Courtesy Mark Wilson
Easter weekend saw the Hatters from Stetson Women's rowing looking for much more than just eggs in Sarasota at the world class rowing venue during the FIRA regatta. In fact they were looking for and found a great level of competition in all boats from the Novice 4+ to the Single to the very fast Varsity 8+. In attendance at the FIRA were four NCAA qualifying teams from 2014 in Jacksonville, Nova Southeastern, University of Central Oklahoma and Barry University. With all that speed and experience the Hatters young squad simply wanted to get to the finals and represent their school and teammates, and that they did.
All the boats that were entered in the FIRA made the finals and the Novice 4+B placed third in their final on Friday afternoon making it a very “good” Friday indeed. “I am super happy with these 5 girls and how they came into the race with such open eyes and just did great, the row may not have been their best but it was enough to bring home a third place finish and that is awesome!” says an excited Coach Mark Wilson.
The boats in the Novice 4A and the Varsity 4 also had heats on Friday for the right to race on Saturday and they did what they had to do compete.
On Saturday the day was nearly perfect at the race course with fair winds and warm but manageable temperatures and the rowers were ready to go. The racing started off with the V8 finishing in 8th place. This boat would have loved to finish higher but with 5 true novice in the boat racing 4 teams that made it to the NCAA in 2014 they finished just fine. Later in the morning the women's 1x was raced and Senior Alicja Duda and Coxswain Katie Shilling took to the course and Alicja was fast enough to earn a bronze medal behind a couple of quick scullers. “This was Alicja's last FIRA and winning a medal for her was awesome, Alicja is always a positive person and seeing her scull and finish with a medal was great.
The Novice 8+ was a darkhorse in the event and while all novice rowing has some surprises the team actually surprised themselves by being in 2nd place through the 1000m mark but then had spent too much energy and failed to capitalize and then finished just out of the medals in fourth. “I know that this boat would have finished in the medals but three of the girls jumped from the Varsity 8 into the Novice 8 with only about 1 hour rest, they did great and won medals in my mind!” Shares a proud Coach Wilson.
The afternoon racing saw the Novice 4+A boat and the Varsity 4+ finish 6th just 6 behind Rollins and in front of FSU.
The Women's team will be traveling to Buffalo NY on April 18th and racing Canisius University as a MAAC conference competitor and will be looking to solidify the V8+ V8+II and the V4+ for the racing.
All the results from FIRA are online at www.row2k.com
