Marietta women's Varsity Four wins gold at Knecht Cup
Lady Pioneers take home first medal since Varsity Eight placed second in 2005

Apr. 14, 2007
CAMDEN, N.J. — Saturday (Apr. 14) marked the third straight year that the Marietta College women's rowing program competed in the Knecht Cup, which takes place on the Cooper River. The Lady Pioneers' Varsity Four achieved a first for the school as it returned home with a gold medal in the Division III race.

The Varsity Four, which featured sophomore Anjouli Dapice (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Catholic) at bow, junior Meg Foraker (New Lexington/Culver Academy) in seat two, Caitlin Piotrowski (Dublin/Dublin Jerome) in seat three, junior Kim Becker (Egg Harbor, N.J.) at stroke and freshman Lauren Talasnik (Mays Landing, N.J./Oakcrest) at coxswain, opened the morning by cruising to a win in Heat 2. Marietta (8:21.7) won by ten seconds over second place John Hopkins (8:31.9). NYU (8:35.2), Lesley (8:53.2) and Susquehanna B (9:04.6) rounded out the finishers of the heat.

Mary Washington (8:26.8) won Heat 1, while Rutgers-Camden (8:32.1), Catholic (8:47.8), Susquehanna A (8:58.7) and NY Maritime (9:07.6) placed second through fifth, respectively.

Because the Pioneers had the fastest opening heat, they got lane preference in the Final, which featured the top two finishers in each heat and then the next two fastest boats.

All of the crews were fast off the line, but the ladies worked to keep inching away from the competition and maintained their lead to the end. Marietta finished in 8.11.1, ahead of Mary Washington (8.15.3) to win the gold. Rutgers-Camden (8:20.4) took third, Catholic (8:27.9) was fourth, Johns Hopkins (8:30.5) finished fifth and NYU (8:33.1) placed sixth.

"The women had an outstanding day of racing," said Assistant Coach Emily Crandall, who is in charge of the shell. "After having raced a great heat, the focus shifted towards doing it again for the final. You could see the overall drive in the boat and the shifts in power as they came down the course. Overall, it was a solid race and a great success that these ladies have earned. I was very proud to witness this victory."

The Varsity Eight, which included sophomore Krista Tkacz (Egg Harbor, N.J.) at bow, junior Meredith Hay (Berwick, ME/Marshwood) in seat two, senior Jenny Sayles (Lakewood) in seat three, freshman Angela Sefcik (Garfield Heights) in seat four, freshman Katherine Racy (Lakewood) in seat five, freshman Colleen Aitken (Concord, N.H.) in seat six, freshman Lindsay Barton (Swarthmore, Pa./Archbishop Prendengast) in seat seven, Amy Epling (Parkersburg, W.Va.) at stroke and Talasnik at coxswain, also competed at the event. The shell finished fourth in its morning heat, but did not make the six-boat final. The Pioneers crossed the line in 7:57.1. Vassar (7:23.1) won the heat and was sixth in the final (7:31.7). Washington College (7:13.6) took the gold, while Rochester (7:21.8) and North Park (7:25.1) placed second and third, respectively.

"The Varsity Eight is continuing to improve and solidify themselves as a boat each week," said Crandall. "We are looking forward to the Mid Atlantic Championships on the 28th as it should be their best race of the season yet."

The Mid-Atlantic D-III Championships, formerly the Atlantic Collegiate League Sprints, will take place Saturday (Apr. 28) in Rossville, Pennsylvania. A year ago, the Pioneers finished third in the finals of the Varsity Eight and fourth in the Varsity Four at the event, which features the top crews in the region.