SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The Bombers showed up and showed out on Fish Creek in Saratoga this weekend as both the women's rowing and sculling teams were in action. The Head of the Fish Regatta is a 3.5k head race most popular for awarding decorated fish heads to first place crews. With a full squad traveling together for the first time this year and coaches wanting to rack up race experience, the Bombers had to dig through every odd bin and corner of the boathouse to find enough boat straps to finish loading all the shells that they brought. All the entries proved worth it in the end, as IC racked up a day of medals and highly coveted fish heads.
 
The day kicked off with the W Collegiate 1x, where junior Samantha Gallagher cruised to 1st in 14:52. Teammate Maggie Farber followed closely in 15:06 but missed the last medal spot by a mere two seconds. Ithaca's Julia DiCostanzo and Zoe Paradis Stern finished sixth and eighth respectively, while Winifred Kanayo-Ezenwata and Kathe Ebert marked the event as their first ever race in the 1x.
 
Next up, the duo of Lily Babcock and Emma Hammel earned a fish head of their own, racing the W Collegiate 2x to first place in 13:41. Beth Roberts and Ashley Bailey's 13:58 was good enough for third place hardware. The remaining crews of Owen/Oliveira, Gattone/ Capodilupo, Thorne/Chen, and Fisch/Bobak placed sixth, ninth, 11th, and 13th in a 19-boat field.
 
As the morning wind picked up, the Bombers regrouped to tackle the course again in the Open/ Collegiate 4x. Despite needing to come to a full stop when a crew in the prior event failed to yield, IC's leading crew of Babcock, Farber, Paradis Stern & Hammel completed the morning's collection of fish heads with a first-place finish in 13:00. IC's DiCostanzo, Owen, Fisch, Oliveira, and coxswain Haley Beckford fought the wind (and a footwear malfunction) to snag the third-place spot from teammates Gallagher, Bailey, Kanayo-Ezenwata, Roberts and Hoskins by just one second. Keeping with tradition, IC mixed a handful of coxed quads into the field of straight quads, and those coxswains show that their steering & motivation are well worth their weight.
 
The Women's Frosh/ Novice 8+ entry of Smeena Gill, Bryanna Mendoza Arias, Marie Nemeth, Ava Connor, Kathe Ebert, Claire Edwards, Emma Rosenthal, Farzaneh Safari and Maisie Sagaas missed out on hardware but finished a respectable sixth behind DIII rival Smith and DI entries from Cornell, Boston College and Colgate. For 6 true walk-on-novices in the lineup, the Fish was their first regatta ever!
 
Not only was the regatta full of successful runs for the IC squad, but we got to enjoy a lot of familiar faces at the course. Alumni onsite included former coaches, current elites, recent grads, and even parents there to cheer on the next generation of rowers. Special gratitude goes out to the fans and parents who have shown up to give support (& snacks!) to our squad.
 
Full results can be viewed HERE.