SARASOTA, Fla. (March 29, 2025) – This weekend at the Sarasota 2k / FIRA Championships, the women continued to maintain their second place ranking in the Sunshine State Conference as well as among the small colleges and clubs in Florida. Rollins placed second in the Division 2 four, JV 4, Varsity 4 B and earned bronze medals in the Varsity 8 and Novice 4. The crews dealt with a brutal cross wind this weekend and handled the conditions with confidence. "This season has thrown a ton of bad weather at us on race day," said Coach Thompson. "We have gotten better each time and feel good moving towards our championships that weather will not be the determining factor in our results." The varsity 8 and DII 4 both finished behind Embry-Riddle but Rollins seem to be making up some ground on those crews. This is crucial in the quest towards earning an at large bid to the NCAA Championships.
All of the Rollins boats executed good starts and were right up with the winning crews off the start. What the coaches noticed was Rollins was under stroking much of the competition but the crews' composure is the best it has been in quite some time.
The Women's Varsity 4 B (Brianne Engel, Khloe Smith, Kinsley Sparks, Sofia Prieto, Lillian Groves) doubled out of the Varsity 8 to see what they could do in a smaller boat. This crew finished just eight seconds behind Embry-Riddle and 11 seconds ahead of Barry, and quite a bit ahead of the fourth- and fifth-place crews of Florida Tech and USF.
Rollins has the next couple weeks to make adjustment and train as they prepare for their Southern Championships in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Rollins looks to continue to increase their speed in their quest to earn an NCAA Bid. The Rollins Women are not sure if there will be any DII teams in attendance but are excited to take on Division 1 teams as well as some of the top club teams on the east coast. The regatta is April 18-19 and will be livestreamed for free. I will send the link out as soon as it is available so that crew alumni, friends and followers can cheer on the TARS from around the country.
