The women’s crew came close to medaling in the NCAA Championships last season, finishing just one spot shy of the top four. That fifth-place finish is what’s pushing them to work even harder for another shot at a medal this season.

“That’s definitely been our pure motivation,” senior captain Candace Eastman said.

Ithaca’s other captain, senior Kristin Morris, said the Bombers have focused on the memory of coming up short last season.

“Everyone trained hard over the summer and came back ready to go,” Morris said. “We carried over that feeling.”

Last season the Bombers finished with an 11–5 overall record and earned two gold medals at the state competition, finishing second in the varsity 8 race and fourth in the second varsity 8.

They moved on to the Eastern College Athletic Conference National Invitational Collegiate Regatta at Whitney Point, N.Y., where they had impressive finishes in their preliminary heats. Bad weather caused the cancellation of most of the races, including the final.

At the national competition in Oak Ridge, Tenn., the Bombers’ varsity 8 boat finished sixth and the second varsity boat finished fifth in its race, earning them fifth place in the competition.

Head Coach Becky Robinson ’88 said that though the Bombers lost eight seniors to graduation, they have enough depth to compensate for their loss.

“The replacements are as good or better [than the graduates],” Robinson said.

Along with Eastman and Morris, the Bombers are looking to several others to contribute, including senior Danielle Llopiz, juniors Katie O’Driscoll and Kelsey Schaeffer and sophomore Stephanie Levesque.

“We have a pretty young team,” Morris said. “But those younger people have made large gains that will benefit us.”

The Bombers also had a productive fall season, which included a win at the Charles Race in Boston and gave the Blue and Gold something to build on going into their spring season.

“We met all of our team goals, like medaling at races and beating certain opponents,” Eastman said. “We trained a lot this year, and we’re all feeling really strong coming into the season.”

The Bombers begin their season March 29, where they’ll take on William Smith College, Marist College and Trinity University on Cayuga Lake.

And if everything goes according to plan, they’ll be well on their way to achieving their next goals for the season.

“We want to finish better than last year, win states and ECACs and compete for one of the top 3 spots at NCAAs,” Robinson said.