Merrimack Crew Wins Both Races At UMass Lowell Invitational
LOWELL, MA - Today the Merrimack Women's crew team competed at the UMass Lowell invitational River Hawk Racing Series. Saturday's racing saw crews from UMass Lowell, Merrimack College, Franklin Pierce, Colby and Coast Guard competing on the Merrimack River in Lowell, MA. The Warriors competed in the Women's Varsity 4+ event and the Women's 2nd varsity 4+ event.
The Warrior's first race of the day featured a rematch of last weekend's Varsity 4 race that saw Merrimack fall to Lowell's experienced varsity crew by a mere five seconds. Lowell and Merrimack were joined by conference rival Franklin Pierce for the showdown. The Warrior's took to the water hoping to avenge last week's loss and even the season series.
"We had a great week of practice," said Head Coach Tim Desrosiers. "The girls really showed some toughness this week. We have been training straight through the racing season, not stopping our lifting or our testing. The girls are sore and tired but they didn't complain or use the dead legs as an excuse last weekend. They showed up ready to train harder and take a step forward. The development and maturity of this young crew is something I am very proud of."
The hard work paid off for the Warriors in the first race of the afternoon as the Warrior's V4 crew led by Freshman coxswain Karissa Finnigan (Medford, Mass.) and second year rower Jessie Eichel (North Chelmsford, Mass.) had a strong race start to finish. The lineup of Eichel, Kaylee McKenna (Georgetown, Texas), Aubrey O'Neill (Pawcatuck, CT) and Lydia Staschke (Guilford, CT) outpaced the River Hawks rowing at a powerful 33 strokes per minute. Merrimack had a bow to stern lead on UML through the 1000 meter mark and both Lowell and Merrimack had open water on the crew from Franklin Pierce. Merrimack used a strong move at the 1000 to open up the gap and secure an impressive win for the young crew.
"We talked about moving through the second half of the race," stated Desrosiers. "Winning or losing we wanted to make sure we turned up the heat in the third 500 meters. It's something we build all of our training around and the girls executed well today."
The Warrior's second race of the day was a dual between the Merrimack 2V4 and the Lowell 2v4. Merrimack lead from start to finish in a repeat of last week's impressive performance for their second win of the season. The lineup of O'Neill, Tamara O'Donnell (Billerica, Mass.), Norina Reda (Dedham, Mass.) and Mara Payne (Sandwich, Mass.) showed improvement from last week's victory. The crew was able to maintain a more controlled rhythm holding a 32 SPM cadence through the body of the race.
Merrimack takes to the water against conference foe Assumption College next week in Worcester MA. Bryant University will join Merrimack and Assumption on Lake Quinsigamond for the first of three weeks in a row on the course in Worcester.
