Racing on the water for the first time this fall season, the University of Rhode Island women’s rowing team traveled to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, to participate in the Head of the Oklahoma on Saturday.
In the Rams’ first event of the year, the team sent one boat and participated in two events. The first, the Women’s Collegiate 8+ 2.5-mile race at 3:10 p.m., saw the team place third with a time of 15:06.520. To cap off the day, the team placed second in the Women’s Open/Collegiate 8+ 500-meter Grand Final at 9:20 p.m. with a time of 1:35.701.
“I was pleased,” URI Head Coach Shelagh Donohoe said. “This is the beginning of our season; it’s our first race. This boat here, they kind of proved that they should be in the boat based on stuff that they did over the summer. I think they went out there, and I think they raced well, and they came home with a medal in each event.”
For Donohoe, this kind of performance is not produced just by work during the season, but it begins in the offseason.
“[The team] worked really hard over the summer, and they came back fit and ready to go in, and I think that showed,” Donohoe said. “There’s a longer race, and then there’s a short 500-meter race under the lights, and [in] both of those they were able to really go out there and be very competitive, and I think that has to do with their fitness level. They’ve also been working hard on the technique of the rowing stroke, and I think they were able to have those two cross, and the results show.”
Fourth-year Bethany Nordstrom raced in the boat’s stroke seat for both events. Nordstrom was praised by Donohoe for her work.
“Bethany leads by example,” Donohoe said. “She’s an incredibly hard worker; every stroke on the water, I know Beth has given her best effort.”
Nordstrom has consistently put in work during training off the water, not just on it.
“Off the water, she’s in here looking at the video,” Donohoe said. “She’s doing her post-rows, [and] she’s the top one on the rowing machine.”
The season has just begun for the URI women’s rowing team, with more events slated in the coming weeks. As these events unfold, the team is focused on the future and preparing for the Atlantic 10 Conference Championship, coming off of the program’s 11th A-10 Championship win last season.
“Our focus doesn’t change depending on the event,” Donohoe said. “The fall, to me, is a matter of really working with the athletes to get them rowing the way I want them to row to work on the fitness level, so come May, when our Atlantic 10 Championship happens, we’re ready to go.”
Coming up next for the Rams, the team will travel to Boston to participate in the Head of the Charles. The event will take place Oct. 18-19.
The post Rowing kicks off fall season with medal finishes in Oklahoma first appeared on The Good 5¢ Cigar.
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