April 7, 2007

GENEVA, N.Y.—The William Smith College crew team won three of six races against Dowling College and Grand Valley State University today on a snowy, blustery day on the Canal.

“We went out there today to work on some key components of our race plan,” said Head Coach Sandra Chu. “We feel that going down the course more than once and in these challenging weather conditions were positive parts of our training program. It was exciting to see the novice women notch their first win.”

Despite a strong sprint and a solid first 500, the second varsity eight finished 8.2 seconds behind winner Grand Valley State. The first varsity eight (8:16.4) also rowed a solid race, finishing with a strong sprint but behind first-place Dowling (8:02.8) and GVSU (8:04.32).

The novice four attempted to row but experienced broken equipment before they got to the line, followed by a sudden snow squall that sent the crews back to the boathouse. The boats met again, however, at the end of the day for a 500 meter sprint. Sophomore Kerry O'Neill (Brighton/Rochester, N.Y.), first-year Kirsten Cooper (Atholton/Columbia, Md.), first-year Jamie Billington (Rye/Rye, N.Y.), first-year Laura Valdmanis (Prior Lake/Prior Lake, Minn.), and first-year Mianna Molinari (Sayville/Sayville, N.Y.) brought home a victory for the Herons, finishing the race in a time of 2:20.35.

The first novice eight also won, with an impressive open water win over Grand Valley State. William Smith crossed the line in a time of 9:10.96, more than four seconds ahead of the Lakers (9:15.26).

The Herons’ varsity four A had the tightest race of the day, battling back and forth with GVSU to finish 4.9 seconds back. They crossed the line at 8:59.2. The varsity four B followed shortly after, bringing home the victory with the largest margin of the day. Their winning time of 9:33.63 bested both GVSU (9:48.5) and Dowling (10:52.1).

William Smith will be back on the water on April 21 when it travels to Skidmore. Racing is set to begin at 1 p.m.

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