The Ivy League women’s rowing division was full of fierce competition, with seven of the eight teams listed in the top 25 Division I Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association weekly poll. This weekend’s Ivy League Championship in Pennsauken, New Jersey, saw the women’s rowing team compete against some of the best teams in the nation.
The competition started on Saturday afternoon with the Red competing in five heats — the Varsity Four B, Varsity Eight, 2V8, 3V8 and the Varsity Four. Each of the boats was able to place in fourth, allowing the Red to advance to the finals.
In the petite finals on Sunday, the Red were able to place second in five of the six races it competed in. The Red were close to beating Columbia University’s 1V8 as the margin between the two teams was 04.624 seconds. The Varsity Four B also competed well against Dartmouth College with the race decided by 06.687 seconds.
Junior Isabella Capelli competed in the 1V8 boat and said that although the team “did not achieve the results” they wanted, it will only fuel them next season as they will continue to “strive for better results year after year.”
While the Red were not able to qualify for the National Collegiate Athletics Association Championship, six teams from the Ivy League — Brown University, Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, Dartmouth, Princeton University and Yale University — will compete at the finals. Last year, half of the Ivy League Conference earned top 10 finishes at the NCAA Championship.
“Ivys is always a tough race, as we race some of the top crews from the nation,” Capelli said.
While the team will lose eight seniors to graduation, it is still relatively young with 12 freshmen.
Capelli and junior Josie Moskovitz will serve as next year's captains. Capelli highlighted that next year’s goal is to strive for faster times and have fun.
“We have a great team culture and I want that to continue as we prepare for another season,” Capelli said. “I would love to see us in the Grand Final at Ivy Championships next year, and to do that, we want to qualify as the sixth or seventh seed heading into the regatta.”
Zeinab Faraj is a member of the class of 2028 in the College of Arts and Sciences. She is the feature editor on the 143rd Editorial Board and was the assistant sports editor of the 143rd Editorial Board. You can reach her at zfaraj@cornellsun.com.
