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After a week of training in sunny Florida the Duquesne women's rowing team took to the waters of Lake Maitland for their final row of the trip and their first race of the spring season. Participants in the Annual Metro Cup Regatta were the University of Central Florida (UCF), Villanova University, your Duquesne Dukes, and host Rollins College. It was a cold morning with 12-15 mph crosswinds that mainly affected the 3rd 500m of the 1950m course. All races were a floating start.

The first event of the morning for the Duquesne women was the women's varsity eight. Faith Caldiero coxed her crew of stroke Serena Benages, Courtney Purslow, Alex Watts, Lauren Hughes, Hannah Mazur, Julia Borsari, Emily Herzig, and bow Gretchen Swabe to a second place finish in 6:36.9. Crossing the line first was UCF (6:24.8), third was Villanova (6:46.6) and fourth was Rollins (7:06.1).

In the women's second varsity eight event Duquesne had two entries. UCF again crossed the line first with a time of 6:49.7. The B entry from Duquesne of coxswain Grace Hindes, stroke Tory Snyder, Jess Goldstein, Kaitlyn Clem, Emily Ames, Mary Kate Keenoy, Madeleine Troppe, Morgan Starczewski, and bow Alison Kane took the second place spot in 7:04.0 with the Duquesne A entry of coxswain Caroline Dirr, Lauren Turner, Rachel Swain, Sydnie Pennington, Lindsay Wyllie, Meredith Starczewski, Anne Stevens, Marianna Manfredi, and bow Jenna Boyd less than 3 seconds behind in the third place spot (8:06.5). Villanova's second eight finished over 20 seconds behind in fourth place (7:26.8) with Rollins finishing fifth (7:35.0).

The third event of the morning for the Dukes was the women's freshman/novice eight event. In what was the first sprint race ever for 8 out of the 9 members of the crew the line-up of coxswain Amanda Booth, stroke Kira Butler, Olivia Delaney, Sam Dunn, Cass Holder, Mary Katherine Byrne, Antonia Maffia, Shelby Rocco, and bow Olivia Szallai earned a gold medal crossing the line first in 7:25.0. Villanova crossed the line second in 7:39.6, UCF third (7:48.0), and Rollins fourth (8:19.1).

Duquesne then had two entries in the women's varsity four event. UCF again crossed the line first in 7:34.4. Duquesne's B entry of stroke Tory Snyder, Nicole Wozniak, Margot Gagen, Maureen O'Brien, and coxswain Grace Hindes finished second in 7:53.0 less the 1 second over third place Villanova (7:53.6). Duquesne's A entry of stroke Kaitlyn Clem, Madeleine Troppe, Lindsay Snodgrass, Emily Ames, and coxswain Caroline Dirr finished fourth in 7:58.7 with Rollins crossing fifth in 8:05.1.

In the varsity 4B event Duquesne's line-up of stroke Alison Kane, Anne Stevens, Mary Kate Keenoy, Jess Goldstein, and coxswain Jean Geary finished first in the four boat field in 7:51.9. Villanova crossed the line second (7:53.8), UCF third (7:57.7) and Rollins fourth (8:19.4).

The final event of the day was the women's freshman/novice four. The novice line-up of stroke Kira Butler, Cass Holder, Sam Dunn, Olivia Delaney, and coxswain Amanda Booth finished second behind the freshman four from Villanova and ahead of the novice four from Rollins. No times are available for this race.

"It was a productive week of training in our first week on the water since the fall," said coach Joe Setting. "We had a strong showing across the board in our racing, yet certainly have plenty of room for improvement. We are excited to get back on the water at home and continue our training."