The GW men’ s and women’s crew teams returned strong finishes in two different races last weekend, Sunday’s Princeton Chase and Saturday’s Head of the Schuylkill. Both races proved the respective team’s strengths as they train for the spring season, coaches said.
“This was a long but unbelievably successful weekend for both the men’s and women’s crews,” crew director and women’s head coach Steve Peterson said by e-mail. “I am very excited about the upcoming spring season and can’t wait until we start racing in March.”
In the second race of the weekend, New Jersey’s Princeton Chase, the men’s four – sophomore John D’Alba, senior Vic Marwin, sophomore Alex Cashman and junior Joe Richard – placed 10th out of 15 crews. They crossed the line at 15:46 behind two Princeton teams, Cornell and Yale universities.
“Our four was very competitive with the top programs in the
country, and the crew feels they still have a lot of room to continue to improve,” men’s head coach Matt Boyle said in an e-mail. “(The finish) is a great sign of what the men are capable of this spring.”
In the first women’s race Sunday, the varsity eight captain senior Tracy Kusnir led her boat to a 14th place finish out of 33 teams. The finish placed them ahead of crews from U.S. Naval Academy and Columbia, Rutgers and Villanova universities and had them closing in on the crews from University of Pennsylvania, Boston University and Cornell.
Peterson said the finish continues the string of races that have marked consistent improvement for the Colonial women. The second varsity eight placed last in the event.
The women’s four of senior Molly Hueller, junior Brynn Kowlaski, sophomore Kristen Salmon, junior Regina Cambilargiy and coxswain senior Liz Bissinger charged through the finish line to place ninth out of 44 crews in the Open Four event. They were the fifth collegiate team to finish, behind only Princeton, Yale, Radcliffe College and University of Virginia.
Saturday in Philadelphia’s Head of the Schuylkill the women finished as the top placing university in the Championship Four event, second overall only to the New York Athletic Club. They finished the three-mile course in 17:26.
The men’s first varsity eight placed fifth out of 22 crews in their own race. They rowed past the finish line in 13:07, behind Sydney University, Navy, Penn and Temple University. The men’s second varsity team finished in 13:59, good for an 18th place finish in the Championship Eight.
–Lauren Silva contributed to this report.
