SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – The Union College men's and women's crew teams celebrated their seniors following a cold and snowy day of racing against Vassar College on Saturday morning on the Mohawk River.
 
Racing at home in front of family and friends for the first and only time this spring, Union and Vassar fought hard on the 1,800 meters of water in front of the Union boathouse. After the races, Union seniors received their classic "U" knitted sweaters given to four-year rowers.
 
On the men's side, Vassar took the varsity 8+ race by 12 seconds, finishing in 5:55 to Union's 6:07. Led by senior coxswain Sarah DeRosa, rowing in the top boat for Union were senior Alex Chan (bow); sophomores Angus Hall (2 seat), Wolfgang Bodge (3 seat) and Tyler Perry (4 seat); juniors Ben Stern (5 seat) and Erik Roberts (6 seat), sophomore Kenny Kromer (7 seat) and senior Miles Fee (stroke).
 
The men's 2nd varsity 8+ was the closest race of the day despite Vassar hot-seating several rowers from their varsity 8 boat, with the Brewers edging the Garnet Chargers by only a second. The Union boat was comprised of senior Charlie Whiteford (coxswain), junior Josh Atkinson (bow), sophomore Reed Will (2 seat), junior Cody Morrison (3 seat), first-year Daniel Vega (4 seat), sophomore Stuart Livingston (5 seat), senior Josh Vaidman (6 seat), junior Nick Meyer (7 seat) and junior Sam Flynn (stroke).
 
The men's freshman/novice 4 competed in a pair of pieces instead of a full race with Union coming out ahead in both portions, as the home team won the first 1,000 meters by half a boat length and finished the final 500 meters first by a full boat length. The boat was coxed by first-year Erika Canaveral and featured junior Jack Savage and first-years Ian Porter, Nikola Djurovic and Sam Humpert.
 
On the women's side, Union was out-oared in the varsity 8+ race by 14 seconds, with Vassar finishing in 6:45. Led by junior Melina McGovern in the front of the boat, the Union eight consisted of sophomores Emma Friedman (bow), Amy Gagliardi (2 seat) and Sarah Hannan (3 seat); seniors Lena Nowell (4 seat), Sara Beckwith (5 seat), Julia Cole (6 seat) and Olivia Anderson (7 seat); and junior Sadie White (stroke).
 
The Brewers were also the first to finish in the 2nd varsity 8+ race, with their time of 7:06 besting their hosts by 18 seconds. In the boat for Union were first-years Lizzie Vandam (coxswain), Elizabeth Canaveral (bow) and Gabbi Dowling (2 seat), sophomores Mariah Jackson (3 seat) and Susanna Harrow (4 seat), junior Nora Hillery (5 seat), first-year Isabelle Dudek (6 seat), sophomore Olivia Werkema (7 seat) and senior Claire Schroder (stroke).
 
Both the Union men and women will return to the water next Saturday for the New York State Championships in Saratoga.