MIAMI BEACH, Fla.—The Barry University women’s rowing team got their spring season underway on Saturday morning hosting NCAA Division I University of Connecticut at the Ronald W. Shane Watersports Center in Miami Beach.
The Bucs opened their spring schedule under the leadership of a new coach, Dawn Scott-Viyella, assistant coach Lisa McDonnell and team captain Robin Cascioli. In addition to Connecticut, the University of Miami also joined in part of the competition, but did not face the Bucs. Clear blue skies and mild winds provided excellent weather conditions to jump start the Bucs.
The first race for the Bucs was the varsity 8+ (Caitlin McGowan (cox); Linsey Bierschbach, Elise Carlson, Libby Lowe, Lyndsay Edmonds, Amy Grosshandler, Robin Cascioli, Rebekah Evans and Jamie Cavaliere) proved to be the most exciting of the day’s races. Connecticut and Barry battled bow ball to bow ball throughout the entire course with Barry taking a half-length lead at one point early on. In the final strokes of the race, UCONN pushed ahead and finished 0.5 seconds ahead of Barry. Connecticut’s finishing time was 7:21.2 with Barry closely following at 7:21.7.
The varsity 4+ boat was comprised of seniors Linsey Bierschbach, Lyndsay Edmonds, Libby Lowe, sophomore captain Cascioli, and junior coxswain Ivana Fredotovic. Connecticut finished the 2,000 meter course with a time of 8:26.7 to put them ahead of Barry’s 8:32.5 finish.
Appearing in their first home competition, the novice 4+ boat (Ebony Fat (cox); VanCheska Koch, Summerlin Knipe, Kristina Crutchfield, Stephanie Urso) struggled to keep up with the strong Connecticut team (8:56.1) who finished 24 seconds ahead of Barry (9:20.0).
The Bucs return to the water to host Rochester on Friday, Mar. 16 at 8:00 am in Miami Beach.