The Notre Dame rowing team posted its best performance of the season on Saturday at the Dale England Cup, hosted by No. 18 Indiana. The Irish brought 50 athletes and seven boats to the meet, posting three wins throughout the day.
The Cup’s scoring system awarded 18 points to the varsity eight winner, 12 points to the second varsity eight winning squad and six points to the varsity four winner. The Cup also gave half the points to the runners-up in each race.
The third varsity eight showed off Notre Dame’s immense depth, giving head coach Martin Stone a good problem: an overflow of talent. The third varsity eight composed of sophomore Christina Henning, freshman Lauren O’Grady, junior Maeve McMahon, freshman Caroline Logan, sophomore Scarlett Quinn, freshman Elle Kilgannon, sophomore Reyna Lewis, sophomore Grace Hartzell and senior coxswain Grace Collins finished in 7:44.6. The time was 21 seconds ahead of second-place Michigan State, and it was just a few seconds behind the first and second varsity eight boats. They raced a 7:41.67 and 7:42.3, respectively.
Additionally, the Irish won both the second and third varsity four meets. Junior Grace Taylor, sophomore Anna Kahl, senior Victoria Gordon-Brown, junior Morgan Rice and coxswain sophomore Joyce Kang dashed to an 8:38.4 finish in the second varsity four heat. Freshman Marie Golden along with sophomores Sara Louser, Madison Naman, Lilly Keegan and coxswain Lily Fratantonio were not too far behind, clocking an 8:38.9 in the third varsity four heat.
Although the Irish fell short to a highly-touted Indiana team in the overall standings, the third-boat results were not factored into the final cup standings. Had they been, Notre Dame likely would have notched the cup outright.
Despite early morning wind gusts peaking at 30 miles per hour, Stone’s team strung together another solid performance. As a collective unit and under head coach Stone, Notre Dame has one of the best young units in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and the makings to turn some heads within the conference come May 16.
