RIDGEFIELD, NJ - The Iona College men's and women's rowing teams made the short trip over the George Washington Bridge to Overpeck County Park for an afternoon of racing against the men and women of Skidmore College, Stockton University, and the women's team from Manhattan College. 

The Gaels rowed in a variety of boat classes over seven events and came away victorious in three of them; men's varsity eight, men's varsity four, women's novice four.  The weather over four hours of racing varied from sunny, rain, hail, flat water, and rough water.  A steady 5-10mph tailwind persisted throughout the day.

Men's Results

The varsity eight kicked off the action with a decisive win clocking 6:37.4 over Skidmore (7:02.1) and Stockton (7:12.1).  In the varsity four event the Gaels fielded both a lightweight and a heavyweight four.  The Lightweights took the win in 7:04.9 while the heavies came in second (7:19.8).  Rounding out the field was Stockton (7:46.1) and Skidmore (7:53.9).  In both events the Gaels pulled away to a comfortable lead very early in the race.

Women's results

In the varsity eight it was Skidmore (7:21.3) who pulled away from the field by the halfway mark leaving Iona, Manhattan, and Stockton in a tight battle to determine 2nd through 4th.  Iona was in the 4th position by the time the race moved into the third 500 but they steadily moved their way into third and even challenged Manhattan for 2nd place.  Manhattan finished behind Skidmore in 7:35.7 followed closely by Iona (7:38.6) then Stockton (7:41.4).

The varsity four encountered the worst weather of the day experiencing hail and a stiff cross wind. The Gaels found themselves in a battle with Stockton rowing with the upper hand for most of the race until Stockton closed in and put the Gaels in their wake by eight seconds.  Skidmore finished in 8:46.5, followed by Manhattan in 9:03.2.  Stockton was third in 9:20.8 and Iona fourth in 9:28.7.

UP NEXT

The men's lightweight four will be back at Overpeck on April 2nd for the National Lightweight Invitational Regatta where they will go head to head down the course with Harvard University and then again with Delaware and Cal.  The rest of the team will be back in action the following weekend at the Knecht Cup on the Cooper River.

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