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Heron Varsity 8 reaches NCAA Grand Final
May 25, 2007
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OAK RIDGE, Tenn.—The William Smith College varsity eight advanced to the grand final of the NCAA Division III Rowing Championship today. The Herons were second in their opening heat, but won the grand final qualifier in the afternoon.
William Smith began the day with a second place finish behind Trinity (Conn.) College. The Herons covered the 2,000-meter course in 7 minutes, 4.73 seconds, 1.51 seconds behind the Bantams. William Smith was nearly a boat length behind Trinity at the midway point of the race, but rattled off the fastest split between 1,000 and 1,500 meters to make the finish exciting.
In the afternoon’s qualifier, the Herons overcame a slow start that saw them go through the 500-meter mark in fifth place to pull into the lead with 500 meters remaining. William Smith was able to hold off a late charge by the University of Puget Sound, nipping the Loggers at the line by 0.46 seconds. The Herons’ winning time was 7:07.44.
The varsity eight was powered by sophomore coxswain Kenzie Cannon (Berkshire/Canaan, Conn.), junior stroke Hannah Gallup (Holy Names/Alameda, Calif.), senior Nicole Balsamo (Newton Country Day/Centerville, Mass.), sophomore Anne Wakeman (Lawrence Academy/Marlboro, Mass.), senior Lauren Brady (Westover School/Ridgefield, Conn.), junior Lucinda Keck (The Lawrenceville School/Pennington, N.J.), sophomore Kerry O’Neill (Brighton/Rochester, N.Y.), junior Jenn Kirst (Principia/Darien, Conn.), and senior bow Michelle Dodge (St. Paul’s School/Jackson, N.H.).
William Smith will race in the grand final at 10 a.m. on Sat., May 26.
The Heron second varsity eight was seventh out of seven boats in its morning row and sixth out of six boats in its afternoon petite final qualifier. A timing error unofficially listed the morning time as 8:04.94, but Head Coach Sandra Chu said the actual result was closer to 7:37, while in the afternoon, William Smith covered the course in 7:31.72. The boat did not qualify for Saturday’s finals. Despite knowing her team was out of the running for the national championship, Chu was pleased with the day’s racing.
“Obviously we’re disappointed that both boats didn’t make the finals,” said Chu. “But the varsity eight showed its one of the best in the nation and I can’t be upset with the 2V’s results. It’s a young group and they had their best races of the season here today.”
The second varsity eight was powered by junior coxswain Julie Kozarsky (Shawnee/Medford, N.J.), senior Kathryn Loddengaard (Hampton Bay/Hampton Bay, N.Y.), juniors Cristina Mulcahy (St. Michael’s/Santa Fe, N.M.) and Jessica Wojslaw (Norwalk/Norwalk, Conn.), sophomores Becky Gosse (Cortland/Cortland, N.Y.), Christa Hibbard (Fairport/Fairport, N.Y.), and Emily Maguire (Miss Porter’s School/Madison, Conn.), and first-years Jamie Billington (Rye/Rye, N.Y.), and Meghan Cox (Perry/Perry, N.Y.).