April 10, 2010

Rowing Dominates Opening Day At The Knecht Cup

CAMDEN, NJ – The University at Buffalo rowing team won nine of its 11 races on Saturday at the Knecht Cup, placing six of its seven boats in Sunday's Grand Finals. In addition to UB's nine first-place finishes, it also had a second-place finish and one third-place finish.

The Bulls, who picked up 10 votes in the latest national poll, had multiple impressive performances on the day. UB's Varsity Eight boat of coxswain Alison Sheehan, Kate Garofalo, Sasha Bailey, Tara Rudkowski, Francisca Nwoke, Alana Sharpe, Brittany Ronald, Sam Masucci and Cathleen Streicher won their opening heat in 6:46.2, the fastest time in their heat by more than 10 seconds. The Bulls shaved 10 seconds off their opening heat total in the semifinals with a time of 6:36.72, wining their heat by six seconds over Boston College. The Bulls had the second fastest time of all 18 boats in the semifinals, trailing Duke by less than six-tenths of a second. The Bulls will be in the grand final tomorrow afternoon against Drexel, Duke, Temple, Boston College and Rutgers.

Buffalo's Second Varsity Eight also had a pair of first-place finishes as they cruised to an appearance in tomorrow's grand final. The boat of coxswain Kate Evely, Rosa Kemp, Dakota Smith, Lindsay DiCosimo,Alexandra Condon, Ashley Hanhurst, Shannon David, Jacklyn Postulka and Danielle Carlino clocked in with the best time in the opening heats, winning at 6:52.69, almost four seconds better than any of the other 18 boats in the race. The Bulls would also have the top time in the semifinals at 6:55.17, winning their heat by almost 10 seconds. The Bulls will face Drexel, Temple, UMass, Duke and Rutgers in tomorrow's final.

Also picking up a pair of wins on Saturday was the Novice Eight boat of coxswain Kara Buchheit, Melissa James, Kylie Lewis, Lauren Benz, Deborah Garth, Bethany Cross,Jamie Varbie, Elizabeth Murphy and Katelynn Hentz. The Bulls won their opening heat in 7:01.21, the second fastest time of any boat in the race. The Bulls raced even faster in the semifinals as they clocked in at 6:56.54, winning their heat by less than a second over CAA foe, Delaware. The Bulls will be in tomorrow's final with Delaware, West Virginia, Wisconsin, UMass and UConn.

Buffalo also got successful results from its Varsity Four and Second Varsity Four boats, which will both be in the finals tomorrow. The Varsity Four boat won its opening heat in 7:56.95 and finished second in its semifinal heat clocking in at 7:44.51, less than a second behind Villanova, who finished first. The Bulls will meet Villanova in tomorrow's final as well as Colgate, Lafayette, Miami and West Virginia. UB's Second Varsity Four boat won its only race of the day on the way to tomorrow's final. The Bulls finished in 7:55.79, the only boat to finish on the day in less than eight minutes. In the finals, UB will meet Fairfield, Colgate, UMass, Fordham and Loyola. The Novice Four boat also had a first-place finish in the opening heat at 8:30.77 and then finished third in the semifinals as they will head to tomorrow's petite final.

UB's nationally-ranked lightweight program, which is a school-best eighth in the country, was not in action today, but will be one of six boats in tomorrow's Lightweight Eight final. Joining the Bulls tomorrow will be Lafayette, UMass, MIT and two boats from Wisconsin. Tomorrow's action gets underway at 7:00 am. UB's first race will begin at 8:50 am.