No. 2 Women’s Rowing Grabs Four Medals at 2023 FIRA Championships

4/1/2023 9:21:00 PM | By: Kyrin Mayfield | @k_mayfield97

Results
SARASOTA, Fla. - The No. 2 Embry-Riddle women's rowing team hauled in some hardware on Saturday, earning one gold and three silver medals at the 2023 Florida Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships to place second with 62 points. The two-time defending champions were edged by Rollins as the Tars collected 70 points, but the Blue and Gold did beat Florida, Barry, Stetson, Florida Tech, Tampa and Florida State. All races were held at Nathan Benderson Park.

ERAU started strong with two runner-up finishes in the morning.

The DII Four boat of Alexis Mathis (coxswain), Veronika Zdrazil, Reagan Hurt, Alexandria Fife-Winslow, and Kristen Vigna easily bested Sunshine State Conference foes No. 7 Rollins (8:04.07) and No. 8 Barry (8:18.63) with a 7:53.18, but finished behind No. 6 Central Oklahoma by 13 seconds.

Then the Varsity 8 boat of Megan Byrne (coxswain), Shelby Ernst, Kendra Sander, Elise Dezotell, Sofia Lorenzini, Aria Moses, Alexandra Weilert, Soleil Edwards, and Helena Schmidt was edged by UCO by five seconds with a time of 6:53.39 but placed ahead of the Tars and Buccaneers among others. It was a season-best time by a Blue and Gold Eight boat.

For the first time this season, Embry-Riddle competed in the pair as Alexandria Fife-Winslow and Briella Goldenberg rowed the length of the course in 8:20.12 for a fifth-place result.

The Eagles' gold medal performance came in JV Fours as Mathis (coxswain), Caterina Hart, Danielle DelGrippo, Briella Goldenberg, and Zdrazil won by 30 seconds over Rollins and 41 seconds over Stetson with a 7:45.12.

ERAU had a two more boats lined up for the afternoon competition. Byrne (coxswain), Weilert, Moses, Schmidt and Edwards crossed the finish second with a 7:55.58 in Varsity 4 "B", seven seconds away from Stetson, but 41 ticks ahead of Florida. A medal was only awarded to first because the race consisted of less than four boats.

Lastly, Byrne (coxswain), Lorenzini, Dezotell, Sander and Ernst picked up yet another silver medal for their second-place showing in the eight-boat Varsity 4 field. The Eagles clocked in at 7:38.16, the fastest time set by an Eagles' Four boat in 2023.

Championship season continues with the Southern Intercollegiate Rowing Association (SIRA) Championships from April 15-16 in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. All races will be held on Melton Hill Lake.

Print Friendly Version

Related Videos

Related Stories