by Maria Trivelpiece

Most spring sports teams have yet to start their pre-season competitions; however, the Fordham University women’s rowing team has gotten a head start as they took their training trip to Florida from Jan. 6 – 13. The team practiced twice a day side-by-side with other colleges from across the country. The sunny, warm weather was fantastic for training, and head coach Ted Bonnano said that it might have been one of the best trips yet. This jump start to the season, along with their rigorous practice schedule, is the epitome of what defines the women’s rowing team and will hopefully correlate to its success this year.

The Rams have been preparing for the spring since they arrived back on campus in August. They competed in five races including Boston, Philadelphia and New York. They also followed a stringent lifting and training schedule.
Because of the logistics of finding an adequate place to practice, the rowing team is one of the first groups of people awake on campus and one of the last to go to bed. But, last year, it seemed to pay off.

The Fordham Varsity 8 placed fourth in the grand final to lead the Ram rowers to a fourth place team finish at the 2017 Atlantic 10 Championships held on the Cooper River.

This year the Rams are not only looking only to place, but also to win it all in the A-10 Conference Championships. Junior Erin Parker will be returning, as will sophomore Danae Ohresser-Joumard, junior Cynthia Luz, and senior Caroline Hamann, all who competed on Fordham’s Varsity 8. The larger class of incoming freshmen and the growth of underclassmen will hopefully be able to make up for the losses from the previous season.

The Fordham University women’s rowing team will kick off its spring season on March 31, where the Rams will head to Philadelphia, PA to compete in the Murphy Cup. Following the opener, the Rams will have a competition almost every week until the 2018 A-10 Championships which will be held in Cherry Hill, NJ. The cliché that hard work pays off will hopefully hold true for these Rams.