ITHACA, NY – The University of Rochester rowing team opened its 2023-24 season of competition with a unique formatted event on Sunday, taking to the water at the Cayuga Sprints, hosted by Ithaca College.
 
Rochester competed with five entries in the sculling event, with four in the open doubles category and one coxed quad entry.
 
Sunday's racing format featured a 2,000 meter time trial to seed every entry in the morning. Afterwards, teams were matched up in head-to-head racing based on times, without accounting for classification differences (meaning singles could have been matched up with doubles, or doubles against quads, etc.). The afternoon head-to-head event was a 1,000 meter sprint, in which that time counted twice towards the overall time in the standings.
 
The Yellowjackets A doubles team of Elizabeth Martin and Madeleine LaChance were the top finishing Rochester boat, placing second of nine boats in that class and eighth of 33 teams in terms of overall time. The pair sat third in the doubles rankings after the time trial (8:19.2), behind a pair of Ithaca entries, but during the 1K sprint (4:07.6), Rochester beat the second Ithaca boat by three seconds, accounting for a 6-second swing in the total standings, moving the 'Jackets up the overall leaderboard. Martin's and LaChance's overall time ended up being 16:34:4.
 
Rochester's B entry in the doubles was Jinx Allison and Ava Prevey-Sullivan. The pair combined for an overall time of 17:07.3, ranking fifth in the nine-entry doubles field and 13th overall. The morning 2K time was 8:30.5, with a 1K sprint finish of 4:18.4.
 
Rounding out UR's doubles entries were Kennedy Leininger and Anushka Aritharan in the C boat and Hannah Zerman and Lindsey Brayer in the D boat. Leininger and Aritharan ended in seventh in the doubles and 17th overall with a time of 17:49.4, while Zerman and Brayer were eighth in the doubles field and 25th overall, posting a time of 18:17.3.
 
In the coxed quad event, Rochester's boat was made up of Ella Peddicord, Mary Woods, Nancy Mabry, Evie Feld and Sarah Kelley. The group finished fifth of six boats in the quad racing and was overall 24th of 33, finishing with a combined time of 18:15.9.
 
Division III teams competing at the event were Rochester, Ithaca, RIT and St. John Fisher.