CHERRY HILL, N.J. – The Women's Varsity 4+ took home the Margaret McNiff Trophy and gold medal for the third year in a row, establishing a dynasty for the small but growing program.  The Novice 4+ boat, with a great effort down the course, captured Silver in their hard-fought race.
 
Both boats raced well in the Friday morning Time Trials and placed first in their respective Semi-Final races Friday afternoon.  For the Varsity 4+, the Finals Saturday morning was expected to be a hard-fought race between the Panthers and M.I.T., based on their Semi-Final times being .06 seconds apart.  However, the Crimson and Gray established an early lead right from the start and gradually lengthened their lead over the 2000-meter course, finishing 3 seconds ahead of second-place M.I.T. and 3.5 seconds ahead of third-place Georgetown University.

In the Novice Women's Final, the Lady Panthers, who had the fastest Semi-Final time, quickly found themselves in third place behind Army and Monmouth College at 500 meters into the race.  However, in a remarkable display of composure for the women in their first year of competition, the Panthers gradually moved past Monmouth and almost caught Army, finishing just 3 seconds behind them to capture Silver and 3.5 seconds ahead of Monmouth. 
 
It's been an incredible season for the small program of 15 women, ten of whom were able to compete in this National Regatta, where Florida Tech has been competing since 1970.  This year marked the 50^th anniversary of Florida Tech's first Gold Medals at the prestigious Regatta.  Several alumni who won Gold in 1975 were on the shoreline cheering loudly for the Lady Panthers, who continued the University's winning tradition at the Dad Vail Regatta.

Varsity 4+ 
Coxswain /McKenna Barr
4 /Brynn Romberger
3 /Ashton Clark
2 /Sydney Freiberger
Bow /Sophia Sichtnik

Novice 4+ 
Coxswain /Caroline Morris
4 /Samantha Eisenhofer
3 /Kiera Springer
2 /Julia Pearson
Bow /Maryam Young
 
Full regatta results can be seen via Regatta Timing at https://results.regattatiming.com/backoffice/webpages/results/summary.jsp?raceId=616


UP NEXT: The Lady Panthers will compete in American Collegiate Rowing Association (ACRA) Championships at Oakridge, Tenn. May 16-18 where they will attempt to defend their Gold Medal wins from the last two years.
 
For the latest news, updates and information on the Florida Tech women's rowing team, visit FloridaTechSports.com. Fans can also stay up-to-date on the latest Panthers news by following Florida Tech Athletics on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.