DELAND, Fla. – The Embry-Riddle women's rowing team took part in the Hatter Invitational on Saturday, competing against boats from Stetson, Nova Southeastern, and Barry. The Varsity Eights and Varsity Fours raced in 3200m time trials and the Varsity Eight boats also competed in 1000m sprints.
 
"Thanks to Stetson for putting this event together," Director of Rowing Jamie Francis said. "It's a good way to see where we are against our local Division I competition as well as the strong Division II opponents from South Florida. Our team performed well today although we still have a lot of work to do between now and the spring season. We'll spend the next couple of weeks getting ready for Head of the South and then refocus on spring racing."
 
The fours were the first to compete, where ERAU's "A" boat of Megan Byrne, Bethany Thompson, Sofia Lorenzini, Gwendolyn Powell, and Kaya Treder completed the 3200m course in 12:35.7, placing second to Barry's "A" boat by only 3.5 seconds. The Eagle "B" boat of Maricarin Minnock, Helen Carey, Helena Schmidt, Becca McBride, and Veronika Zdrazil was seventh in 13:46.8, while the Blue and Gold's "C" boat of Kathryn Chilelli, Margaret Wathen, Tracey Loeffler, Naomi Brooks, and Lauren Stollenwerk took 10th with a time of 13:56.2.
 
The eights took to the 3200m course next, and the Eagle "A" boat of Minnock, Thompson, Treder, Powell, Lorenzini, Carey, Schmidt, Rachel Hemsworth, and Zdrazil was third overall with a time of 12:04.5, just three-tenths of a second behind Stetson's "A" boat and 31.4 seconds behind Barry's "A" boat. The ERAU "B" boat of Margaret Pisacano, Alina Gagliola, Samantha Fank, Alyssa Crystal, McBride, Grace Burns, Rylan Randolph, Julianna Snider, and Mackenzie Cunningham finished ninth in 13:46.1.
 
Following the 3200m time trial, the eights were paired up to compete in 1000m sprint races. In the sprints, the Eagles won both races they competed in as ERAU's "A" boat defeated Nova Southeastern's "A" boat by 8.63 seconds, while the Embry-Riddle "B" boat crossed the line 6.96 seconds before NSU'S "C" boat. 
 
The Eagles return to action at the Head of the South in Augusta, Georgia on Nov. 9, which will wrap up the fall portion of the 2019-20 season.