WINTER PARK, Fla. -- Barry University rowing crew's Varsity 8 continued its dominant spring by winning yet another Sunshine State Conference Boat of the Week Award presented by VALIC. This marks the fifth straight week the Bucs' boat has claimed the honor.
Competing against a host of NCAA Division I programs at the Knecht Cup, Barry's 8 emerged as the champion of the Club Eight Grand Final. The Bucs posted a time of 6:56.82, outpacing second-placed Pitt by almost 12 seconds. The Buccaneers were the only Division II boat to qualify for the Varsity Eight Grand Final, placing third in 6:45.93, just 3.19 seconds shy of first-place Bucknell.
Barry's crew of coxswain Gracie Horwitz (Chicago, Ill.), Kristina Boncheva (Sofia, Bulgaria), Anna Boada (Barcelona, Spain), Rosie Boncheva (Sofia, Bulgaria), Monika Kaminska (Walcz, Poland), Beth Desmond (Cape May, N.J.), Anais Foppoli (Thonon, France), Emma Howard (Newton Square, Pa.) and Kelly Harrison (Fairfax, Va.) has won 10 of the 11 races it has competed in this year. Five of those wins have been finals victories.
For more than half a century, VALIC has served as a leading retirement plan provider for higher education, as well as for K-12 schools and school districts, healthcare, government and other not-for-profit institutions. VALIC has more than $65 billion in total assets under management and manages plans for nearly 25,000 groups serving nearly two million plan participants. VALIC represents The Variable Annuity Life Insurance Company and its subsidiaries, VALIC Financial Advisors, Inc., and VALIC Retirement Services Company.