Aitchison (4), Tecla Di Francesco (3), Alix Azizi (2), Nicole Arrato (1), with Rachel Sortino at Coxswain.
The Varsity Lightweight 4 finished 3rd in their heat advancing them to the Grand Final on Saturday. In a close race for third place in the Grand Final the Fordham Lightweight 4 held off Clemson and Penn State to secure a bronze medal with a time of 7:58.946. The Lightweight 4 finished behind Western Ontario (7:45.915), Pittsburgh (7:52.327), and ahead of Clemson (7:59.412), Penn State (7:59.617), Sacred Heart University (8:27.736).
The Varsity Lightweight 4 was comprised of Megan Sullivan (4), Maria Capuano (3), Alex McDonald (2), Jenn Amoroso (1) with Megan Feerick at Coxswain. All five of these athletes are sophomores and are looking forward to their next two years on the team. Assistant coach Nick Dawe, who coached all of them as freshmen said "this group has tremendous energy and confidence; they will be the nucleus of our strongest lightweight eight ever next year."
In the Varsity Open 4, after winning both their heat and semi-final during the regatta they finished 4th in the Grand Final with a time of 8:00.591 behind Drake University (7:47.927), Old Dominion University (7:52.018), Duke University (7:54.607), and ahead of the University of North Carolina (8:03.207) and Robert Morris University (8:14.403).
The Varsity 4 was comprised of Celine Egraz (4), Elizabeth Helmer (3), Katelyn Lakes (2), Maureen White (1) with Elizabeth Chen at Coxswain.
According to Head Coach Ted Bonanno, "The 2012 Dad Vail was without question our best racing of the year. Our freshmen have been excellent all year and it was no surprise that they dominated their racing. The lightweights amazed everyone when they overcame a disastrous turn at the Strawberry Mansion Bridge in the heats and fought their way back into a qualifying spot from several lengths of open water down on the field. After that race, we knew they would be medal contenders in the finals. The Open 4 had a great winning heat and semi; they made every effort to win a medal and came very close to their goal."
