Women's Crew Conquers Head of the Fish

The long ride home from Saratoga Springs via the New York State Thruway may not have felt quite as dreary for most of the members of the women's crew team after a strong showing at the Head of the Fish regatta.

Of the 10 UB squads that raced this weekend, two first place finishes and two second place finishes were recorded.

UB had first place finishes from its freshman four and lightweight four squads. Following the strong showing, it appears that the UB freshman rowers have started to live up to some of the potential of which UB Head Coach Rudy Wieler had spoken after previous races.

Competing for the freshman four team were Jackie Stone, Darcie Bryant, Nicole Cyr, Mia Pavletic and Margaret Devendorf in the coxswain's seat.

In the lightweight four, Caitlin Hambridge, Karen Corey, Jessica Barrell, Ginelle Michael, and coxswain Abbie Potts, also rowed to a first place finish for the Bulls.

"I was very happy with the freshmen, I was also pleased with the varsity eight and junior varsity eight," said Wieler. "Overall, we had a really good regatta."

UB's second place finishes came from the freshman eight and lightweight eight entries. These squads have begun to improve from where they were at the beginning of the season, but are not yet on the same level as the Bulls' varsity eight boat, which has been very successful this year.

The varsity eight boat notched a third place finish among a tough group of competitors. The junior varsity eight squad finished in fifth place in the same race, showing the competitors that they too are a top-level boat.

"Our varsity four did pretty well, we had a solid row, we were pretty happy with it," said UB rower Joanne Olsen. "We were all really impressed with how our novice crews did. It was the first race for all of the walk-ons and they did well so we were all pretty happy about that."

Typically, as the year continues the weather will only get worse, yet the UB rowers were graced with decent weather for the majority of the day in their Halloween eve's regatta.

"The weather was great, no rain at all, but it got a bit windy at the end of the day and a few of the races had to be shortened," said Wieler. "It was really a pretty good day for the end of October."

In the varsity four, UB had three entries with the top squad taking fourth place. The top finishers in that race were separated by only a few seconds. Luckily the weather held up for this close race.

"The weather was nice in the morning, there wasn't any wind and the water was pretty calm but a couple of hours before the end of the race the officials had to shorten the course by about 750 meters because the head wind at the end of the course was so strong." said Olsen. "That definitely made it a little more difficult going down the course in the afternoon."

The women's crew team will be in action again Nov. 13 to take part in the Foot of the Charles in Boston. This will be the last regatta of the fall season for the Bulls until they head to Miami in January for spring training.