NATIONALLY-RANKED SAINTS COMPETE

AT ECAC NATIONAL INVITE

May 11: The St. Lawrence University women’s crew team found themselves among the top Division III crews in the country over the weekend at the ECAC National Invitational Collegiate Regatta in Worcester, MA, where the Saints' Women's Varsity Eight crew placed fifth out of a 21-crew field in the toughest races they’ve seen all season.

St. Lawrence proved they were not only up to the challenge but would be forceful in challenging the other nationally-ranked squads in the first heat of the Women’s Varsity Eight event on Saturday, as the No. 6 Saints rowed to a second place finish behind Trinity College, who is ranked first in Division III Rowing. Trinity rowed to a time of 6:39.82, while St. Lawrence clocked in at 6:45.38. The Scarlet and Brown finished ahead of No. 8 Tufts, Hamilton, and Wellesley.

Their achievement on Day 1 earned them a spot in the second heat of the Women’s Varsity Eight Semifinals, where the crew took another second place finish with a time of 6:56.1 behind second-ranked Williams (6:50.90), but ahead of No. 4 Ithaca College (7:00.6), No. 9 William Smith (7:03.7), as well as the College of the Holy Cross (7:05.6) and Smith College (7:14.0).

Their finish in the semifinals earned them a lane in the Women’s Varsity Eight grand final, where five of the six crews are currently ranked in the top ten by the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association/USRowing. Williams upset Trinity by six-tenths of a second for the win with a winning time of 6:46.82 compared to Trinity’s 6:47.42, while No. 3 Bates and No. 4 Ithaca placed third (6:57.11) and fourth (7:02.18), respectively. The Saints finished fifth (7:03.97), ahead of a crew from the University of New Hampshire (7:06.31).

Saints in the First Varsity Eight included junior Michelle Hicks (Austin, TX/St. Stephen’s), sophomore Jane Connolly (New Canaan, CT/St. Luke’s), first-year Lizzy Stokes-Cawley (Skaneateles, NY/Skaneateles), junior Allie Friedman (Buffalo, NY/Buffalo Seminary), sophomore Amelia Bell (Portland, OR/Grant), senior Kate Olsen (Muncy, PA/Muncy), sophomore Eloise LaChance (Philmont, NY/Taconic Hills), senior Amanda Dudley (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool), and senior coxswain Renee Rubin (South Burlington, VT/South Burlington).

The Women’s Second Varsity Eight earned a spot in the petite final after placing fourth in the third heat earlier on Sunday, where they clocked in at 7:09.57, behind Holy Cross (7:01.85), Ithaca (7:04.67) and William Smith (7:09.08). The Saints defeated crews from Mt. Holyoke (7:13.78) and Wellesley (7:16.77). In the petite final, the Scarlet and Brown repeated their fourth place performance, as boats from Tufts (7:42.17), the University of New Hampshire (7:46.09), and William Smith (7:47.84) defeated them in their final race of the regatta, while the Saints (7:51.72) beat both Bates (7:52.46) and Colby (7:57.60) to the finish line.

Racing in the second varsity boat was sophomore Katie Roy (Lake Placid, NY/Northwood School), senior Ann Seyse (Scotia, NY/Scotia Glenville), sophomore Tara Hetz (Charlotte, VT/Champlain Valley Union), junior Karen Wilcox (Ellenburg Depot, NY/Northern Adirondack), sophomore Erin Hussey (Biddeford, ME/Biddeford), junior Jackie Costas (Greenwich, CT/Convent of the Sacred Heart) sophomores Brianna Kehl (Niskayuna, NY/Niskayuna) and Amelia Lalley (Ithaca, NY/Ithaca) and senior coxswain Caroline Hannigan (New Rochelle, NY/School of the Holy Child).

St. Lawrence will await word on a possible bid to the NCAA Championships, with the field to be determined later this week. The Championships will be held May 30-31 in Sacramento, CA.