GOLD RIVER, CA — The Williams College women's crew team came up a bit short in its bid for a 10th national title Saturday, placing third overall in the team standings at the 2016 NCAA Women's Rowing Championships at the Sacramento State Aquatic Center on Lake Natoma.
In the final team standings, which combine the results from the II Eight Grand Final and the I Eight Grand Final, Wellelsey College earned the national championship with 40 points. Bates was second with 36 and the Ephs right behind in third with 35. Pacific Lutheran was fourth with 27 points.
In the I Eight Grand Finale, the Ephs got off to a quick start early and were seat-for-seat with Wellelsey and the crew from conference rival Wesleyan. As the boats past the breakage zone, the Cardinals took about a seat lead of the Ephs and Blue. By the time the boats approached the 300-meter mark, Wellelsey had captured the lead with Williams and Wesleyan separated about about a foot.
The Blue increased their lead over both rival boats to four seats by the 500-meter mark, at that point hitting their optimim work rate for race at 33 strokes per minute. By the 750-meter mark, Wellesley had upped its lead to to six seats, with the Cardinals about six feet in front of the Ephs.
Wellelsey stayed strong and consistent throughout the race, and at the halfway mark had about a 3/4 boat length lead over the Ephs, who had taken over second from the Cardinals by about a two-foot margin.
The Williams eight of Louisa Abel, Anne Tewksbury, Sophia Jannetty, Emory Strawn, Gabrielle Markel,Eileen Russell, Roberta Miller, Clara Beery, and Katharine Costantini realized time was growing long and distance short, and they made a move down the stretch.
With about 500 meters to go in the race, the Ephs climbed as close as eight seats to the leaders, and even with 300 meters left appeard to be gaining on the Blue. In the meantime Wesleyan was going for it as well, making the finish very dramatic, with Wellelsey winning the race by a 1.4 second margin over Williams and the Ephs holding off Wesleyan by four-tenths of a second.
The final times for the race were Wellelsey with 6:46.1, Williams with 6:47.4 and Wesleyan with 6:47.8.
Earlier in the II Eight Grand Final, it was Bates who got off to a strong start and never looked back, leading the race from start to finish and finishing with a time of 6:50.927. Wellelsey's second boat was in second with a time of 6:59.315 while the Ephs' eight of Ava Palmo, Mikhayla Armstrong, Caroline Kessler, Emily Burch, Rebecca Smith, Beatriz Lopez, Diana Matthiessen, Gemma Holt, and Merritt Harlan came in third with a time of 7:06.509.
