SARASOTA – On day one of the rowing team’s seventh Sunshine State Invite, the Knights put out a s
The II Eight and the I Four came away with first-place finishes, while the I Eight, II Four (A) and II Eight finished second. All five boats made their way into the Grand Final. The II Four – B finished third in its heat putting them in position for the Petite Final.
The I Four was the first boat that came away with a first-place finish for UCF on Friday afternoon. The boat consisting of coxswain Audrey Vilendrer, Mal Thorsen, Claire Kaminski, Bella Montalvo and Annberlee Hothem finished with a time of 7:44.4 ahead of North Carolina (7:46.51), Iowa (7:47.18), UMass (8:01.0), Kansas (8:09.58), Louisville (8:15.37), Old Dominion (8:21.03) and Stetson (8:32.8).
The Knights’ second win of the day came from the II Eight who finished six seconds ahead of second-place Iowa. The boat coxed by Julia Going consisting of Connery Cassidy, Tash Voulanas, Seyene Oord, Veronica Rush, Aubrie Russo, Charlotte Wiley, Coralie Detre and Martina Pischedda outlasted the Hawkeyes (7:01.56), Tar Heels (7:02.85), Jayhawks (7:10.03), Cardinals (7:12.1), Minutewomen (7:22.16) and Hatters (7:34.45) with the Monarchs (7:43.96) rounding out the pack.
The I Eight kept it close with the Hawkeyes, taking second place by only 1.49 seconds with a time of 7:07.83. The boat consisted of coxswain Mackenzie Harrod, Martyna Wasilewska, Liza Lutter, Tegan Fookes, Brigitte Kappler, Aryann Johnson, Ines Martin, Maja Misljenovic and Hannah Lovejoy posted behind Iowa’s time of 7:06.34 and ahead of North Carolina (7:16.72), Louisville (7:19.56), Kansas (7:25.15), Old Dominion (7:29.62), UMass (7:31.24) and Stetson (7:43.97).
The II Four - A boat placed second to open UCF’s weekend at Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota with a time of 8:02.28. The boat consisting of coxswain Sophia Tursi, Saskia Papsova, Amber Tulloch, Izzy Bate and Melody Summers finished behind Iowa’s time of 7:57.91. II Four (A) finished ahead of Michigan State - A (8:08.25), Michigan State – B (8:16.81), West Virginia (8:25.97) and Jacksonville (8:35.89).
UCF’s III Eight’s time of 7:16.55 was enough for second, just behind Iowa’s posted time of 7:13.98. The boat consisting of coxswain Elsa Cassellius, Bailey White, Reese Springer, Alina Tasman, Megan Lukavec, Cate Maloney, Alexa Konowal, Karin Kudmani and Emily LaRochelle finished ahead of Michigan State – A (7:17.39), Kansas State (7:18.3), Miami (7:29.36), Kansas (7:31.53), Jacksonville (7:35.54) and Michigan State – B (7:38.71).
The Knights’ II Four – B coxed by Angelina Hassan consisting of Ashley Tree, Makayla Baxley, Lexi Sanchez and Chloe Villani finished third behind the Jayhawks (8:07.61) and the Hurricanes (8:08.99). UCF finished with a time of 8:24.42, ahead of Kansas State’s time of 8:37.35 with Louisville finishing behind at 8:44.58.
The Knights will begin racing at 8:30 a.m. Saturday morning with the I Eight followed by the II Eight at 9:10 a.m., the III Eight at 9:50 a.m., I Four at 10:30 a.m. and the II Four at 10:40 a.m.