Pennsauken Township, N.J. - The Drake University rowing team finished third at the 2019 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championship on Sunday, May 19. It is the best MAAC finish for Drake since 2016 when it also earned a third-place showing.
 
"The team brought everything together today," said Drake head coach Charlie DiSilvestro. "Our team had a goal to earn a top three finish. We set that goal back in January when we assumed that we would row at home. Our physical condition was outstanding, we were in the best shape ever and we're so mentally tough from constantly erging and no practice water time and came together as team."
The 2019 MAAC championship was contested on a 2,000-meter course on the Cooper River in the Cooper River Park. Marist ended Jacksonville's five-year championship run as the Red Foxes edged the Dolphins, 53-49 for the conference title. The Bulldogs earned 37 points for the third-place finish ahead of Stetson University, which had 32 points. Robert Morris rounded out the top five with 30 points. Canisius (22), Fairfield (21), Manhattan (19) and Sacred Heart (7) rounded out the bottom of the standings.
 
Drake, which was only one of four teams that had all three of its boats advance to afternoon grand finals, was led by its varsity 4 boat that claimed a bronze medal while the Bulldogs' varsity 8 and 2^nd varsity 8 boats each placed fourth in their respective grand finals.
 
The varsity 4 boat began the day for the Bulldogs with a third-place finish in their morning's heat to advance. The 2^nd varsity 8 moved on after it finished third behind Jacksonville and Manhattan, respectively. Finally, the varsity 8 was next and made up a large deficit on Manhattan over the final 1,000 meters to place third to also advance.
 
"Our four really led us off so well today," DiSilvestro said. "We made sure we got faster from heats to finals and all three boats did that today led by them who shaved 31 seconds off their time. We were a little disappointed to be in sixth after heats but we reset and used our great fitness, mental toughness and real team effort to battle Robert Morris, Jacksonville and Marist and get that top three finish."
 
Several Bulldogs earned individual honors as 11 were selected to the MAAC All-Academic team. Freshman Clara Froeschner and senior Sarah Konopacki garnered All-MAAC Rowing First Team accolades while seniors Madison Peterson and Erica Thacker garnered second team honors.
 
Marist claimed the conference's automatic berth to the 2019 NCAA Championship May 31-June 1 at the Indianapolis Rowing Center at Eagle Creek Park

Lineups/Results/Times
V8 (4^th, 07:07.904)
C Rambhia*
8 Bigus
7 McNeely*
6 Peterson*(2)
5 Konopacki*(1)
4 Dahlstrom*
3 Thacker*(2)
2 Smith
1 Froeschner (1)
 
2V8 (4^th, 07:37.041)
C Stock
8 Rimes*
7 Roehrs
6 Lajoie
5 Hargreeves
4 Hovland
3 Hunt
2 Faria
1 Hovland­
 
V4 (3^rd, 08:20.890)
C Killian*
4 Janes*
3 White
2 Coffman*
1 Cogdill
 
*MAAC All-Academic Team selection (Elyse Simons also named to team)