Rowers win big at Head of the Fish

If finishing the season on a high note is a good thing, the UB rowing team topped off the fall season with its trumpets blaring in harmony.

Of the ten boats that UB entered in the Head of the Fish Regatta held at Saratoga Springs, eight finished in the top five in their respective races. The Bulls finished the day with three first-place finishes and two-second place finishes.

Saturday's performance also came as a great improvement over last year's regatta, in which the team only had one first-place finish and three second places.

"This is certainly our strongest fall season that I have been a part of," said head coach Rudy Wieler. "As a team, we are starting to develop depth and strength and it is not just in one crew."

The first race of the day was the women's open four. The UB boat took second place in the race finishing the course in a time of 13:52.98. In the boat for the Bulls were junior Corinne Blum, sophomore Nicki Cyr, senior Natalie Pugliese, Melina Dicosimo and sophomore Sheralyn Briggs at coxswain. The only boat that finished ahead of the Bulls was from Williams College, which crossed the finish line in a time of 13:38.63.

UB entered two other boats that competed in the open four, which finished sixth and 13th out of a field of 38 boats.

Up next was the women's novice eight race. UB fielded two boats that narrowly missed finishing one-two, instead going first and third.

The first-place rowers were Dicosimo, Amanda MacKeigan, Amanda Garbacz, Morgan Witte, Miranda Robinson, Lauren Sexton, Amy Eggleston, Bridget Yannes and coxswain Adriane Wotawa-Bergen.

The winning team comfortably took the victory, finishing 20 seconds ahead of the second-place boat from Syracuse with a time of 12:50.05. The third-place boat from UB finished the course in a time of 14:13.40.

In the women's novice four, a Bulls team bested a field of 22 boats to take the top spot yet again. Miller, Eggleston, Robinson, Sherman and Wotawa-Bergen manned the winning boat. Every member of the winning team had taken home a first place trophy in other races during the course of the day.

The Bulls managed the victory by finishing ten seconds ahead of Connecticut College.

The final race of the regatta ended with the Bulls winning the women's open lightweight eight.

Coxswain Kaitlin Buchheit led a team of Katie Barnum, Beth Gaworeck, Katie Jones, Sarah McCann, Caitlin Hambridge, Emily Clark, Elly Henderson and Sarah Billiar.

The boat finished 39 seconds ahead of the closest competition, the University of Massachusetts, winning the race in 13:30.82.

"This is giving the kids a sense of accomplishment, that their work is paying off," Wieler said. "This will help motivate the kids for the spring season."