Mountaineers Open Season on Cooper River

Sunday, March 24

Cherry Hill, N.J.

8:00 A.M.

West Virginia University

Cooper Sprints

March 24, 2019 03:59 PM | Rowing

By: Tanner Cain

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Highlighted by a third-place finish in the second varsity four petite final, the West Virginia University rowing team opened its spring season at the Cooper Sprints on Sunday afternoon on the Cooper River in Cherry Hill, New Jersey.

"While we're not surprised by some of the unevenness we saw in the racing of our 4s today, due to the youth in those boats, we're certainly disappointed in the results of our 8s," said coach Jimmy King. "Today's performances don't align with the work we've been doing at home, so there's plenty of motivation to get back to work."

Starting in lane two in the first event of the day, West Virginia's first varsity eight boat crossed the finish line in 7:07.36 and place fifth in the second heat to secure a spot in the varsity eight third final. In the final, the first varsity eight boat finished in second place (6:58.00) behind Villanova.

The second varsity eight boat started in lane three in the second event of the day. The WVU crew placed fifth in the third heat with a time of 7:21.39 and advance to the second varsity eight third final, where it finished in third place (7:21.90) behind Massachusetts and Boston College.

WVU's first varsity four boat started in lane three of the second heat in its event. The crew finished in 8:28.54 to finish in fourth place, earning a spot in the first varsity four third final. West Virginia competed against Drexel in the first varsity four third final and placed second (8:22.08).

The Mountaineers' second varsity four crew started in lane six of the third heat of its event and claimed a fourth-place finish (8:27.05) to advance to the petite final. Earning the best finish of the day for WVU, the second varsity four boat crossed the finish line in 8:27.32 to place third out of six teams. The crew finished behind Boston College and SMU.

"The boat did an excellent job of making adjustments from the morning heats to the afternoon finals, which put them in a good position to be competitive and really enjoy the racing," said assistant coach Tina Griffith. "With such an inexperienced group overall, this was great to see and hopefully it will spur them on to continue to practice and race hard to find that competitive rush."

West Virginia's third varsity four boat raced in one event. The crew crossed the finish line in 8:58.89 and finished fourth behind Drexel and two Rutgers boats.

"In many ways, we're further ahead of where we were this time last year, but now, we have to put it together on race day to prove it to ourselves," King said. "Our next opportunity is a week from today."

The lineups for each boat can be found below.

Sunday's Lineups

First Varsity Eight: Lize Morris, Jessica Woy, Cassia Busch, Alissa Johnson, Carly Ledbetter, Janae Hurst, Grace Dever, Hannah Simmerly. Coxswain: Kaitlin Sullivan

Second Varsity Eight: Emma Toy, Lindsay Krawczyk, Madisyn Lee, Megan Present, Allyson George, Alexis Brown, Louise Daenekindt, Megan Casner. Coxswain: Olivia Martinelli

First Varsity Four: Katherine McMullen, Danielle Hofmann, Kileigh Lade, Payton Rea. Coxswain: Amanda Mahany

Second Varsity Four: Melanie Rence, Abigail Patrick, Grace Russell, Rylee Haught. Coxswain: Dana Bishop

Third Varsity Four: Megan Sutherland, Sarah Wabnitz, Asha Gaines, Kelsey Goetze. Coxswain: Maura Harkins

*All lineups are listed bow to stern with the coxswain at the end.

Looking Ahead
The Mountaineers travel to Fairfax Station, Virginia, on Sunday, March 31, to compete at the Occoquan Sprints. All of Sunday's events will take place on the Occoquan Reservoir. A full schedule of Sunday's events will be released later this week.

Keep up with West Virginia rowing on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by following @WVUrowing.