Duke Posts Top-15 Finish at Princeton Chase

10/27/2013 10:49:00 PM | Rowing

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. – The Duke rowing team's A entry placed 13th out of 52 entries in the varsity eight at the Princeton Chase on Carnegie Lake Sunday, marking the program's second straight top-15 finish at the event.

Duke entered three boats among the 52-boat field and placed 13th, 24th and 31st. The A crew of coxswain Caroline Kiritsy, Caroline Williams, Elizabeth Horne, Grace Cassidy, Phoebe Donovan, Tara Dalton, Katie Dukovich, Alex Stonehill and Claire Vannelli clocked a time of 15:16.928 on the three-mile course for Duke's top finish. That group missed a top-10 finish by less than five seconds but still managed to edge the top entry from perennial top-20 program Columbia and the B entry from top-10 program Brown.

"This being our only fall race made the Chase really exciting," senior Grace Cassidy said. "We worked really hard all fall, and this was our one opportunity to see how we compared to other high-caliber teams."

The Blue Devils also placed 24th with their B entry of coxswain Simone Pitre, Allison Beattie, Hannah Hewitt, Emily Hyland, Julie Rohde, Julia Bretz, Lauren Musso, Mary Wilson and Kaila Perez. That group crossed the finish line 15:56.659 and defeated A entries from Georgetown, Texas, MIT, Rhode Island, George Washington and Rutgers.

"It was really so much fun," senior Emily Hyland said. "That gust of wind came, and [coxswain Simone Pitre] didn't even have to say anything. We all just knew to get on the legs. It was so aggressive but still very collected. That moment, and the fact that it just happened without any sort of coxswain call just showed that our boat was all on board and wanted it."

Duke's C entry of coxswain Samantha Bowman, Dana Lerro, Tani O'Neill, Caroline Willis, PJ Kolman, Sophia Staal, Nicole Antoine, Ivonna Dumanyan and Laura Rosas placed 31st with a time of 16:16.245.

"The results show our team is a lot deeper," senior Allison Beattie said. "We beat teams that we weren't able to last year. We're aware that fitness gains are what we need to push ahead. I felt this weekend was promising for the spring, and it was also reassuring that our work and training has been really effective, which produced the confidence and drive we need as we head into our winter training cycle."

The Princeton Chase is Duke's lone regatta of the fall. The Blue Devils begin their spring season March 9 against Tennessee on Melton Lake in Oak Ridge, Tenn.

Princeton Chase

Princeton, N.J. (Carnegie Lake)

Sunday, Oct. 7, 2013

Women's Varsity Eight

Place	Team	Time
1.	Virginia A	14:34.4
2.	Yale A	14:45.1
3.	Princeton A	14:50.9
4.	Virginia C	15:03.6
5.	Virginia B	15:03.7
6.	Princeton C	15:06.0
7.	Brown A	15:07.3
8.	Syracuse A	15:08.3
9.	Dartmouth A	15:11.6
10.	Yale B	15:12.3
11.	Cornell A	15:13.8
12.	Pennsylvania A	15:16.8
13.	Duke A	15:16.9
14.	Brown B	15:20.4
15.	Columbia A	15:25.8
16.	Oregon State A	15:30.3
17.	Dartmouth B	15:30.8
18.	Yale C	15:32.1
19.	Brown C	15:33.0
20.	Princeton B	15:34.1
21.	Syracuse B	15:35.7
22.	Virginia D	15:43.0
23.	Princeton D	15:52.9
24.	Duke B	15:56.7
25.	Georgetown A	16:00.3
26.	Princeton A (LTWT)	16:04.5
27.	Texas A	16:06.4
28.	Texas B	16:10.5
29.	Brown D	16:12.7
30.	Boston University A (LTWT)	16:12.8
31.	Duke C	16:16.2
32.	MIT A	16:16.7
33.	Rhode Island A	16:21.3
34.	Cornell B	16:24.3
35.	Yale D	16:31.3
36.	George Washington A	16:31.8
37.	Columbia B	16:35.8
38.	Princeton E	16:36.2
39.	Pennsylvania C	16:36.9
40.	Rhode Island B	16:38.2
41.	Pennsylvania B	16:39.1
42.	George Washington B	16:41.5
43.	Rutgers A	16:43.8
44.	Cornell C	16:50.6
45.	Georgetown B	16:51.8
46.	Dartmouth C	16:52.3
47.	Boston University B (LTWT)	17:04.7
48.	MIT B	17:06.3
49.	Pennsylvania D	17:07.6
50.	Fordham A (LTWT)	17:10.1
51.	Rutgers B	17:29.8
52.	George Washington C	17:36.8