SARASOTA, Fla. (April 26, 2024) – The Rollins Women's Rowing team competed and finished third overall at the Sunshine State Conference Championships in Sarasota on Friday morning.
The champion is determined by the combined results on the Women's Varsity 8 and the Women's Varsity 4. The Tars placed second in the Varsity 8 and fourth in the Varsity 4. Both of these races were well-rowed and the team continues to show improvement in their times over the 2000m course as well as keep the gap small and making up some time on their competitors from previous weeks. The Rollins women have one more opportunity to prove themselves to the NCAA rankings committee in their continued quest for that NCAA bid.
For the full results, click
here.
The Varsity 4 (
Brianne Engel,
Sophie Bolan,
Morgan Lane,
Erin Hughes,
Lillian Groves) started the morning in almost perfect racing conditions and executed their start phase well. When all the crew shifted into the base of the race, Rollins remained in contact with the lead three boats. Through the base of the race, the Rollins stroke rate was right in sync with the other crews but their speed was just a touch slower. There was no point in the race where any crew jumped ahead or where any crew fell behind. Rollins pushed the rate and squeezed what they could through the last 400m and held their distance which was crucial for the NCAA Ranking committed to see when they look at the results in the next couple weeks. "These women have shown and continue to show that they will not give up," said Head Coach
Shawn Pistor. "They never let off the gas through this race and posted their best time of the year which is exactly what we needed them to do." Rollins crossed the line fourth earning the team four points for this event.
The flag dropped for the Varsity 8 (
Maria Littman,
Abby Klesa,
Kinsley Sparks,
Khloe Smith,
Francesca Morgan-Tomascik,
Isabella Espino,
Maria Gutierrez,
Justine Hickey,
Olivia Prelog) just 15 minutes later and the race was on. Embry-Riddle and Rollins jumped out on the field early, and it was clear this was going to be a two-boat race for the next 1900 meters. Similar to the four race, the stroke rate was similar between the two crews and there was no one place where the race was won or lost. Embry-Riddle did try and make a move just after the 1000m mark but the coxswain recognized this and countered it quickly. The one seat that Rollins did give up was quickly stopped and the ladies continued to fight to take that seat back and work back into the Embry-Riddle crew. Rollins crossed the line just 7.5 seconds behind Embry-Riddle which was 1.5 seconds closer than a few weeks before at FIRA. When asked about the race, Coach Pistor said this: "The Embry-Riddle crew rows very well and are well-coached. Our women respect what they put out on the water every time we see them and we hope that the competition between the two teams this year is enough to earn a second spot from the South Region at the NCAAs."
UP NEXT:
The Tars will have a couple of weeks to prepare for the Dad Vails Regatta, which will take place May 10-11 in Pennsauken, New Jersey.
Fans can follow the Tars all season long at RollinsSports.com. Fans can also stay up-to-date on the latest #TARnation news by following Rollins Sports on
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