LOWELL, Mass. - Juniors Ronnie Bennett (Pottstown, Pa.) and Phoebe Knox (Scituate, Mass.) won the Gold Medal in the Women's Club Double to lead the Simmons College women's crew team today at the 37th Textile River Regatta on the Merrimack River in Lowell, Mass.
Bennett and Knox turned in a time of 25:45.135 to win the race by over two minutes. Bennett paired with Chelsea Foster (Avon, Conn.) in last year's race and placed second. Milena Robles-Wong (Alameda, Calif.) and Sabrina Belozerova (Newton, Mass.) rowed to the silver medal for the Sharks behind Bennett and Knox with a time of 27:59.996.
Simmons finished eighth overall and fifth among collegiate squads in the Women's Open Four with junior Alexa Frongillo (Franklin, Mass.) sitting in the stroke position ahead of junior Eleanor Pullan (Northampton, Mass.), graduate student Jess Randolph (Concord, N.C.) and senior Karina Bercan (Derry, N.H.) in the bow seat. Junior Clarice Johnson (Norwell, Mass.) pushed the quartet from the coxswain perch to a mark of 26:36.684, less than five seconds behind the crew from University of Massachusetts Lowell.
The Sharks eight finished 11th in the Women's Club Eight race with a time of 24:43.144. Senior coxswain Olivia Smiaroski (Northfield, Mass.) directed the Simmons eight, consisting of junior stroke Elsbeth Colson (Everett, Mass.), followed by sophomore Madison Summers (Hudson, N.H.) in the seventh seat, juniors Erin Lilienthal (Niantic, Conn.), Elizabeth Rea-Wilson (Concord, Mass.), sophomores Kellie Cann (Needham, Mass.), Christine Yu (Plainville, Mass.), first year Sarah MacEachen (Hollis, N.H.) in the second seat and sophomore Nicole Lee (North Reading, Mass.) in the bow seat.
The Sharks return to the water on Saturday, October 22 when they compete in the 52nd Head of the Charles Regatta.
