CHERRY HILL, New Jersey — The Marietta College women's rowing team wrapped up its season at the Dad Vail Regatta Saturday (May 10) afternoon. The Pioneers entered a crew in the Division II/Division III Varsity 4+ and had an entrant in the singles division.

"MC Women's Rowing had a great showing at the Dad Vail this past weekend," Marietta head coach Annie Devorak said. "100% of the Marietta College men's and women's entries made it to their respective grand finals, which was a pretty remarkable accomplishment."

After earning a gold medal at conference championship the previous week, the varsity 4+ entered the weekend with confidence. In a seven-boat time trial, with six boats progressing to the grand final, the Pioneers needed to row their best piece to earn a spot in the final.

The Pioneers did just that and crossed the line with the fifth fastest time overall, securing a spot in the grands. While the time trial was not this boat's best race piece, they came off the water knowing what to tweak and where to focus going into the final on Saturday.

Because of incoming winds, the race committee rearranged the Saturday schedule. The varsity 4+ took on the early race time and choppy water with grace, echoing the team motto that "nothing bothers us." Marietta had a very strong piece and was able to stick with the pack much closer than their time trial would have suggested. The Pioneers hung on to Rollins through the middle of the race and crossed the finish line in fifth place.

"This was a challenging category for this boat because they needed to "race up" to compete against some strong Division II schools," Devorak said. "The focus of the competition was to get tough racing experience, compete against crews we haven't seen before, and beat the other Division III crews. This boat, made up of two freshmen, a sophomore, and two juniors, did just that. They finished the season undefeated against Division III teams."

Perhaps the most exciting racing from the weekend belonged to senior Katie Lively (New Matamoras, Ohio/River), who took on the Varsity 1x. Unlike many of the "big boat" events, this race was not broken up into divisions, meaning she was racing against all levels of athletes from Division I, Division II, Division III, and club.

Lively had a strong time trial, which landed her the fifth fastest time of the day out of the 16-boat field. Lively was placed in a tough semi-final later in the day, where she proved herself worthy of the grand final once again. Down off the start of the race, Lively spent the 2,000-meter test walking through the boats necessary to land herself in the grand final. She heightened the suspense with a photo finish 0.1 seconds ahead of 4th place Gordon, squeaking her way into the Grand Final.

Lively truly embodied the "find a way" rower mentality. High winds on Saturday had a great effect on the 1x race. Lively launched onto water with significant chop for her third race in a 23-hour period. She raced with a rough cross-tail wind, which gave her some trouble. Lively finished sixth overall in a very challenging event category.

"All weekend, Katie raced with a tenacity and toughness unique to her," Devorak added. "She's been a key athlete on this team for the past four years and leaves behind a legacy of integrity and grit."

"I'm extremely proud of what this team has accomplished this year," Devorak concluded. "It was a challenging year, but you'd never know it with their tenacity and commitment to the sport and to each other. I'm really excited to see how this young team develops in the next few years."

Fans can follow all the Pioneer teams all year long at pioneers.marietta.edu. You can also follow the Pioneers on Facebook at facebook.com/MariettaCollege and @MariettaPioneer on X and Instagram.


Results
Division II/Division III Varsity 4+

Grand Final: Tampa (8:03.638), Jefferson (8:20.238), Union (8:31.668), Rollins (8:39.366), Marietta (8:52.634), Rochester Tech (9:33.702)

Time Trial: Jefferson (8:00.572), Tampa (8:11.168), Rollins (8:17.320), Union (8:24.482), Marietta (8:48.672), Rochester Tech (9:05.678), Simmons (9:37.820)

Marietta: coxswain: Phoebe Smith (Knoxville, Tenn./L & N STEM Academy), stroke: Avery Kurman (Galloway, N.J./Atlantic County Insitute of Technology), 3: Lily Sands (Marietta, Ohio/Marietta), 2: Campbell Anne Friend (Leesburg, Va./), bow: Jade Poling (Vienna, W.Va./Parkersburg)


1X – Katie Lively (New Matamoras, Ohio/River)

Grand Final: Trent (Friar) (8:20.210), Oklahoma City (Oney) (8:45.550), Southern California (Chen) (8:50.590), Jefferson (Schipper) (9:16.110), Jacksonville (Coppa) (9:17.460), Marietta (Lively) (9:45.510)

Semifinal: Trent (Friar) (8:32.910), Jacksonville (Coppa) (9:20.200), Marietta (Lively) (9:25.412), Gordon (Henry) (9:25.512), Rochester Tech (Olivieri) (10:08.416)

Time Trial: Trent (Friar) (8:21.832), Oklahoma City (Oney) (8:52.204), Southern California (Chen) (8:53.346), MIT (Knapp) (9:09.380), Marietta (Lively) (9:18.050), Jefferson (Schipper) (9:21.810), LaSalle (Majkic) (9:28.012), Jacksonville (Coppa) (9:29.434), Gordon (Henry) (9:39.306), Adrian (Morreale) (9:41.164), Tampa (Dewey) (9:48.158), Rochester Tech (Olivieri) (9:48.312), Clarkson (Shih) (9:50.016), Dominican (Anil) (9:55.718)