Women’s Rowing Wins FIRA Championship for Second Straight Year

4/2/2022 4:01:00 PM | By: Kyrin Mayfield | k_mayfield97

SARASOTA, Fla. - After winning the program's first Florida Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championship in 2021, the Embry-Riddle women's rowing team repeated as champions on Saturday. The Eagles won four of the seven races they participated in to earn a total of 80 points, 23 ahead of second-place Florida (57). The competition was held at Nathan Benderson Park, a venue that also hosts the Sunshine State Conference Championship and the NCAA Division II Championship.

The action began early in the morning with an 8:12 a.m. start time for the Division II Varsity 4 race. Right away, the Eagles grabbed their first victory with Lauren Enders (coxswain), Gwendolyn Powell, Kristen Vigna, Alexandra Weilert, and Alexandria Fife-Winslow finishing with a time of 7:33.58 to win by 19 seconds and beat a trio of ranked competitors.

In the Varsity 8 race, Megan Byrne (coxswain), Helen Carey, Elise Dezotell, Shelby Ernst, Sofia Lorenzini, Kendra Sander, Helena Schmidt, Bethany Thompson, and Veronika Zdrazil powered the Embry-Riddle boat to a second-place finish (6:44.55), just 1.6 seconds behind No. 3 Barry. However, the Eagles did finish ahead of No. 6 Seattle Pacific, No. 8 Florida Tech, Florida, and Florida State.

The Eagles' JV 8 boat (Danielle DelGrippo, Caterina Hart, Tracey Loeffler, Courtney Louderback [coxswain], Powell, Rylan Randolph, Vigna, Fife-Winslow, and Weilert) capped off the morning session with a 32-second win over Florida on a time of 7:22.64, a program record for that division.

Racing resumed in the afternoon with the JV 4 event. DelGrippo, Hart, Loeffler, Louderback (coxswain), and Randolph recorded a runner-up finish.

Then in the Freshman/Novice 4 race, DelGrippo, Hart, Louderback (coxswain), Weilert, and Fife-Winslow made it three victories in five events for the women with a winning time of 7:54.60, six seconds ahead of second place.

Helen Carey, Dezotell, Lauren Enders (coxswain), Sander, and Zdrazil brought the Varsity 4 'B' boat home for a second-place showing at 7:48.27.

Embry-Riddle closed out the competition with a convincing win in Varsity 4. Byrne, Ernst, Lorenzini, Schmidt, and Thompson rowed a 7:30.20 to finish first in the eight-boat field by nine seconds.

The Eagles move from FIRA to SIRA as Embry-Riddle heads to Oak Ridge, Tennessee, for the Southern Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships on April 15.

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