Courtesy Mark R. Wilson

The Stetson Women's Rowing Team set a new level of achievement at the Chattanooga Head Race today by winning the Novice Women's 8+ event and beating some of the regions best teams.  The Hatter Women won the gold medal today and in doing so beat a much larger and deeper team from the University of Alabama among others like Georgia, Clemson club, Georgia Tech, in all a field of 11 quality teams.  The Frosh/Novice 8+ finished nearly 35 seconds ahead of Alabama and over 1min and 40 seconds ahead of 3rd place Georgia.  "Those finish margins are huge and this is after our boat suffered a broken oar during warm-up" shares Head Coach Mark Wilson.  During the warm-up as the team was traveling upstream to the starting line they were moving quite fast and unfortunately hit a channel marker with the bow seats oar which snapped in two instantly.  While quite shaken from the event, there was no injury and officials were able to get a spare oar to the team so they could continue to race.  Thankfully no one was hurt and the excitement was contained and the crew was able to race and win. 

"This race was great start to our season and I hope that these women can continue to gel together and enjoy racing together for years to come!" exclaims Wilson

Other racing during the day was also very good and the Women's Novice 4+ which had only rowed as a lineup for about 1 hour during the Fall Break was able to row very well and they finished 3rd to win the Bronze medal in a field of 8 boats.  Alabama and Emory placed 1,2 in that race.  "For a group of 5 women to get in a boat and practice for only 1 hour together and then race on a course that was new to them is fantastic,  this shows program depth and we will continue to build on these positives as we continue through the Fall season." explains Coach Wilson.

The Varsity 2- had an unfortunate equipment issue and with only 200m to the finish line was forced to stop rowing but the pair was the stern pair in the Varsity 4+ and they were able to come back later in the day and finish a very strong 7th out of 16 boats and were only 3 seconds out of 6th.  "I was very pleased with these ladies and I know they can do better as we return to the Head of the Hooch in a month." Says Wilson. 

"Overall, this was a great day for all our rowers and our program as a whole.  The traveling for Fall Break to Clinton Tennessee was fantastic, the ability to row on fantastic water, do some team building and have a quality race to compete in is just great.  This was a long 4 days but it was worth it.  The team is closer now than it was last week and we know more about each other which will make us stronger and faster as a team." Shares Wilson

Full race results is online at www.chattanoogaheadrace.com.

Chattanooga Race Lineups

Coll 2-
2-Georgina Ashley
1-Emmie Wenzell

Coll 2x (A)
2-Emma Griffith
1-Abby Hamilton

Coll 2x (B)
2-Riley McGovern
1-Carly Swanson

Coll N 4+
C-Caitlin Meyer
4-Alessandra Clement
3-Michelle Price
2-Andrea Kahn
1-Kali Todd

Coll N 8+
C-Erica McCaughey
8-Catherine Keve
7-Olivia Valiante
6-Amelia Ornato
5-Emily Tivy
4-Abby Hamilton
3-Riley McGovern
2-Emma Griffith
1-Carly Swanson

Coll V 4+
C-Nicolette Alayon
4-Georgina Ashley
3-Emmie Wenzell
2-Kaley Concannon
1-Rebecca Shaffer