On This Date Presented by Belmont Realty
 
With the 2020 spring sports season canceled by the COVID-19 outbreak, we at Fordham have decided to dig back through our archives and provide our fans with content on some of the outstanding teams and student-athletes who have graced Rose Hill over the years.
 
By: Jim Rodgers
 
Collingswood, N.J. – Twelve years ago today, the Fordham's women's crew captured the bronze medal in the lightweight four at the IRA national championship on the Cooper River. It is the second time a Fordham women's crew has captured a medal at the national championships as the 2008 squad joins Fordham's 1993 Varsity Lightweight 4 national championship crew in medaling at the IRAs.
 
After qualifying for this championship event with a strong silver medal performance in the Atlantic-10 Championships, the four composed of junior Jennifer Daniels, sophomores Francesca Andrea and Stephanie Narduzzo and senior stroke Greta Fleischner, with sophomore cox Christina Costa, faced a field of five other crews in a final-only format.
 
Loyola Marymount broke to an early lead, followed closely by Princeton and Wisconsin. Fordham and Tulsa maintained contact with the lead group, however, and as Georgetown fell quickly out of contention, Fordham eased into a solid fourth position by the middle of the race. Rowing a strong third 500, Fordham pulled into medal contention, slowly gaining ground on third-place Wisconsin, as LMU opened several lengths of open water on Princeton and the rest of the field.
 
As the leading crews began to sprint, Fordham charged ahead of the Badgers and then dueled through the last 200 meters, exchanging positions more than once. The Rams pulled through in the final strokes to take the bronze by a slim margin of .131 sec. The Fordham women joined Loyola Marymount and Princeton on the awards dock to receive their medals on Saturday afternoon at the conclusion of the other grand final races in front of a large crowd representing the nation's top rowing colleges.