Notre Dame won four of five races on Sunday afternoon as the Irish concluded their spring break training in Tennessee.

All Three Irish Boats Set To Compete In Petite Finals On Sunday

May 27, 2006

West Windsor, N.J. – Notre Dame’s varsity eight, second varsity eight and varsity four will all compete in the Petite Finals on final day of competition at the 2006 NCAA Championships in West Windsor, N.J.

The No. 5 ranked varsity eight crew of coxswain Maria Romano (River Forest, Ill.), Julie Sobolewski (Haddonfield, NJ), Amanda Polk (Pittsburgh, PA), Mary Quinn (Plymouth Meeting, PA), Laura Pearson (Bloomington, MN), Allison Marsh (Mashpee, MA), Melissa Felker (Bellevue, WA), Meghan Boyle (Pittsburgh, PA), and Sarah Palandech (Lakenheath, United Kingdom) finished fifth in their semifinal heat with a time of 6:36.93. The heat was won by California in 6:30.47, followed by Michigan State (6:36.32), Ohio State (6:32.57), Washington (6:33.99). UCLA took sixth in 6:43.10.

In the first semifinal heat, Princeton was the winner in 6:20.85, followed by Brown (6:26.35), Washington State (6:27.41), Minnesota (6:28.81), Yale (6:30.37), Southern California (6:33.76) and Stanford (6:46.01).

Notre Dame will compete against UCLA, Minnesota, USC, Stanford, Washington and Yale in tomorrow’s Petite Final.

The second varsity boat of coxswain Eilleen Froehlke (Pittsburgh, PA), Sarah Kate Hafner (Tampa, FL), Pamela Jefson (Kalamazoo, MI), Elli Greybar (Western Springs, IL), Jessica Guzik (Annandale, VA), Casey Fairbanks (Dandridge, TN), Kendra Short (Everett, WA), Andre Doud, (Redford, MI) and Danielle Stealy (Culver, IN) was fourth in the second repechage to earn a spot in Sunday’s Petite Final as the Irish registered a time of 6:49.04. Wisconsin was the winner of heat two as the Badgers posted a time of 6:36.36 and were followed by Princeton (6:38.13) and Michigan State (6:38.89). Tennessee took fifth in the race in 6:50.36. Heat one of the second varsity eight repechage was won by California in 6:42.00.

Washington State was second in 6:43.44 and was followed by Yale (6:45.29), Washington (6:45.99) and Stanford. Notre Dame will go up against Michigan State, Stanford, Tennessee, Washington and Yale in tomorrow’s Petite Final. The varsity four crew coxed by Sarah Keithley (Austin, TX), Anka Jedry (Chicago, IL), Christine Trezza (Staten Island, NY), Kristan Madison (Saginaw, MI), and Shannon Cassel (Bettendorf, IA) took fourth in the first heat of the repechage as the Irish crossed the finish line in 7:34.00. Ohio State was the winner of the heat in 7:21.12, followed by Michigan State (7:21.43) and Princeton (7:26.53). Notre Dame finished ahead of Tennessee which took fifth in 7:42.03.

The second repechage heat was won by Washington State (7:19.11), followed by Washington (7:19.93), Stanford (7:26.03), Wisconsin (7:27.02) and Yale (7:31.17).

Joining Notre Dame in the varsity fours Petite Final will be Princeton, Stanford, Tennessee, Wisconsin and Yale. “Across the board, I thought we raced very well today,” Irish head coach Martin Stone said. “We’ve learned a lot from our first NCAA competition as a team.

What we’ve learned most is that everyone is fast and that there is no margin for error. With all three of our boats in the Petite Finals of their respective races, we now are in position to finish in the top-10 of the standings. That would be a huge accomplishment for our program and something that we could build on for the future.”