The Notre Dame rowing team competed at the Big Ten Invitational last weekend in Sarasota, Florida. The event featured some of the top teams in the nation, including Big Ten programs and others from beyond the conference. In total, nine top 25 programs competed: No. 3 Washington, No. 6 Tennessee, No. 9 Rutgers, No. 11 Penn, No. 12 Michigan, No. 17 Oregon State, No. 18 Harvard, No. 21 Indiana and No. 24 Southern Cal.
Following a very competitive meet in San Diego to conclude the month of March, the Big Ten Invitational was yet another uphill battle that the Irish did well to navigate.
Notre Dame's Third Varsity Four of freshman Marie Golden, freshman Riley Clavi, sophomore Rory Klocke, sophomore Lilly Keegan and sophomore coxswain Joyce Kang performed very well on Friday. The crew finished second in flight one with a time of 7:50.530, placing one spot shy of Michigan and one ahead of Southern Cal.
Notre Dame's Third Varsity Eight also posted impressive times. On early Friday afternoon, the team took second in a six-team heat, beating out UCLA, Duke, Indiana and SMU. In Saturday's final, they finished second, only 1.51 seconds behind Southern Cal in one of the closest heats of the invitational.
Graduate Christina Spira, sophomore Christina Henning, junior Maeve McMahon, freshman Caroline Logan, sophomore Reyna Lewis, freshman Elle Kilgannon and senior coxswain Grace Collins competed on both days for the Third Varsity Eight squad. Meanwhile, junior Grace Taylor competed solely on Friday while freshman Lauren O’Grady and sophomore Madison Naman filled in on Saturday.
Notre Dame's Second Varsity Eight found similar success. The crew finished in second place in Saturday's final race with a time of 6:50.635, just enough to edge out nearby UCLA, Miami and Minnesota. Their best time of the weekend, however, came on Friday afternoon. The crew powered their way to the finish line in 6:43.144. Despite the swift time, they finished fourth in a heat where the first and sixth placed teams were separated by less than four seconds.
The Second Varsity Eight team consisted of freshman Caroline Johnson, sophomore Lily Smith, sophomore Scarlett Quinn, freshman Nora Barth, freshman Reece McNutt, junior Julia Clavi, sophomore Courtney French, sophomore Maya Fister and sophomore coxswain Margaret Abbott.
In total, the Irish fielded seven boats. Led by longtime head coach Martin Stone, the team will look to build upon its success on April 26 as they head south to Bloomington for a meet against Indiana and Michigan State. They will conclude their season from May 16-17 at the ACC Championship in Clemson, South Carolina.
