Rowing Ends Fall with Successful Rivanna Romp

Sunday, November 13

Charlottesville, Va.

All Day

Duke University

Rivanna Romp

Rowing Ends Fall with Successful Rivanna Romp

11/13/2016 4:19:00 PM | Rowing

By: Duke Sports Information

EARLYSVILLE, Va. – The Duke rowing team concluded its fall season with a pair of second-place finishes from its top two boats and three more top-eight performances at the Rivanna Romp Sunday morning on the Rivanna Reservoir. The regatta featured crews from Clemson, Columbia, Louisville, Penn and host Virginia.

"Today was a good day for Duke,” head coach Megan Cooke Carcagno said. “Of course we want to be closer to UVA, especially in the first 2k of the race. That's the only part I wish we had done slightly better. I think we are in a great spot heading into winter training. Now each member of our team will have to decide, 'Do I want to be OK?' or, 'Do I want to be great -- like top-10 team kind of great.'

“Today showed us we can do it. We are in a position to be top 10, but we will have to continue to improve to actually do that by May.”

In the V8 race, Duke took second to Virginia's crew with a time of 13:20.1 in the 19-boat race. The Blue Devils were guided by Meagan Lew, Megan Conroy, Sophie Simister, Isabel Ruby-Hill, Jessica Findlay, Shannon Tierney, Phoebe Donovan, Katherine Maitland and Elizabeth Horne. Duke held second at the 2,000-meter mark and kept the position during the last 2,000 meters, holding off the Cavaliers' hard-charging second V8 crew.

The Blue Devils' second V8 also turned in a strong showing with a sixth-place finish with a time of 13:40.3, finishing two slots above their seed entering the race. Duke's third V8 came in 17th (14.26.2).

The Blue Devils' top V4 boat of Lew, Ruby-Hill, Findlay, Horne and Tierney also placed second, completing the course in 14:52.7. Duke's second V4 also earned a top-six finish by checking in sixth with a time of 15:08.6. The program's third V4 rounded out the top-eight performances, coming in eighth in 15:23.8.

The program's fourth V4 claimed 21st overall (15:54.0) while the fifth V4 took 24th (16:15.1).

Duke's Novice 8 completed the Blue Devils' day with a fourth-place finish (15:37.2) among the nine boats.

“I'm proud of our novices getting better and our team's effort to support each other today,” Cooke Carcagno added. “I would add a tremendous thanks to Virginia for hosting and putting on such a great event. Also thanks to Penn, Columbia, Clemson and Louisville. Those are such great teams to spend a day with.”

Duke now enters its winter break session and will return to the water March 18 for the Carolina Cup scrimmage in Clemson, S.C.

Duke Lineups
V8 (A) - Meagan Lew, Megan Conroy, Sophie Simister, Isabel Ruby-Hill, Jessica Findlay, Shannon Tierney, Phoebe Donovan, Katherine Maitland, Elizabeth Horne
V8 (B) - Karly Pearson, Lelia Boley, Karley Whelan, Sarah Fletcher, Kiernan Spencer, Celia Macrae, Julia Weber, Olivia Mendonca, Marissa Donadio
V8 (C) - Tara Fagan, Madison Brown, Tani O'Neill, Grace Garverick, Abby Artmann, Tara Christensen, Rhea Bergman, Taji Phillips, Caroline Willis
V4 (A) - Meagan Lew, Isabel Ruby-Hill, Jessica Findlay, Elizabeth Horne, Shannon Tierney
V4 (B) - Karly Pearson, Katherine Maitland, Olivia Mendonca, Megan Conroy, Phoebe Donovan
V4 (C) - Tara Fagan, Lelia Boley, Karley Whelan, Sophie Simister, Kiernan Spencer
V4 (D) - Katherine Bandeen, Celia Macrae, Julia Weber, Sarah Fletcher, Marissa Donadio
V4 (E) - Rani Duff, D'amy Steward, Bella Miller, Sara Varsames, Anna Jenkins
N8 – Jiahui Liao, Cassie Ingram, Isabel Ruffin, Amelia Windemuth, Kiamya Philson, Katherine Guo, Lisa Regula, Danielle Lodge, Alexa Campbell