Cooper River, N.J. -- Ithaca wrapped up competition at the NCAA Championships Saturday with a fourth-place finish in the team standings. The Bombers' varstiy 8 took fourth in the grand final and the second varsity 8 placed sixth in the petite final.
The varsity 8, seeded third among the 14 entrants, raced twice Friday -- placing second in both its morning heat and the afternoon grand qualifier. Ithaca took second in a seven-boat heat Friday morning, then took second place in the grand qualifier to earn a spot in Saturday's grand final, where the Bombers finished fourth.
In Friday's races, the second varsity 8 finished fourth in its heat and took second in the afternoon petite quailifer (beating both varsity 8 boats in that race). Ithaca wrapped up racing with a sixth-place showing in Saturday's petite final.
Ithaca is the only school to quailfy for each of the NCAA Division III Championships.
The varsity 8 was made up of junior coxswain Kaitlin Ahl (Shaker/Latham), sophomore eighth seat Amy Gefell (Greece Arcadia/Rochester), sophomore seventh seat Kerin Murphy (Nashoba Regional/Lancaster, Mass.), senior sixth seat Katie O’Driscoll (Quincy/Cohasset, Mass.), freshman fifth seat Taylor Goetzinger (Mount Pleasant [Mich.]/Ithaca), junior fourth seat Stephanie Levesque (St. Paul Catholic/Bristol, Conn.), sophomore third seat Lauren La Pointe (Lowell/Lowell, Mass.), junior second seat Erica Gordon (Irvington/Irvington) and junior first seat Aliyah Emas (Northeast/Philadelphia, Pa.).
The second varsity 8 was made up senior coxswain Liz June (Arlington/Pleasant Valley), senior eighth seat Alden Hall (Stratford Academy/Macon, Ga.), junior seventh seat Julie Potter (Arlington/Poughkeepsie), senior sixth seat Kelsey Schaeffer (Ithaca/Ithaca), junior fifth seat Kathryn Irwin (Annapolis/Annapolis, Md.), junior fourth seat Allison Crerand (Brighton/Rochester), senior third seat Sarah Veninsky (Marathon/Richford), senior second seat Diana Glicini (Dallas/Dallas, Pa.) and senior first seat Alex Chesney (Hancock Central/Hancock, Mich.).
Complete results