OAK RIDGE, Tenn. (April 16, 2023) – Today, on their second day of racing, all three women's boats pulled their best and left it all on the water. The morning started with the Women's Varsity Pair (
Khloe Smith and
Erin Hughes) situated in the middle of the pack for their grand final. Off the line, the pair were half a boat up on the other teams within their first three strokes and never let up that distance the whole way down the course. Clemson threw everything they had at the Tars at the 1000-meter mark, but Rollins responded and crossed the line 15 seconds ahead, securing a first-place victory for the first Rollins race of the day.
The Women's Varsity Open Four (Brianne Engle,
Justine Hickey,
Lillian Groves,
Alexandria Freeman, and
Emily Quezada) knew their race was going to be a dogfight and it lived up to the expectations. Rollins, Tampa, and Jacksonville leapt out ahead of the other four boats and it was a race between those three for first place in the Petite Finals. These crews were bowball to bowball through the 1500-meter buoys with separation happening during the remainder of the race with Rollins coming in third, but finished 16 seconds ahead of Sunshine State rival, Barry. These races were important for the Division II NCAA ranking and potentially moving Rollins up the list.
The Women's Varsity Eight (
Maria Littman,
Alyssa Murphy,
Carolyn Darcy,
Francesca Morgan-Tomascik,
Grace Oelrich,
Olivia Prelog,
Catherine Mitchell,
Maria Gutierrez, and
Isabella Espino) had a huge achievement of advancing into the grand final, something that the team has not accomplished in a while. The main focus of this boat was to see how close they could finish to their Sunshine State rivals, Embry-Riddle and Barry. They were able to close the gap on Embry-Riddle from FIRA two weeks ago and beat Barry's eight for the first time this year. Rollins finished fifth behind Embry-Riddle and six seconds ahead of Barry. This finish also contributes to the Division II NCAA rankings.
For the full results, click here.
UP NEXT:
The team has two weeks before the Sunshine State Championship in Sarasota where they will line-up head-to-head with these teams again before Dad Vails in mid-May.
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