FAIRFAX STATION, VA – Jacksonville Women's Rowing turned in a solid performance in Sunday's George Mason Invitational, advancing all five boats in competition to the grand finals, while also securing a win in the Second Varsity 8 final.
Starting out the day with heat races, JU was incredibly quick coming in first place in all but one heat, the Second Varsity 4, which they placed second in. The most notable of the heat races was the First Varsity 4 heat where the Dolphins finished a whole 8.9 seconds in front of Duquesne in second place, posting a time of 7:54.7.
With such a great performance in the heat portion of the regatta, JU then advanced to the grand finals in every event, beginning with the Second Varsity 4 grand final against West Virginia and Duquesne. In the 2V4 Final, JU could not keep up with the pace of WVU's boat and ended up coming in second to the Mountaineers by 16.4 seconds with a time of 5:57.8
Next up was the First Varsity 4 grand final where the 'Phins found themselves taking home second place again, this time coming in behind Villanova by 8.1 seconds. The V4's time of 7:43.2 was good enough however to edge out West Virginia and St. Joes who placed third and fourth respectively.
Following that race was the Third Varsity 8 grand final which produced the Dolphins' worst finish of the day of third place out of four teams. In the race, JU posted a time of 7.22.7 and were edged out by Delaware's A boat in first and Villanova in second.
Bouncing back from the 3V8 final the Dolphins then went on to win the Second Varsity 8 grand final, posting a time of 6:50.2 which was just 2.6 seconds ahead of West Virginia in second.
The 'Phins then finished up their day with another close fought race, just losing out on first place to Villanova by 2.5 seconds in the First Varsity 8 grand final.
The Dolphins will now take just short of another three-week break, with their return to action scheduled for May 13 and 14 when they take part in the Dad Vail Regatta in Philadelphia. They will then turn right around and compete that Sunday, May 15, in the MAAC Championship which is being held in Cherry Hill, NJ.
For the full results from the George Mason Invitational and thoughts on the day from Head Coach
Mike Lane please view the information below.
FULL RESULTS
RESULTS – Click Here
THOUGHTS FROM COACH
"Today was a really solid day! It was a great end to our regular season racing and gave us a lot of lessons that will help to be better prepared for the MAAC Championships. Qualifying all 5 boats for the grand final was really satisfying. However our goal is always to win. With that being said the lessons we learned and the really exciting racing is something we can't replicate in practice."
"I love this sport for the life lessons it teaches, and one of those lessons is adaptability. Unfortunately the 6 seat in our Varsity 8+ got sick during and after the heat, so we had to sub in
Ava Gerlach, the stroke of our 2
nd Varsity 4+, after she had completed racing in her grand final for the varsity 8+ race. She did a great job filling in for
Gabby Huxtable, and cemented the respect I have for our athletes always willing to help no matter how challenging the situation."
LINEUPS
2nd Varsity 4+
Coxswain S. Filby
4 A. Gerlach
3 C. Busk
2 B. Ferguson
1 C. Brown
W 1st Varsity 4+
Coxswain H. Grover
4 M. Guckin
3 A. Hallock
2 M. Marts
1 M. Turinsky
3rd Varsity 8+
Coxswain C. Jackson
8 M. Montgomery
7 B. Garcia
6 E. Podvia
5 A. Mitchell
4 M. Benavidez
3 C. Reagan
2 C. Kemp
1 S. Durden
2nd Varsity 8+
Coxswain M. Thurlow
8 K. Kost
7 E. Schulok
6 M. Santabarbara
5 V. Healey
4 A. Jordan
3 P. Costellic
2 I. Johnson
1 I. Miletich
1st Varsity 8+
Coxswain H. Gagnon
8 G. Hubbard
7 A. Sampo
6 G. Huxtable
5 G. Geiser
4 C. Devenuto
3 H. Williams
2 S. Cooper
1 C. Wells
