NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. -- The Fairfield University women's rowing team completed its fall schedule with another solid effort at the Fall Metropolitan Championships, highlighted by first-place finishes by the varsity 4 and the novice 4. The Stags finished in the top three in each race during the one-day event.

"It was an eventful day on the Orchard Beach Lagoon," Head Coach David Patterson said. "For our last day on the water, the team went out in some of the most challenging conditions just shy of unrowable. Some of our crews fared better than others with good wins in the four races. We had some good days in training that the fours were able to replicate on the race course."

The varsity 4 was involved in a close race with Sacred Heart University before finally taking a two-second victory over the Pioneers at the finish line. Fairfield finished the run with a time of 9:00.0, just edging out the competition which crossed the line in 9:01.9. The rest of the field included Manhattan (9:17.0), Maritime (9:26.0), and Iona (9:29.0). The Stags were represented by Brenna McDonnell, Erin Dobbs, Ani Dennen, Katrina Kirchgaesser, and coxswain Meg Smith.

Fairfield's novice 4 A crew enjoyed a little more comfort with its race, taking first place by completing the race in 10:43 which was 12 seconds better than runner up Sarah Lawrence's mark of 10:55. The Stags B boat ran the course with in 11:41 which surpassed Manhattan (12:06) and Iona (12:53) in the five-boat event. The Stags' winning boat included Grace Fallon, Madison McSherry, Abby Morrill, Maggie Ethier, and coxswain Faith Kenny. The novice 4 B crew was comprised by Rebecca Patti, Jess DeMarse, Sara Middlebrook, Sarah Walker, and coxswain Laura Mason.

The varsity 8 featured a third-place finish for the Stags behind the efforts of Mallory Burlington, Sara Altomare, Molly Roche, Mariel Staffier, Ana McDonough, Bethany Gove, MeKenzie Cunningham, Hailey White, and coxswain Laura Mason. Manhattan was the first crew to cross the finish line by running the route in 6:05.9, followed by Iona (6:26.0). The novice 8 (5:40.0) concluded its season with a second-place finish behind the efforts of Abby Morrill, Madison McSherry, Grace Fallon, Maggie Ethier, Rachel Jacobson, Audrey Sedensky, Sara Middlebrook, Jess DeMarse, and coxswain Faith Kenny.

"We have the personnel and the ability to be a strong team," Patterson said. "But, we are young and inexperienced so we are not performing to the best of ability yet. We will work a little bit harder and focus on technique a little bit more every day. We will challenge ourselves to be mentally prepared to perform a little better every day. We are all motivated to represent our school more competitively in the regular season next semester."