WOMEN'S ROWING

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Tara Celestini

PHILADELPHIA, PA ­ For once, the Frostbite Regatta on Philadelphia's Schuykill River lived up to its name as chilly and windy conditions throughout the day made for some exaggerated race times in some events, but several University at Buffalo crew teams did pick up victories.

UB had two teams, the novice four and varsity four, win their individual heats and finish first overall among all entries. Each event had at least two and some as many as five heats with four to six entries per heat. All heats were then combined to determine the overall winners.

In the novice four race, UB's A entry finished first while the B boat took ninth among the 21 crews entered. Both boats won their individual heats. The A boat, which finished in 6:38.3, consisted of coxswain Abbie Potts (Hamburg, NY/Hamburg), stroke seat Corrine Blum (Pittsford, NY/Pittsford Sutherland), third seat Crysten Rushmore (Syracuse, NY/Nottingham), second seat Caitlin Hambridge (Amherst, NY/Holy Angels Academy) and bow seat Kelly Botsoglou (Lancaster, NY/Nardin Academy). The B squad finished in 8:10.2.

The varsity four races turned out to be UB cakewalks as the Bulls won each of the four heats with the A entry taking first overall in 7:12.0. The C entry finished fourth overall (7:25.4) while the B boat was fifth (7:34.3) and the D boat took sixth (7:39.8). Racing in the A boat for the Bulls was coxswain Dawn Kavanaugh (Grand Island, NY/Nardin Academy), stroke seat Kasey Hansen (Honeoye Falls, NY/Honeoye Falls-Lima), third seat Deanna Knighton (Angola, NY/Lake Shore), second seat Andrea Lysiuk (St. Catharines, Ontario/Holy Cross) and bow seat Tara Celestini (St. Catharines, Ontario/Sir Winston Churchill).

UB's varsity eight also scored a second-place finish in its event. The B entry finished second overall and first in its heat in 6:34.8, trailing only St. Joseph's (6:30.2) among the 22 entries. The squad consisted of coxswain Kaitlin Buchheit (Amherst, NY/Amherst), stroke seat Jessica Ecke (Ridge, NY/Longwood), seventh seat Natalie Pugliese (Niagara Falls, Ontario/St. Paul's), sixth seat Kat Vossler (Jamestown, NY/Falconer), fifth seat Amy Aldridge (Penfield, NY/Penfield), fourth seat Chandra Hazey (Riverview, MI/Riverview), third seat Emilee Norris (Cheektowaga, NY/Cheektowaga), second seat Stephanie Spinella (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool) and bow seat Karen Corey (Kingston, NY/Kingston). UB's A entry was seventh overall (6:54.4), fifth in its heat, and the C entry took 12th overall (7:00.3), second in its heat.

The novice eight entries finished fifth and 10th among 22 entrants while the lone entry in the varsity four lightweight race took seventh in a field of 11.

The fall season concludes next weekend with the Rivanna Romp in Charlottesville, VA. The University of Virginia is the host school. The Bulls will send a small contingent of about 13 individuals with one entry in the eights and two in the fours.