SHELTON, Conn. -- The Fairfield University women's rowing team competed in a rare dual meet, taking on Sacred Heart University this afternoon. The junior varsity 8 picked up a first-place finish while the varsity 8 split two races during the day's competition.
"When we focus on the task of rowing we can perform well," Head Coach David Patterson said. "When we row distracted, performance suffers. As our conference continues to get stronger every year, there is no MAAC competition now that we can enter and expect success without the 100% concentration and discipline required for collegiate rowing in any division. Today Sacred Heart dominated. We return to practice Monday to work on finding the right combinations and working on length of stroke and power application."
The junior varsity 8 crossed the finish line first with a time of 7:11.0, beating out three other Sacred Heart entries in the race. The Pioneer boats finished with times of 7:25.3, 7:43.5, and 8:30.0. The Stags entry included coxswain Katie Unifried, Tina Chalastra, Colleen Sheridan, Maggie O'Donnell, Cat Clough, Mallory Burlington, Rachel Sansome, Briana Mullaney, and Julia Cooper.
The varsity 8 raced twice during the day, taking second place in the first event (7:16.5) and first place in the second race (7:38.5). The Pioneers won the first race with a time of 7:10.3 but came back with a run of 8:08.1. Fairfield used the same lineup for both races which was comprised of coxswain Katie Clark, Chloe Scherpa Jackie Ozyjowski, Allison Sloan, Eileen Keenan, Amanda McKenna, Dani McKenna, Laura Miles, and Nolan Campbell.
The varsity 4 also saw a pair of events during the afternoon but the Stags changed things up between races. In the opener, Fairfield took second in 8:06.9 behind the Pioneers lead shell which owned a time of 7:52.3 and in front of the host's second boat which crossed the line in 8:15.7. In this event, coxswain Leanne Anderson, Tiffany Iannucci, Claire Lavelle, Katrina Kirchgaesser, and Ani Dennan represented Fairfield.
Later in the day, the two schools faced off again in varsity 4 competition and the Pioneers once again took the top spot with a time of 7:44.4. Fairfield was next in line at 8:02.9, followed by another Pioneer boat (8:32.5). The Stags' crew included coxswain Leanne Anderson, Melissa Iannucci, Claire Lavelle, Lina Foncello, and Kelsey Carthew.
The novice 8 also competed during the dual meet and took third place behind two Sacred Heart boats. The Pioneers registered times of 8:12.3 and 8:51.0 while Fairfield recorded a time of 9:40.0. The Stags' novice 8 consisted of coxswain Laura Mason, Mikayla Goria, Sarah Van Steenbergen, Erin Godfrey, Kaitlyn Sweeney, Nicole Chrysler, Maddie Feeley, Arlette Medina, and Claudia Worotikan.
"While today didn't end up being a legendary performance it was exciting to have the novices compete for the first time in what was undoubtedly a brave performance including two athletes who took their first rowing strokes on Monday and our rock star coxswain Claudia who sat in the tricky bow seat," Patterson said. "Despite some technical struggles, Claudia's commitment to putting the team first and accepting her role with oar and not coxbox for this race was exemplary. And the sense of responsibility that came with the technical struggles and the sheer disappointment that overwhelmed Claudia at the finish line showed me we have someone with passion, willing to fight for her team and fight for success.
