ITHACA, N.Y. – Along with the men's program, the Ithaca College women's rowing program hosted their opening regatta of the spring on Saturday, March 29 on the Cayuga Inlet.  With temperatures in the 40's and wind building throughout the morning, crews lined up against New York State rivals from Hamilton and Hobart & William Smith.  
 
On the women's side, teams traded results. The largest margins of the day came in the opening 3V event, where Hamilton & William Smith took advantage of some first-half nerves to pull away from the young IC lineup. The Bombers settled in and narrowed the gap through the second thousand of the race but were unable to reel their rivals back in putting together a time of 7:43.8.
 
In the 2V, Ithaca led off the start but faced a serious threat from William Smith after the dogleg at the 1k marker. With Hamilton hanging just one length off the pace, William Smith and Ithaca matched bow-to-bow until the 1600m mark when IC shifted gears and pulled off a sprint that earned a four second lead over the Herons. The Bomber lineup from cox-to-bow was Kaelyn Morandi, Anna Capodilupo, Emma Thorne, Claire Edwards, Emmeline Robinson, Calla Bobak, Carys Owen, Hope Oliveira and Julia DiCostanzo.
 
The 1V event followed a similar race profile with William Smith leading IC by one-two seats through the first three quarters of the piece. While both crews built a margin over Hamilton, their fight burned hard with ratings remaining high throughout.  In the final 500, Caroline Hoskins prodded the crew of Lily Babcock, Emma Hammel, Maggie Farber, Zoe Paradis Stern, Kai Lincke, Ashley Bailey, Samantha Gallagher and Beth Roberts to make their move.  With 200m remaining and the Bombers sitting on their rivals' bow, the Herons were slowed by an overhead crab allowing IC to run off with the win. These crews will be hungry for a rematch by the time the Liberty League Championships roll around. 
 
The day finished with a two-boat race between Hamilton & Ithaca in the 4+. IC sent a full lineup of walk-on novices to face the Continentals. Hamilton took the race by seven seconds, but according to head coach Beth Greene, the Bombers expect a lot of growth from Cameron Silberman, Bryanna Mendoza Arias, Maise Sagaas, Ava Connor and Marie Nemeth and are very proud of their debut spring effort.
 
Today's racing can be viewed in full thanks to the efforts of students from Ithaca's Park School of Communications. Their excellent drone coverage, waterfront reporting (enhanced by full commentary by IC Rowing fan-favorite Dan Robinson) can be viewed here.
 
Tune in again next week as the Bombers host RIT, Rochester, Marietta, Williams, and William Smith for the seniors' final race on home water.