In the opening weekend of its fall season, the women's rowing team Varsity Eight boat showed just how good they really are at the Head of the Genesee regatta in Rochester, N.Y.
With a third-place finish, the Varsity Eight boat took on some of the continent's toughest competition. Teams that competed included two powerful Canadian teams and nationally ranked boats from Syracuse, Cornell and Harvard Radcliffe.
"The top two crews were Canadian: Western Ontario and Brock University," said Bulls head coach Rudy Wieler. "These two schools are two of the top rowing schools in Canada. We beat three crews that have a history of being ranked and have gone to the NCAA Championships. We beat Radcliffe. Two years ago they won the NCAA Championship. They are consistently ranked in the top 20."
With a time of 31:27.06, the Bulls' strong race in the 35-team field was led by junior coxswain Sher Briggs. The oars of senior Corinne Blum, sophomore Melina DiCosimo, junior Nicole Cyr, junior Jessica Hughes, sophomores Amanda Mackeigan, Bridget Yannes, Lauren Sexton and junior Maggie Fairgrieve powered the team.
Coach Wieler was very optimistic, not only about the team's performance, but also about its youth, and the competition for a seat in the Varsity Eight boat.
"In that boat there is one senior, and four sophomores and four juniors. It's still a very young boat," Wieler said. "Not only do we have a good crew, but we've got good depth."
The Varsity Eight will be riding their strong finish this past weekend into the Head of the Charles regatta on Oct. 21 and 22 in Boston, Mass.
"We now know that we are capable with racing with some of the better crews in the US," Wieler said. "We're not wondering anymore, we know. This is the only tip of the iceberg, we're going to get better."
The Buffalo Novice boats also had a successful weekend, competing at the Head of the Ohio. Both the Novice Eight and Novice Four boats recorded first-place finishes during Saturday's event. The Novice Eight B team finished with a time of 14:44.1860, as they passed a Penn State boat to take first place. Both Novice Four boats competed strongly, finishing at first and second, respectively.
"I was pleased with the whole performance of the freshman team," said Buffalo asst. coach Andrew Wieler. "I thought the Fours raced great. It started off our season really well to come away with a one two victory."
The first-place finishing Novice Four Buffalo A squad finished with a time of 15:21 4140, edging out the second place Buffalo B squad by just over 16 seconds. Competing in the Buffalo A squad slot was the all freshman team of Stephanie Papaj, Kelsey Tretter, Francisca Nwoke, Cathleen Streicher and Leah Allen in the coxswain seat.
Also competing at the Head of the Ohio were two Lightweight boats in a seven team field. With times of 14:36.0280 and 15:00.3530 the A and B teams finished in fourth and sixth-place respectively.
Next up for the Novice teams will be the Head of the Fish regatta, where the competition will be stepped up.
"I think for the Head of the Fish we'll be racing against some higher caliber teams," Andrew Wieler said. "I'm going to get them to continue to excel in workouts, but they've really been good at doing workouts on their own."
The Head of the Fish will be an all day event held on Oct. 28 in Saratoga Springs N.Y.
