The University of Rhode Island women’s rowing team traveled to Ridgefield, New Jersey to participate in the Saint Joseph’s University Invitational over the weekend, where the team had multiple first-place finishes.

In the event on Saturday, Rhode Island’s First Varsity 8+ boat placed first in heat one with a time of 6:55.9. In the final, the crew placed first by 10 seconds over second-place Boston College with a time of 6:57.6. Rhode Island’s Second Varsity 8+ placed first in heat one with a time of 7:11.0 and placed first in the final with a time of 7:15.9.

URI’s First Varsity 4+ placed second in the first heat with a time of 8:05.5, and Rhody’s Second Varsity 4+ boat placed second in their heat with a time of 8:24.1.

Participating universities in the event included Saint Joseph’s, George Washington University, the University of Massachusetts, Boston College, Bucknell University and Marist University.

After a day of high placements, Rhode Island Associate Head Coach Jessica Lizzi came away from the event with high regards.

“We were really optimistic about how we performed over the weekend,” Lizzi said. “We had been working on several things that we were able to execute in a race environment against [Atlantic 10 Conference] competition. For us, week to week, we are measuring progress, and we’re trying to check certain boxes, and we were happy to check those boxes this weekend.”

With conference foes among the field, the team had been working on certain skills in order to be well prepared for this event and to build toward the Atlantic 10 Championship on May 17.

“We worked on our racing composure in an environment where we’re racing against our top A-10 competition,” Lizzi said. “We are working on it week by week so that by the time we get to May 17, we’re putting our fastest speed, but I think the most important thing is to stay composed.”

Performances such as these can help show a team what they need to work on and what they flourish at, according to fourth-year Ellie McGee. The event gave Rhode Island a chance to see where they are team-wise.

“It was an awesome weekend to go down to Overpack,” McGee said. “It was one of our first times to really see ourselves go head-to-head with the rest of the A-10 competition, and this is kind of the only time that we really get to see ourselves within those top competitors.”

For Rhode Island, placing well in these events was all about tempo and their own ability, according to McGee. These are the things that the Rams are working on in order to prepare for the A-10 Championship.

“The biggest goal that my boat [the First Varsity 8+] had for this coming race weekend was if we start to get ahead and someone tries to come back on us, we need to say, ‘no way,’ and almost immediately take that seat back,” McGee said. “I think one thing that we executed very well was just racing in an offensive mindset. There’s no defense in rowing.”

This point is something that Rhode Island is looking to take with them for the rest of the season, according to McGee.

“Our coaches say it all the time; you can’t make the other teams go slower, and I think that we came out [of] the gate super hard and sharp,” McGee said. “We have to set the tone from the beginning.”

Looking ahead, the Rams are shifting focus toward their next event in a few weeks.

“I know our coaches always like to say that you never get faster by racing people that are slower than you,” McGee said. “We won’t be racing this weekend, but the following weekend we will be up in Vermont with those teams. Get out hard, set the tone immediately from the first stroke of the race and just continue in that offensive mindset and keep building our speed.”

Rhode Island will continue to build on this event, hoping to get faster every weekend, according to Lizzi.

“Our objective is to continue to get faster, and for us, this is a starting point,” Lizzi said. “It was our second race [of the spring season]. It was better than our first race competition; we’re going to keep working on getting stronger, more flawless execution of our race plan. We still have speed to gain.”

The Rams will be back in action on April 19 as the team travels to Fairlee, Vermont to participate in the Lake Morey Regatta.

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