MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University rowing team opened its 2025 spring season this past weekend as a split squad, with four boats competing in the Sarasota 2k in Sarasota, Florida, and two boats participating in a race against Robert Morris in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
 
"This is a challenging regatta for us to start our spring season, but the racing experience against a variety of programs, including Big 12 programs, is invaluable," WVU coach Jimmy King said. "We'll take what we learned this weekend and apply that as we work towards our next competition in two weeks."
 
The Sarasota 2K was held at Nathan Benderson Park. Teams participating in the invitational included Alabama, Boston College, Dartmouth, High Point, Jacksonville, Kansas, Kansas State, Louisville, Massachusetts, Miami, Michigan State, North Carolina, Old Dominion, Tulsa and UCF. 
 
"We were quite happy with how our crews made adjustments and improvements through each round of racing," King said. "Now we need to continue that mindset moving forward in the pursuit of more speed."
 
All four boats at the Sarasota 2K advanced from the time trials and heats on Friday to the third finals on Saturday, resulting in the 2V4 placing third with a time of 8:19.77, the 1V4 securing fourth with a time of 8:00.60, the 2V8 coming in fourth with a time of 7:19.55 and the 1V8 earning fourth place with a time of 6:58.75. 
 
"Both the fours were able to make significant improvements from row to row, beginning with our first practice rows at the course and continuing across time trials, heats and racing regardless of the conditions or the circumstances," WVU associate head coach Tina Griffith said. "Everyone came out of the finals having positive experiences and tangible goals to help find more speed. I am looking forward to using the time between now and our next race to give them the opportunities to progress towards those goals and to find that speed."
 
Sarasota 2K Lineups
Boat                        Rowers (stroke to bow w/coxswain)
1V8                         Adriana Hogan, Lauren Mueller, Alexis Mitchell, Violet Hewett, Ksenia Kaludjerovic,
                                Grace Cronen, Abigail Yingling and Teegan Wendley w/ Grace Terlion
2V8                         Isabelle Totton, Lucille Pratt, Emma Higgins, Kate Conard, Brooke Plummer, Nikolina
                                Djordjevic, Raquel Iga and Samantha Krankowski w/ Grace Holliday
1V4                         Jessica Gaston, Una Ilic, Kayla Surovi and Mariella Renee Wilson w/ Grace Fay
2V4                         Jayden Gray, Bailey South, Erin Carmicle and Samantha Spencer w/ Marley Sullivan
 
CLICK HERE for Sarasota 2K Results.        
 
Meanwhile on Saturday on the Ohio River in Pittsburgh, the Mountaineers' 3V8 raced RMU's 1V8 and 2V8 boats, placing second. For the second race of the morning, WVU's 3V4 squared off against Robert Morris' Novice 4 in a 1000m race and came away with a win in that event.
 
Robert Morris Results
2000m Race
RMU 1V8: 06:55.3
WVU 3V8:  07:18.1
RMU 2V8:  07:49.1
 
1000m Race
WVU 3V4: 3:48.9
RMU N4: 3:54.7
 
Robert Morris Lineups
Boat                        Rowers (stroke to bow w/coxswain)
3V8                         Annabelle Wagner, Cylie Leidy, Greta Giuliano, Beverly Staples, Nicole Barringer,
                                Emerson Riley, Arianna Hannan and Alanna Dunnigan w/ Olivia Pennington
3V4                         Greta Giuliano, Beverly Staples, Nicole Barringer and Emerson Riley w/ Olivia
                                Pennington
 
Looking ahead for WVU Rowing, it will return to action at the George Washington Invitational April 12-13, in Washington D.C., at the Thompson Boat Center.