MIAMI, Fla. -- Rome wasn't built in a day and neither is a championship team. However, the Barry University rowing team showed what hard work can do over the course of a season in the opening heats of the 2006 FIRA Championships hosted at the newly developed Krome Quarry Friday afternoon.
Heading into the final leg of the spring championship season, the Buccaneers rowed three different events to open the FIRA championships. The Buccaneers (Ivana Fredotovic, cox; Angelique Ceccon, stroke; Jovana Djukic, Meg Denholm, Robin Cascioli, Hayley Robinson, Libby Lowe, Lindsay Edmonds, Gurnoor Kang, bow) opened in heat two of the women's varsity 8 race. Battling with NCAA Division I Miami for the lead, Barry caught a boat-stopping crab with 1000 meters to go, but recovered quickly to finish second with a time of 8:06.5. Miami won the race with a time of 7:30.6, while Jacksonville (8:15.0) and Florida (8:36.5) finished third and fourth respectively.
In the women's varsity 8 heat one race, Central Florida won with a time of 7:41.5. Nova Southeastern finished second (8:00.4) and Florida Tech finished a close third at 8:19.9. Embry-Riddle finished fourth with a time of 9:56.2. Barry will advance to the varsity 8 championship final on Saturday.
The women's frosh/novice 4+ was the Bucs' time to shine. Battling a 12 MPH headwind, the Barry novices (Guadalupe Murphy, cox; Elise Carlson, stroke; Jillian Rex, Jamie Cavaliere, Becca Berthold, bow) picked up a decisive win over four other shells. Barry won heat one with a time of 9:59.0 which was 0:22.3 seconds ahead of second-place Stetson at 10:21.3 to advance to the championship finals. Tampa (10:45.6) finished third, while Florida (11:07.6) and Embry-Riddle (12:39.9) finished fourth and fifth respectively.
Nova Southeastern picked up the win in heat two of the same event with a time of 9:08.2. Miami (9:30.3) finished second and Central Florida finished third (9:40.8). Jacksonville (9:51.4) and Rollins (10:26.5) rounded out the top five.
Barry saved their best performance for last in the women's varsity 4+ race. The Buccaneers (Fredotovic, cox; Ceccon, stroke) Djukic, Denholm, Kang, bow) topped NCAA Division I powerhouse Central Florida (8:58.0) in heat one for the win with a time of 8:51.4. Jacksonville finished third at 9:04.3, while Florida (9:22.1), Stetson (9:39.4), and South Florida (10:38.9) rounded out the bottom three respectively.
Sunshine State Conference rival Florida Tech won heat two with a time of 9:09.0, while Miami finished second at 9:14.8. Nova Southeastern finished third (9:29.6), while Rollins finished fourth and Embry-Riddle fifth. Barry clocked the best time out of 11 competing shells in both women's varsity 4+ heats combined.
All three Buccaneer shells advance to the championship finals that will be held on Saturday. It was not without notice from head coach Paul Mokha either. "I very happy with our overall performance today and that all three of our boats will be competing in the finals tomorrow," he said. "We have a few things to talk over and we'll have to come out focused on securing medals in all three events."
The races will begin on Saturday at 8:45 am. Barry's varsity 8 is schedule to go off at 9:15 am, the women's junior varsity 4+ at 12:40 pm, women's frosh/novice 4+ at 2 pm, and the women's varsity 4+ at 3 pm.