Ephs Sweep ECAC Championships/Win 3rd Straight NESCAC Title & Claim Automatic NCAA Championships Bid
WORCESTER, MA – The Williams women’s crew won the
first, second, and third varsity eight titles at the ECAC National
Invitational on a sunny day at Lake Quinsigamond. The
Williams 1V boat rebounded from last weekend’s loss to
Trinity in the grand finals of the New England Championships and
this time edged out Trinity in an exciting final sprint, taking the
title by 0.605 seconds. The women’s second
varsity boat retained their edge on the Northeast competition and
once again defeated Trinity to remain the top ranked second varsity
eight, while the third varsity event featured two Williams crews
who swept the top of the podium to take the gold and silver
medals.
The Williams 3V boats started the day of racing off for the Ephs
with the Williams “A” boat racing in heat one and the
Williams “B” boat racing in heat two of the third
varsity eight event. The Williams “A” boat, coxed
by Becca Licht ’11 and stroked by Maddy Berky ’10,
bounded off the line to and immediately left their competition
behind, stretching their lead to an insurmountable twenty-one
seconds by the finish with a final time of 6:59.14. Holy
Cross slid across the line in second (7:20.32), with Tufts in third
(7:30.09) snagging the third and final qualifying spot for the
grand final. In the following heat, the Williams
“B” boat, coxed by Monsie Munoz ’09 and stroked
by Nanny Gephart ’09, used a strong start to move early on
Ithaca and slowly pull away, increasing their lead to open water by
the 1,000 meter mark and finishing eleven seconds up in 7:13.83
with Ithaca second (7:24.61) and Wellsley in third (7:28.95).
With first place finishes in both heats the two Williams boats
assured themselves positions in lane one and two in the afternoon
grand final.
The 2V boat, coxed by Nisi Zhang ’08 and stroked by Sarah
Ginsberg ’10, took lane one in the first heat of the second
varsity eight event and, as they’ve done all year, moved
ahead early and made a statement with their resounding
victory. Their time of 6:47.79 easily outpaced the University
of Vermont in second (6:57.9), assuring themselves of lane one in
the grand final. In heat two, Trinity defeated Smith in a
nearly identical time of 6:47.29 and Holy Cross and Ithaca advanced
to the grand final from the third heat.
The Williams 1V, coxed by Allison Prevatt ’09 and stroked by
Emily Cheston ’08, finished out the morning of racing with a
first place finish in their semifinal heat. Trinity set the
pace from the first semifinal, laying down a 6:49.7 to top Bates
(6:53.0) and UNH (6:55.2) with all three boats advancing to the
grand final. In the second semifinal, Williams rowed a strong
race to set the tone for their afternoon showdown with Trinity,
crossing the line with open water and nearly matching the Trinity
time from the earlier heat with a 6:50.9 with St. Lawrence in
second (6:56.1) and Ithaca in third (7:00.6).
After a break in the action, the Williams 3V “A” and
“B” boats lined up side by side on the starting line in
lanes one and two to take on Holy Cross, Ithaca, Tufts, and
Wellesley. The 3V “A”, as they did in their
morning heat, moved away from the field instantly, taking open
water on their teammates within the first 500 meters and plowing
through the final 1,500 meters to a twenty second victory
(7:06.69). Meanwhile, the Williams “B” boat
battled down the entire course with a scrappy Holy Cross crew,
trading seats while slowly moving ahead. While they never
were able to break contact, the Williams 3V battled back from a
final 300 meter surge by the Holy Cross crew to take second place
by 6-seats, finishing in 7:26.5, with Holy Cross settling for third
(7.29.4).
The Williams 2V, facing off with Trinity for the third time this
season made it three for three, once again defeating the Trinity 2V
to win the ECAC title. The Williams boat got the edge
early and moved on the field, giving their fans a lot to cheer
about in the final 500 meters with open water on their
competitors. A stiff headwind plagued the second varsity
petite and grand finals, making their times significantly slower
that their morning heat, but the Williams women nonetheless took a
six second victory with a time of 7:28.55. Trinity finished
second in 7:34.27 with Ithaca taking the bronze in 7:35.88.
The women’s varsity eight grand final drew large crowds,
dominated by teammates of the Williams and Trinity 1V rowers, to
the shore of Lake Quinsigamond to watch the final women’s
race of the day. Clumped in groups of teammates, the Williams
and Trinity spectators gritted their teeth and listened attentively
to the announcer call the race from the referee’s boat
farther up the course, with Williams and Trinity trading early
leads. Williams moved four seats up—the largest margin
they would get—but Trinity stormed back to take several seats
on them and set the stage for a dramatic final sprint. As
they approached the final 500 meters of the race, both teams
appeared even with Williams ahead by a bow deck with 300 meters to
go. Trinity made one last ditch attempt to overtake the
Williams boat but the Williams 1V dug deeper and stretched their
lead to a seat, crossing the finish line first in 6:46.82, 0.605
seconds ahead of second place Trinity (6:47.43). Bates took
the bronze, nearly ten seconds back, with a time of
6:57.12.
Despite winning each race they entered, not racing a novice eight
or varsity fours hurt the Williams women in their chance for the
women’s points trophy. A consistent Ithaca program took
the women’s title with hometown favorite Holy Cross in second
and rivals Trinity and Williams sharing third place. In
combination with the men’s team, the Williams crew program
took third place in the overall points trophy race, with Trinity,
on the strength of their men’s team, taking the overall
title.
By virtue of winning the ECAC title and being the highest NESCAC
finisher for the third year in a row, the Williams women have
assured themselves an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships,
hosted by UC-Berkley in Sacramento, CA, from May 30—June 1
where they will attempt to become the first Division III crew to
win three consecutive national titles.
