RESULTS

SARASOTA, Fla. – The Ithaca College women's crew rounded out competition at the 2018 NCAA Division III Rowing Championships on Saturday morning at Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota, Florida.
 
After taking first in its heat yesterday to advance to the Grand Final on Saturday morning, the Bombers' Varsity 8 boat finished second behind Bates in the final.
 
The boat - featuring coxswain Maggie Broughton, Savannah Brija, Karina Feitner, Libby Burns, Libby Ryan, Sarah Snow, Sierra Keat, Colby D'Onofrio and Meredyth Busam – finished with a final time of 6:44.886, just behind Bates which took first in 6:40.713.
 
After the first 500 meters, the Bombers were neck-and-neck with eventual champion Bates. IC clocked a 1:37.897 split while Bates hit a 1:37.784 mark. The two boats remained close over the next 500 meters, with the Bombers just over a second behind Bates.
 
Bates slightly opened up its lead in the third 500 meters, moving ahead by nearly three seconds, and moving that to just over four seconds in the final split to earn the win.
 
The second-place finish caps off a stellar season for the Varsity 8, in which it won the Liberty League title by 12 seconds, the New York State Championships by nearly 11 seconds and placed second at the National Invitational Rowing Championships.
 
In the Second Varsity 8 Petite Final, the Bombers' boat – coxswain Catlynn Frank, Megan Dicostanzo, Anna Shelley, Greta O'Hara, Annie Bruner, Allison Ritting, Victoria Demiris, Liza Caldicott and Kelly Csernica – finished in first place with a time of 7:26.678. The win in the Petite Final gives Ithaca the seventh place overall finish in the Second Varsity 8 field.
 
The Bombers began to slowly separate themselves right from the start, finishing the first 500 meters with a split time of 1:49.695, getting against of Washington College who clocked a 1:51.245 split time. Throughout the next 1,000 meters, IC continued to build up a several-second lead and eventually won the race by nearly nine seconds as Washington College finished in 7:35.158.
 
Ithaca ended up finishing in fourth place overall with 41 total points. Bates repeated as National Champion with 56 points, followed by Wellesley with 45 points and Worcester Polytechnic Institute with 42 points.