The University of Rhode Island women’s rowing team had three entries in the Women’s Open 8+ at the Princeton Chase on Sunday, placing 25th, 47th and 64th in a 65-boat field.
Held at Carnegie Lake, the three-mile regatta hosted some of the top collegiate rowing programs. The field was highlighted by the host school, Princeton University, who finished fourth in last year’s NCAA Championships.
“It’s always good to get your eyes on that and it’s always good to race against that to know exactly where you are,” Rhode Island Head Coach Shelagh Donohoe said. “I think it also opens up everybody’s eyes on, if you think you got speed, look what Princeton does.”
Fourth-year captain Ellie McGee has led boats this fall against opponents ranking from top collegiate programs up to Olympic-level competition.
“Our coaching staff does really love to put us into races that are going to challenge us,” McGee said. “Even though we know that we might not win going into it, it’s really awesome for us to be able to race against really fast crews, because that is what’s going to help make our speed faster.”
Rhode Island’s top finishing boat was coxed by McGee. The defending Atlantic 10 champions came into the weekend hoping to best several conference opponents competing at the regatta. McGee’s boat beat the University of Massachusetts Amherst’s First Varsity 8+, but fell short of George Washington University’s top boat.
Third-year coxswain Evelyn Tabor led Rhody’s Second Varsity 8+, which placed 47th. The boat finished ahead of both of their conference opponents – UMass’s Second Varsity 8+ placed 51st and George Washington’s finished 55th.
Rhody’s Third Varsity 8+ entry, led by third-year Olivia Moretti, was their youngest and least experienced group. Three first-year athletes were on board as the boat came in second-to-last, beating out Temple University’s third group after recovering from a collision earlier in the race.
“We had a couple of rowers who just started this fall who raced, who never picked up an oar before they got here,” Donohoe said. “For them, it was quite the experience… I have a lot of young, really talented athletes and they’re really starting to pick up rowing.”
Fall continues to be focused less on results, and more on development for the rowing team, according to Donohoe.
“I kind of compare us against us right now,” Donohoe said. “We graduated quite a few people last year. So right now in the fall, for me, I look at it as developing these younger rowers.”
Donohoe hopes to finish strong for the final regatta of the fall slate on Saturday.
“I want to do better than what we did at the Princeton Chase,” Donohoe said. “I want to go out there and get closer to the schools that we raced last weekend.”
Traveling to Boston, the Foot of the Charles course is expected to be challenging.
“That’s a really fun race, especially for coxswains,” McGee said. “It’s pretty difficult to manage those turns. It’s really our responsibility to steer the best line so I’m excited for that one.”
URI will take on Northeastern University and Boston University, among other schools. Both schools finished just above the Rams at the NCAA Championships last year.
“It will be a really fun experience for us to kind of see where we’re at in relation to them,” McGee said.
Donohoe is looking for the team to have a consistent race to close out the fall.
“I feel like last weekend for half the race, we were really able to do what we had been practicing, but it wasn’t for the full race,” Donohoe said. “I want to go out from start to finish, be able to really execute what we’ve been practicing, and be able to leave the fall season with that under our belts.”
Rhode Island will finish their fall schedule with the Foot of the Charles regatta on Saturday. All eyes will then turn to the spring championship season as the Rams look to defend their A-10 championship and improve upon their 20th-place finish at the NCAA Championships in 2023.