The women's rowing team opened its spring season in resounding fashion Saturday at University Lake in Chapel Hill, sweeping all twelve races against ACC-rival North Carolina.
The unusual best-of-three races format on a short 1,000-meter course did not bother the Blue Devils, who were competing with a full senior class for the first time in program history.
In the marquee varsity eight competition, the Duke boat of coxswain Jesse Batzell, Amelia Booth, Katie Lakin, Joanna Hingle, Natalie Zervas, Mae Joyce Gay, Abby Hawkins, Christine Lauro and Missy Buckmiller won the first heat with a time of 3:26.31, more than 11 seconds ahead of the Tar Heels.
The octet remained consistently strong in the second and third pieces, winning in 3:28.83 and 3:28.55, respectively.
"Our boat held our times really well," Gay said. "It definitely felt good to start the season like this. I think we expected to do well, but it's always nice to beat Carolina."
The novice eight also dominated its races, winning Heat 1 3:50.03 to 4:00.42. The group improved its time in the second and third heats, and the Tar Heel novices never came within six seconds of the first-year Blue Devils rowers.
"Today was a great learning experience for us," Duke head coach Robyn Horner said. "Both our varsity eight and novice eight put together three solid races with excellent consistency from piece to piece."
Although Duke's other boats saw their times drop in their second and third heats, they were still able to outrace the overmatched Tar Heels with relative ease.
Duke's varsity four group of coxswain Sarah Shapiro, Devon MacWilliam, Elise Richards, Kara Cerwensky and Andy Murray - which was competing together for the first time - finished Heat 1 in 3:52.43, but its time jumped to over 4:00 in the subsequent races.
"So much of rowing is learning to work with the other women in your boat, so we were really pleased that we raced so well without a lot of practice together," MacWilliam said. "I think this race was a great experience, especially for the freshmen, and it really shows how deep we are right now."
The Blue Devil's second varsity four placed behind its teammates with a time of 3:59.03 in Heat 1, but that was still good enough for a five-second victory over the Tar Heel's varsity four.
The only close race of the day came in the second varsity eight's first piece, which Duke won by less than one second.
"Our varsity fours and second varsity eight raced very solid," Horner said. "However, their consistency dropped from the first to second pieces. To be successful over the spring, we will need to be consistent."
Duke has two weeks to switch gears and prepare for the longer 2,000-meter courses. Its next race will be against Louisville March 15 in Oak Ridge, Tenn.
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