Bryant University Women's Crew

Boat Dedication Ceremony

Bryant University’s first ever boat naming ceremony will take place on April 28 at 10 a.m. in the Boathouse. Two boats will be christened in honor of the Chace family, whose dedication and donations have contributed to and supported the rowing team’s startup.

 

               

 

In the spring of 2010, The Bryant Women’s Rowing Team was started by Nicola Dechamps.  Nicola rowed for four years in high school and wanted to continue her passion for rowing at the collegiate level.  With the support of President Machtley, the Athletic Department, and the Chace Family, Nicola’s hopes were realized and this newly formed team is now entering their first competitive spring season.

Practices take place on the Woonasquatucket Reservior (aka Stump Pond) and our boat house is approximately 1.5 miles from campus.  The team is always looking for new recruits and anyone interested in rowing or coxing for Bryant should contact the head coach.

Head Coach: Mark LaBossiere mlabossiere@bryant.edu

Captains: Nicola Dechamps '14

                Sarah Dziadzio ‘14

                Marybeth Wallander ‘14

 

Saturday, April 7th, the Bryant Rowing Team traveled up to Lawrence, MA, to row against Merrimack College.  This was an important set of races for Bryant because in many ways Merrimack's rowing program is a mirror image of our own.  Both programs were established last year and both are competing primarily in novice events because it is our first year of racing.

However, there are some differences that should be pointed out in order to explain what Bryant Crew team has accomplished in such a short period of time.  Bryant has had to work from scratch, building a rowing program and a facility concurrently.  There was no established community boat club in proximity to campus to partner with.  Merrimack's program rents the Greater Lawrence Community Rowing Club's facility, complete with 3 coaches, a weight room, a 25 machine erg room, locker rooms, equipment, coach's launches and endless rowable water.  Meanwhile, Bryant University has had to split this year's time, energy, and money between creating a place to row and the rowing itself.

We Bulldogs are clearly the underdogs and you have to know that we are surprising everyone with our results as we enter this competitive arena.  You should hear some of the shocked phone calls their coach has received from area coaches, masters rowers and boat vendors.  Nicola, her teammates, and Bryant University started something amazing.  Coach LaBossiere feels honored to be a part of this organization.  If Bryant is this competitive as they are building their team, just imagine what they can acomplish once their foundation has been set in stone.

WN8:  The start of this race was amazing to watch.  Bryant pulled off the starting line and by the end of the first 25 strokes they had open water on Merrimack.  The one problem was the boat settled into a rate that was a bit higher then planned.  They maintained a substantial lead 600 meters into the race, but by the 1000m mark, Merrimack had caught up and pulled ahead.  Never giving up, Bryant hung with Merrimack just behind their stern.  Then with 500 meters to go they began to pull through them.  First Bryant's bow was even with their stern, then they took a seat, then another and another until they were just about even at the finish line.  They just ran out of room.  If the race was 2050 meters, Bryant would have won, but the end result was that they were 1.3 seconds behind.  The determination of the women in this race gave onlookers the chills... and next week, when they race Merrimack again, they will win.  The crew consisted of Sarah Dziadzio, Nicola Dechamps, Kristen Carroll, Heidi Marshal, Linda Dueri, Amy D'Olympia, Marybeth Wallander, & Alicia Kenedy and was coxed by Michelle Ly.

WN4+:  By the start of this race, both the Bryant and Merrimack crews had already rowed in the WN8.  The wind had picked up considerably and the water had gotten much rougher.  At the start Bryant again took off with a considerable lead but this time Merrimack was unable to challenge back.  With 900 meters to go, Merrimack made a small push on Bryant and closed some ground, but once Bryant started the sprint it was clear that they had captured the win.  The big surprise was that they finished the race 10 seconds ahead of Merrimack.  For some reason Michelle Ly (coxswain) escaped from Lawrence dry... but the crew was probably just too tired after both of their races to lift her up and throw her in the water (a tradition).  The crew consisted of Sarah Dziadzio, Nicola Dechamps, Marybeth Wallander, & Amy D'Olympia.

W2N8:  By the end of the fours' race, the wind had picked up to the point where the Merrimack Coach wanted to cut the last race.  It was by no means unsafe, just not optimal for rowing.  It took some convincing, but Coach LaBossiere got him to agree to hold the W2N8 race by allowing him to cut the race length and move the course a bit.  In the traditional Bryant style, they started out well ahead of Merrimack's boat with open water even before the first 25 strokes.  It looked for sure that they would win 2 of the 3 races!  Then with 500 meters to go, a monster wave hit 3 seat's rigger and brought Bryant's boat to a halt.  In an attempt to get going again the crew started moving though the boat at too fast of a rate and was rowing around 36.5 - 37 strokes per minute...  This high stroke rate coupled with the conditions made the crew feel like they could apply any pressure to the oars and that they "were just spinning their wheels."  Unfortunately, in the last 500m Merrimack pushed through our boat and there was nothing that could be done to recover.  The crew consisted of Ugonna Iheme, Rachel Goroff, Katie Curran, Heidi Marshal, Casey Smith, Leah Norberg, Chika Okoro, & Helena Zakon and was coxed by Kayla Hixon.

This Saturday the team goes back to Lake Quinsigamond (Shrewsbury) to battle it out with Clark, Endicott, and Merrimack.  Line-ups will go out mid week.

Event 2: Women's Novice 4+
Bryant - 8:10.8
Merrimack - 8:20.43

Event 3: Women's Novice 8+ (1000m)
Merrimack - 3:50.3
Bryant - 3:59.4

Pictures from the Race!

   

 

 

Saturday, March 31st, the Bryant Rowing Team kicked off their very first spring racing season ever at Lake Quinsigamond in Shrewsbury, MA. The original plan was to race Novice 8's against Clark, UMass Lowell and Bowdoin, however none but Bowdoin had enough girls on their novice roster to fill a novice 8+. Additionally the Bowdoin Coach decided that they were not ready for the Novice 8+ but wished to row against Bryant's Crew team in fours instead. Though that put them at a distinct disadvantage (the team primarily practices in eights), they decided that a race in fours was better then no race at all. Seeing their flexibility, Clark's Head Coach invited the team's other novice eight to compete against them in a varsity event.

The 2nd Novice 4+ race went off first with Bryant vs. Bowdoin. In order to compete in this event, Bryant had to borrow a four from Bowdoin because we only own one 4+ presently. The four that we were allowed to borrow was quite old and not rigged properly for our women. In addition, during the warm up, the three seat's foot stretcher broke, leaving Bryant with yet another disadvantage. Somehow Bryant managed to get this broken barge up and moving and came back from behind for the win over Bowdoin with a time of 9:13.6. The crew consisted of Katie Curran, Amy D'Olympia, Casey Smith, & Alicia Kenedy and was coxed by Kayla Hixon. In keeping with proper rowing tradition, Kayla was thrown into The Quinsigamond by her crew for steering them to victory.

The 1st Novice 4+ was the second event for Bryant and was again vs. Bowdoin. Though this race did not pan out as well as the first event, it showed that even with little preparation, the Bryant women can come together and be competitive. Bryant finished 2nd, with a time 8:38.7. Though this time was 19.7 seconds slower then Bowdoin's 1st four, it should be noted that if Bryant's boat was in the Women's Second Varsity Race (JV) we would have beat Clark (B) & UMass Lowell and it would have been very close against the Clark A boat. The crew consisted of Sarah Dziadzio, Nicola Dechamps, Marybeth Wallander, & Rachel Goroff and was coxed by Michelle Ly.

The final event for Bryant was the Varsity 8+ and was vs. Bowdoin, UMass Lowell & Clark. At this point in Bryant's team's history, we had no business entering a varsity event. However, in order to get better at racing, you have to race and the team saw no sense in sitting half of our rowers. Bryant's greenest crew finished 4th with a time of 9:00.2 which was pretty fast considering that they had to contend with three boat stopping "crabs" (when a rower's blade gets stuck in the water). The crew consisted of Ugonna Iheme, Leah Norberg, Kristen Carroll, Heidi Marshal, Linda Dueri, Jasmine Torok, Chika Okoro, & Helena Zakon and was coxed by Kayla Hixon.

Official Results:

WV4

1st Bowdoin 7:53

2nd Holy Cross 8:04

      

Fall Regatta Results:

October 29, 2011, The Quinsigamond Novice Challange-  Womens Novice 8+ Category:  Bryant A (Fifth Place), Bryant B (10th Place)  ***Special note:  This was Bryant University's first ever competitive rowing regatta.***

Spring Schedule

March 31, 2012:  Bryant vs. Clark, Bowdoin, & Umass Lowell @ Lake Quinsigamond, Shrewsbury, MA -- Time- 11:30am

April 7th, 2012:  Bryant vs. Merrimack @ Merrimack River, Lawerence, MA --  Time-  9:00am  (Racing Two WN8+ & WN4+)

April 14, 2012:  Bryant vs. Clark, Endicott, & Merrimack @ Lake Quinsigamond, Shrewsbury, MA -- Time- TBD

April 21, 2012:  Bryant vs. Umass Lowell, Bowdoin, Merrimack, & UVM @ Lowell, MA --  Time- 9:00am

May 11-12, 2012:  Dad Vail Regatta  @ Philadelphia, PA -- Time- TBD

Team Roster:

Kristen Carroll                     Michelle Ly                                                 

Melissa Corraro                   Lauren Manfredi

Katie Curran                       Heidi Marshall

Nicola Dechamps                Blayne Michalski               

Linda Dueri                         Chika Okoro

Amy D'Olympia                  Angela Potter

Sarah Dziadzio                   Brooke Prochniak

Jillian Friot                         Casey Smith

Caroline Gosselin               Jasmine Torok

Kayla Hixon                       Marybeth Wallander

Ugonna Iheme                   Helena Zakon

Alicia Kennedy                   Rachel Goroff

Leah Norberg