Morning Race Results | Afternoon Race

The William Smith College rowing team capped its fall racing season on Saturday with three medal-winning performances at the Head of the Fish regatta on Fish Creek in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. The Heron varsity four led the way by capturing a gold medal, while the varsity eight and novice four both earned bronze medals.

In the collegiate varsity four race, Katie Lehmann, Katie Paige, Sinead Reilly, Lauren Blake-Whitney, and Libby Hughes posted a winning time of 14:19.87, enjoying a 27.92-second margin of victory over second place Williams. William Smith's second varsity four was 10th out of 30 entries with a time of 15:30.81.

"I thought both varsity fours looked very good today," Head Coach Sandra Chu said. "Both were much more level and long than they were in the morning. Instead of fighting with the headwind, they used it to have a stronger connection to the water and then powered through. The A four came out blazing, passed six crews and propelled themselves to the top of the podium."

In the morning's collegiate eights event, Susan Tuvell, Paige, Grace Hutton, Blake-Whitney, Reilly, Alyssa Trebilcock, Hughes, Catherine Wolf-Rodda, and Morgan Burgess faced strong head winds that created chop on the course that disrupted the rhythm and speed of crews. Division I UMass took the gold medal with a time of 13:08.37. Wesleyan was second in 13:23.85 followed by William Smith in 13:32.49. Division I Syracuse was fourth, 4.93 seconds behind the Herons. There were 19 entries in the collegiate eights.

William Smith's second bronze medal also came in the morning. in the collegiate novice fours, Macy Howarth, Nina Prescott, Hannah Novak, Margaret Cameron, and Nora Burd put together a strong effort, trailing only the Minutewomen's A and B crews. The Herons crossed the finish line in 17:32.53, more than 26 seconds behind UMass B. The Ephs were fourth in 17:54.11.

"This was a very speedy four," Chu said. "Coach Lindsey Hochman prepared them well and they did a great job having only rowed their line-up once in practice."

The William Smith second varsity eight took seventh place out of 12 crews in the collegiate JV eights with a time of 15:01.2, 0.61 seconds ahead of eighth place Ithaca. Williams won the event in 13:52.04.

The Herons also entered two crews in the 28-boat collegiate novice eights. William Smith A was seventh in 15:15.52 while William Smith B took 11th in 16:22.76. UMass captured the gold in 14:07.64.

This is the fourth straight season that William Smith has earned a medal at the Head of the Fish and the first time in the past four seasons the Herons have earned three medals.