Marietta women's rowing places third in collegiate division at Head of the Genesee
Pioneers take 10th place in overall competition

Oct. 12, 2008
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The Marietta College women's crew made its final trip of the 2008 fall season Sunday (Oct. 12) when the Pioneers sent their varsity eight to the 20th annual Head of the Genesee Invitational Regatta at Genesee Valley Park. The event featured numerous collegiate teams from the Northeast United States and Canada.

The Head of the Genesee, formerly know as the Stonehurst Invitational, draws top competition due to its unique regatta format. In the morning, crews competed over a three-mile head race course. In the afternoon, crews were paired based on their head race results, for a 1,500-meter sprint race. A formula helped determine the final placement of each boat.

Head Coach Kelly Harris made a slight adjustment to her varsity eight lineup after some seat racing this past week. The new lineup sat freshman stroke Kelli Barnette (Parkersburg, W.Va./South), freshman Elizabeth Bratton (Philadelphia, Pa./St. Basil Academy), senior Amanda Chuderewicz (Allison Park, Pa./Shaler Area), junior Caitlin Piotrowski (Dublin/Dublin Jerome), sophomore Katherine Thomas (Cheswick, Pa./Fox Chapel Area), sophomore Megan Stuhlfauth (Hainesport, N.J./Merion Mercy Academy), senior Krista Tkacz (Egg Harbor Twp, N.J.), senior bow Anjouli Dapice (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Catholic) and senior coxswain Shauna Payne (Huron).

The Pioneers completed the morning head race in 18:33, which placed them third in the collegiate division behind Ithaca, who covered the course in 17:43 and Mercyhurst, who finished in 18:22. Ithaca "B" was fourth after the first session, six seconds behind the Pioneers.

In the afternoon, Ithaca once again took the top time (5:13.81), while Mercyhurst (5:21.06), Marietta (5:24.99) and Ithaca "B" (5:25.84) finished second though fourth, respectively. As a result, the final standings remained unchanged with Ithaca (33:24.6) taking first place, Mercyhurst (34:31.8) finishing second and Marietta (34:48.6) placing third.

"The women competed well in both races," Harris said. "We executed our race plan today, and the team deserved to be as excited as it was when it came off the water."

Marietta will take a week off before officially closing out the fall season with a scrimmage against Charleston (W.Va.) on Homecoming (Oct. 25).