Complete Results

CHERRY HILL, N.J. - The Mercyhurst University women's rowing capped off a fine weekend against stiff Division I competition at the Knecht Cup by capturing gold in the women's four event on Sunday morning. The event was held at Cooper River in Cherry Hill, New Jersey.

Mercyhurst finished the event as the only boat to clock in under eight minutes, finishing with a time of 7:58.99. New Hampshire finished second, nearly ten seconds behind the Lakers' boat, finishing with a time of 8:08.54. New Hampshire's boat was the only competitor that hung with Mercyhurst in the final, with the other four boats (Lafayette, Penn State, Philadelphia, and Virginia Tech) finishing at least 25 seconds behind the Lakers.

The women's four of Holly Ansaldi, Kate Moran, Pia Frascatore, Becca Herron, and Kristine Wright were able to put together a gold-medal performance despite a mechanical issue on the water.
 
Mercyhurst easily advanced to Sunday's final, winning its heat on Saturday by nearly half a minute over its closest competitor, Lafayette. The Lakers finished the heat with a time of 8:05.60, with Lafayette coming in with a time of 8:33.46. Penn State and Old Dominion finished third and fourth in the heat respectively. New Hampshire won the other heat, clocking in at 8:33.30, which still would have been nearly 30 seconds behind Mercyhurst's time.

It was the only event of the day for the women's team.

“Overall, we had some mixed results this weekend,” said Mercyhurst head coach Adrian Spracklen.  “ I think everybody learned something from the experience, so in that regard Knecht Cup was a positive. We've still got a lot of work to do in the next few weeks.”

Mercyhurst will travel to Oak Ridge, Tennessee for the SIRA Regatta next Saturday and Sunday, April 21 and 22. The women will face Division II competition from Barry University, Nova Southeastern University, and the University of California, San Diego as well as other Division I competition.