Last weekend, on the Schuykill River in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the Colgate women’s rowing team took part in the 26th Annual Murphy Cup Regatta, which was hosted by Temple University. The women were generally successful in the competition. In the Varsity Eight heat that Colgate participated in, the Raiders finished in second place, a mere three seconds behind St. Joseph’s. Unfortunately, the Raiders were unable to qualify for the Grand Final meet because they did not win their heat or garner one of the top-two times out of the runners-up in the four women’s Varsity Eight heats held at the Murphy Cup. However, Colgate’s time was good enough for a spot in the Petite Final(consolation race). In this contest, Colgate placed first with a final time of 6:53.58. The Raiders finished under one second ahead of runner-up Fordham. Junior Meredith Remmer, senior Ande Reisman, senior Caitlyn Perlman, sophomore Vicky Hulit, sophomore Lauren Schmetterling, junior Sarah Kruse, first-year Annabelle Glass, senior Yasmin Rozwadowski and sophomore Alison Patchen(coxswain) were all part of the victorious V-Eight squad.

The women’s JV-Eight team was also able to find some success on the Schuykill, as they placed a strong second in heat number two of their competition, finishing with a time of 7:07.14. Although the Raiders finished second in their heat, their time was good enough to qualify for the Grand Final. Unfortunately, the Bucknell Bison won the JV Eight final with a time of 6:45.66. Colgate finished in fifth place with a time of 7:07.51.

“It was a good start to the season,” Patchen said. “Both boats did surprisingly well.”

Colgate will now go to Amherst, Massachusetts on Sunday, when they’ll take on UMass, Columbia and Holy Cross in their second competition of the spring season.