Riverdale, NY - The Manhattan Women's Rowing team concluded its fall schedule by winning the Fall Metropolitan Championship and the Bill Braxton Regatta while returning home with 39 gold medals.
"This team has spent the last year laying the groundwork for success," said Head Coach
Alex Canale. "I am really proud of the work they put in this fall, running mixed lineups to bring out the best from everyone and raising the bar to end the season at a high level. As a coach, it is unprecedented to have a team this excited for the indoor winter training period, but that is exactly we have coming off a banner fall campaign."
On Saturday at the Fall Mets, the Novice 4 was first out of the blocks with a fourth place finish in a time of 12:06. The Varsity 4 squad then placed third with a time of 9:17 before dominating the second Varsity 4 race, as the Jaspers finished first (6:50) and second (7:03).
Up next were the featured races of the day, the First and Second Varsity Eights, which were what the Jaspers had trained for all fall. After placing ahead of conference rival Fairfield at the Hadley Chase just one month ago in the 1V, Manhattan was confident that its new speed would transition to sprint-style racing. The Varsity 8, propelled by the move of sophomore
Amayda Arroyo (New York, NY / Repertory Company) to the stroke seat, charged down the course in a time of 6:05 into the headwind to defeat the closest challenger by twenty one seconds, besting UAlbany, Fairfield, Iona and Sacred Heart. The Second Varsity 8 also turned in a great performance minutes later, defeating Fairfield by four seconds with a mark of 6:14.
Winning both of the 8's marks the first time in program history that the Jaspers have finished ahead of three MAAC rivals while claiming the Met Championship. Â
The weekend continued with the Bill Braxton Regatta on the Cooper River on Sunday morning. Manhattan swept the Varsity Pair event 1st through 3rd, led by juniors
Shannon Colford (Epping, NH / St. Thomas Aquinas) and
Elizabeth McCabe (Alexandria, VA / Bishop Ireton). The Varsity fours each took second in their heats behind Binghamton and Stony Brook, respectively. The Novice four earned its second victory of the season defeating Binghamton and Stony Brook. The 1V 8+ and 2V 8+ both raced in the Varsity 8+ category, and defeated Binghamton, Scranton and Stockton before battling each other for the last one-thousand meters. The 1V finished in a time of 7:24 followed by the 2V in 7:46.
Arroyo stroked the 1V 8+, back in the boat for the first time this season since sitting seven seat last spring and personified the toughness and grit shown by the Jaspers this past weekend.
"I know how hard everyone fights everyday at 5:00 am practices in order to finish on top," said Arroyo. "I am really seeing all that hard work paying off and would not have wanted to end the season any other way."
Sophomore
Ella O'Brien (Hadley, MA / Hopkins Academy), who stroked the 2V 8+ to its highest finish this season, said, "It was great to succeed on the water but even better to come off the water and learn that our teammates had done equally well."
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Additionally, following the Fall Metropolitan Championships, the program recognized seniors
Jeanette Burke (Libertyville, IL / Libertyville) and
Jillian Rider (Buffalo, NY / Iroquois).
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