Rowing opens the spring season in fine fashion

		Samantha Bizon (upper left); Jess hittemore (upper right); Morgan Miller (lower left); and Shannon Dacey (lower right).

HADLEY, Mass. (March 31, 2012) -- The Franklin Pierce University women's rowing team began its 2012 spring season in fine fashion on Saturday as the varsity-four boat finished in first place in its race against several regional teams in Hadley, Mass.

The varsity-four boat finished in a time of 7:38, which was a full seven seconds faster than the second-place boat of Amherst College (7:45). The four Ravens, plus cox'n, who engineered the boat to victory, included Samantha Bizon (South Windsor, Conn.) at the stroke, Jess Whittemore (Auburn, N.H.) at the three, Natasha Pastor (Fitzwilliam, N.H.) at the two, Morgan Miller (Kingston, N.Y.) at the bow and Shannon Dacey (Barrington, N.H.) at the cox.

Amherst also entered a second boat in the race and the school's "B" team took third in a time of 7:48. Mass Maritime Academy finished fourth in a time of 8:20.

Franklin Pierce also entered a boat in the novice-four race as the Ravens took fourth in a time of 8:04.1. The team was comprised of Alexa Demsey (Maidstone, Vt.) at the stroke, Hayley Brown at the three, Madelene Morrill (Greenville, Pa.) at the two, Brittany Nyzio (Attleboro, Mass.) at the bow and Erika Hebert (Leominster, Mass.) at the cox'n.

The Ravens return to action next Saturday when they compete in a race in Worcester, Mass. against more of the top teams in New England, including Amherst, Connecticut College, Bowdoin and Clark. 

For more information on Franklin Pierce rowing, please visit the team's page at athletics.franklinpierce.edu(.) To follow the program even further, please visit Franklin Pierce Athletics on YouTube (www.youtube.com/FranklinPierceSports), Twitter (www.twitter.com/FPUathletics) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens).