Autumn might not technically be North Carolina's rowing season, but it seems this fall might still be their best season yet.
Coming off a big success on Oct. 4 in their opening races at Old Dominion University, the women’s crew team kept the momentum going with more big wins at the Occoquan Chase in Occoquan, Va.
“I really think we took some pretty big strides from last weekend to this weekend,” said coach Sarah Haney. “There was a lot of improvement, and we feel like it showed in our results."
In all but one event, UNC came out on top, losing only to TBC Racing, a competitive racing club.
Unlike most other races, the Occoquan Chase is a 3.14-mile race, with boats being let go every 10 to 15 seconds. Because of the nature of this race, motivation and perseverance play an important role in the team’s success.
“Our focus was to stay committed to our race,” said senior coxswain Sarah Eastley. “Last weekend showed us the kind of racing and the demand from ourselves that we always want to have, and we came to this race with an understanding of that.”
And with two boats — the first varsity eight and the novice eight — finishing first and every boat finishing in at least the top 15 places, the team felt it succeeded in remaining committed and driven.
The first varsity eight came in first by a margin of 10.51 seconds, with the second varsity eight posting a fourth-place finish by a margin of less than a minute. The novice eight finished in first by a margin of 1:36.15.
While the varsity fours did not come in first, they finished in second, third, eighth, ninth and 14th, with the last boat finishing less than four minutes after the first place boat.
