ORINDA, Calif. – Amidst the senior day festivities for Emma Bangs, Torie Dawson, and Ruthie Karlberg, two out of three Gael boats were the first to cross the finish line on Saturday morning at Briones Reservoir.
 
At 9:00 a.m., the Varsity 8s set off against Santa Clara and cruised to 15-second victory over the Broncos. SMC's second Varsity 8 boat initially fell behind early to Santa Clara and Humboldt. A quick second half of the race nearly brought the Gaels all the way from behind. However, HSU managed to sneak ahead by a narrow, 1.66-second margin. Saint Mary's also got off to a slower start behind Humboldt in the Varsity 4 boat, but made up the difference in no-time, eventually pulling ahead and defeating the Jacks by nearly 11 seconds.
 
"It was a very good day of racing on Briones!" said head coach Anny Pytlak. "We had great conditions and great competition. Thanks to Santa Clara and Humboldt for coming out to our home course….I'm very proud of our seniors. They have had a big impact on our team over their four years here. It was wonderful to have such great racing on their day. This really is their best year yet and I'm looking forward to watching them carry this momentum into the last two months of their careers here." 
 
Line-ups
 
Varsity Eight - coxswain Emma Bangs, 8 Katrina Heffernan, 7 Emily Sprigings, 6 Kelsey Shinn, 5 Olivia Pells, 4 Katie Boselli, 3 Emily Millbrath, 2 Olivia Rooney, 1 Jennifer Faulkner
 
Second Varsity Eight - coxswain Emily Roque, 8 Ruthie Karlberg, 7 Reilly Schindler, 6 Emily Ferbet, 5 Brooklyn Cassel, 4 Holly Ediger, 3 Emily Pelster, 2 Katie Pecoraro, 1 Torie Dawson
 
Varsity Four - coxswain Katie Baxter, 4 Elizabeth Blue, 3 Lindsay Abrams, 2 Kendall Keyser, 1 Sedonia Estacio
 
Results
 
V8 
SMC 6:56.44
Santa Clara 7:11.88
 
2V8
Humboldt 7:19.85
SMC 7:21.51
Santa Clara 7:42.83
 
V4
SMC 8:22.56
Humboldt 8:33.48