WORCESTER, Mass. - The Simmons College crew team placed fifth at the New England Men's and Women's Athletic Conference Rowing Championship this morning on Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, Mass.
The Sharks scored 12 points on the day to finish two behind Mount Holyoke College and six ahead of host Clark University. Defending national champion Wellesley College won the First Varsity Eight race to earn its eighth straight automatic bid to the NCAA Championship and earned the Florence Jope Smith Cup, awarded annually to the school with the highest number of points from the overall results at the NEWMAC Championship with 36 over Worcester Polytechnic Institute's tally of 30.
Simmons finished third in Second Varsity Eight race, while placing fourth in the Third Varsity Eight event and fifth in the 1V8 entry with a seven to 10-knot headwind on the 2,000-meter course.
First year Hannah Dike (Leominster, Mass.) pulled from the stroke seat for the Sharks' 2V8, which featured a number of newcomers, followed by juniors Elsbeth Colson (Everett, Mass.) and Elizabeth Rea-Wilson (Concord, Mass.) in the seventh and sixth seats, respectively. First years Brianna Paterson (Pelham, N.H.), Rebecca Ramsey (Jefferson, N.H.) and Emily Saunders (Hebron, Conn.) all preceded sophomore Captain Nicole Lee (North Reading, Mass.) and first year bow Kyetesie Heller (Sharon, Mass.) with first year coxswain Ally Fecteau (Burlington, Conn.) setting the pace en-route to a time of 7:54.3 to clip Mount Holyoke by just under four seconds.
Junior Ronnie Bennett (Pottstown, Pa.) led the One Varsity Eight from the stroke seat, followed by sophomore Madison Summers (Hudson, N.H.), first year Kate Krawczuk (Harrisburg, Pa.), sophomore Eleanor Pullan (Northampton, Mass.), junior Captain Alexa Frongillo (Franklin, Mass.) as well as first years Sabrina Belozerova (Newton, Mass.) and Olivia Hamilton (Sunapee, N.H.) and senior Karina Bercan (Derry, N.H.) in the bow seat. Junior coxswain Clarice Johnson (Norwell, Mass.) helped direct the crew to a time of 7:46.
The Third Varsity clocked in at 8:22.4 to finish less than seven seconds behind Smith College. The shell featured graduate student Jess Randolph (Concord, N.C.) in the stroke seat followed by first years Jessica Rush (Marion, Mass.), Peizhu Pam Qian (Beijing, China/Developing Virtue Secondary Girls School (Calif.)), Sarah Walsh (Holbrook, Mass.), Lily Pennington (Watertown, Mass.), sophomore Christine Yu (Plainville, Mass.), first year Chloe Feuerstein (Winchester, Mass.) and first year bow Sarah MacEachen (Hollis, N.H.) with junior Captain Kaitlin Fierlit (Hamden, Conn.) sitting on the coxswain position.