Duquesne University
Dad Vail Regatta
5/17/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Rowing
May 17, 2011
This past weekend the Duquesne women's rowing team finished out its 2010-2011 season at the 73rd Dad Vail Regatta in Philadelphia, PA. The regatta is the largest two-day collegiate regatta in the country with teams from over 100 college's and universities competing throughout Friday and Saturday. The Duquesne women had boats entered in the women's varsity four, the women's frosh four, the women's varsity pair, and the women's single.
The first event of the weekend for Duquesne was the women's varsity four of cox: Kristy Pietrone, stroke: Rachael Thornton, Taylor Shannon, Maria Scinico, and bow: Kelly Beck. This veteran crew rowed a very relaxed race with confidence and battled down the course right along side the four from Villanova University. With the top three boats advancing and the Dukes sitting comfortably in second they were able to breeze across the finish just two seconds behind Villanova and 20 seconds ahead of the College of Charleston to move on to the semi-final race Saturday morning.
In their semi, the women would race strong crews from Temple and Old Dominion as well as boats from Georgia Tech and the Military Academy. With only two boats advancing to the final the women raced hard down the course battling with the boats from Temple and Old Dominion for one of the two coveted spots. They stayed in contact with Old Dominion all the way down the course and after a strong move at the 1000-meter mark to get them out front of Temple they continued to move away. Old Dominion crossed the line first in 7:45.8, Duquesne crossed second in 7:49.85, and Temple finished third in 7:58.56. This is the first time in history that a Duquesne varsity boat has qualified for the final at this regatta.
Later that afternoon the women raced a field that consisted of boats from St. Joe's University, Bucknell, Old Dominion, Villanova, and Northwestern. It was a tight battle throughout the 2000-meter course with Villanova, St. Joe's, Old Dominion, and Duquesne all battling side by side for the top three spots. Villanova got out front by the 1000-meter mark by a few seats to give them an advantage over the rest of the field, but the remaining three continued to battle back and fourth for the remaining two top spots. In the last 300 meters Old Dominion and St. Joe's made a strong push that the Dukes could not respond to and the Duquesne women finished fourth. Villanova finished first in 7:27.29, second was Old Dominion 7:30.02, third was St. Joe's in 7:30.33, and fourth was Duquesne in 7:32.18.
Overall the Duquesne women finished fourth in an event that began with 32 entries. The full final of this race can be viewed here. Search for rowing and Aberdeen Dad Vail Regatta. Fast forward to the two hour and 23 minute mark.
The women's varsity pair of freshmen Derin Ongun and Emma Keller was the second boat to race for the Dukes Friday morning. They were in a very competitive heat with teams from Oklahoma City, Clarkson, New York Maritime, Case, and the favorite to win Fairfield. In what was by far one of the toughest heats of the day the Duquesne women battled their way down the course alongside the crews from New York Maritime, Oklahoma City, and Case. Fairfield established in early lead and continued to dominate the field throughout the race. With the top three boats advancing it was a battle for the final two spots throughout the 2000-meter course. Positions changed numerous times with Duquesne holding second place for a time all of the crews made strong moved in the last 400-meters, but Duquesne was edged out finishing fifth in 8:38.05. Fairfield was first in 8:21.80, NY Maritime second in 8:32.24, Case third in 8:34.59, Oklahoma City fourth in 8:34.62, Duquesne fifth in 8:38.05, and Clarkson last in 9:00.28. The top five finishers in this heat were faster than all of the boats in a later heat, and had qualifying times from two other heats as well. It was a great race and the coaches are excited to see what these two upcoming sophomores can bring tot the team in the next three years.
The third event Friday for the Duquesne women was the women's varsity single of Maria De Iuliis. While Maria is a veteran sculler having raced at the high school level, this was her first collegiate race in the single. In a heat with some very seasoned scullers, including a UMass rower that represented the United States last year at the Under-23 Lightweight World Championship in the single, Maria rowed a very strong race. Emily Boucher from UMass established a very comfortable lead early on and continued to dominate the field throughout the course. Slowly the rest of the field began pan out with Maria finding a comfortable spot in fifth. The current online results are not accurate so we do not have exact times for this heat, but Maria had a great race and was happy with her performance.
The women's freshman/novice four of cox: Olivia Twomey, stroke: Stephanie King, Regina Dutz, Hannah Olinger, and bow: Megan Parmarter raced their heat Friday afternoon against teams from Chicago, Iona, Robert Morris, and Clarkson. With only two boats from their heat advancing to the semi-final the Dukes were able to establish a lead early on in the race and continued to build on that lead in the final 1000-meters. They crossed the line first in 8:16.64 over 10 seconds ahead of second place Iona who finished in 8:27.13. Early Saturday morning the Dukes raced in a very tough semi-final with teams from West Virginia, Emory, North Park, Central Oklahoma, and George Mason. Emory established their lead early on in the race and Duquesne battled down the course alongside the four from West Virginia. WVU had a strong surge in the last 300 meters of the race to finished second in 8:03.75 with the Duquesne women finishing third in 8:09.81. While they did not advance to the final, the women were happy with their performance after a very tough spring with little water time. Overall the Duquesne women finished eighth in an event that began with 47 entries.
Video of all of the races will be updated to youtube later this week at http://www.youtube.com/user/JLL1016?feature=mhum.
