WORCESTER, Mass. – It was a solid day on the water for the Mount Holyoke College rowing team, which competed at the 2016 New England Rowing Championships on Saturday at Lake Quinsigamond. The Lyons had a great effort at this year's event as the varsity eight was 16th, while the second varsity eight was 15th overall.
In the second varsity eight race, the Lyons started out the day in the third heat, finishing sixth overall with a time of 7:26.250. MHC advanced into the Third Final, placing third overall with a mark of 7:43.723. In its third-place finish for the Final, the crew bested boats from Colby and NEWMAC-rival Simmons.
Comprising the second varsity eight crew was coxswain Kimberly Ho, Nicole Villacres (S), Julia Hecking (7), Sharlow Hitchcock (6), Claire Fahrner (5), Clare Zicari (4), Mira Kelly-Fair (3), Violet Gehr (2) and Kelly Chambers (B).
For the varsity eight, they competed in the second heat to start out the day's events, crossing the finish with a time of 7:18.301. That mark advanced them to the Third Final, where they placed fourth overall with a mark of 7:31.567. The crew bested the boat from the University of Vermont, whom the Lyons shouldered a loss to three weeks ago.
Competing in the varsity eight was coxswain Leela Woody, Molly Lapointe (s), Eleanor Stewart (7), Rosalind Waltz-Peters (6), Ariya Lawson (5), Azulina Green (4), Elisabeth Scheemaker (3), Zandra Davis (2) and Meghan Ryan (B).
The varsity four also had a solid effort on the day, opening with a seventh-place finish in the first heat. They recorded a time of 8:42.653. Despite the solid effort, only 12 boats moved on to the Grand and Petite Finals.
Powering the varsity four boat was coxswain Zoe Zelkowitz, Ashley Avila (S), Rumi Handen (3), Yihan Gao (2), Sriya Pradhan (B).
The Lyons return to action next Sunday when it competes at the 2016 NIRC Championship on Lake Quinsigamond.
Photo courtesy of Chenyue Lu '16.
