SCHUYLKILL RIVER, PA - The Iona College rowing programs competed on the second day at the Dad Vail Regatta on Saturday in Philadelphia. For only the second time in women's program history the Gaels medalled with the freshman/novice four taking home a bronze medal.

The Iona rowing program graduates six seniors, all of whom had a significant impact on the success of the teams in recent years.  All of them have served as captains at some point or another in their careers.  The success the team has in the coming years also belong to these seniors: Francis Acolitse, MaryGrace Fernandez, Noelle Heffernan, Erin O'Brien, John Swanson, Jacob Tivnan

MEN'S RACE SUMMARY

The men's pair opened racing on Saturday morning with a second place finish in the 2nd final which is good for 8th overall in the 12 boat field. We expected an appearance in the grand final and a shot at the medals considering the talent in the crew but in sports you have to expect the unexpected.
 
That couldn't ring more true than in the grand final of the men's lightweight four which ended in heartbreaking fashion. The Gaels were seeded as one of the favorites going in and lived up to that seeding in the race for lanes the day before. However, during the grand-final, miscommunication between the officials and the members of the Iona crew resulted in the boat steering significantly off course in the first 600 meters of the race. Lightweight racing can be some of the tightest and most competitive racing of any regatta and an error like that is nearly impossible to overcome at this level. The men finished an unsatisfying 4th ahead of only Fairfield, five seconds out of the medals.

WOMEN'S RACE SUMMARY

Meanwhile the three women 's crews wrapped up their season with solid results, including an historic finish in the freshman/novice four.
 
The crew of Grace Barber, Grace Mutze, Anna Meehan, Layne McDonald, coxed by Cara Donnelly navigated 19 other crews through heats and semis and cashed in big in the grand final by winning the bronze medal. Lafayette won the event by a convincing 3.9 seconds but it wasn't obvious heading into the final that any one team had an edge over the others as the heats and semis proved that anyone of the six in the grand final could've won. The Gaels relied on an aggressive game plan which put them right within striking distance in the closing 400m of the race battling with Wisconsin and Rollins for the silver and bronze medals.  Wisconsin crossed the line behind Lafayette in second place with Iona coming in .8 seconds later just barely ahead the crew from Rollins who finished 4th just .4 behind the Gaels. Iona raced Rollins head to head twice the day before and came up short both times so in order to win the medal it required true grit and courage to overcome a talented Rollins crew.
 
This women's crew becomes just the 2nd all time at Iona to win a medal at the Dad Vail, and it's the first time since 1992 when Judy McGuire and Rachel Valentino won the inaugural women's pair event.

FINAL RESULTS

Men's Pair Final 2

7:09 Rollins
7:13 Iona
7:33 Grand Valley
7:56 George Washington
8:05 Jacksonville

Women's Varsity Four Final 2

7:49 UConn
7:50 Manhattan
8:04 Iona
8:06 Milwaukee School of Engineering
8:41 Manhattan
9:04 Cabrini

Women's Varstiy 4 Final

7:18 Princeton
7:30 UConn
7:34 Manhattan
7:40 Iona
7:51 Merrimac
8:38 West Point 

Women's Frosh/Novice Four Grand Final

7:36 Lafayette
7:40.0 Wisconsin
7:40.8 Iona
7:41.2 Rollins
7:46 Georgia Tech
7:55 Colorado

Men's Lightweight Four Grand Final

6:30 Mercyhurst
6:32 La Salle
6:35 Fordham
6:40 Iona
6:43 Fairfield

Up Next

The Men's Lightweight Four awaits a formal invite to the IRA National Championship Regatta to be held June 3-5 at Mercer Lake.