June 10, 2008
Notre Dame, Ind. – Notre Dame rower Amanda Polk (Pittsburgh, Pa.) has carved a unique niche in the short history of Irish women’s rowing program as a first team member of the 2008 Division I Pocock All-America Team as selected by the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association (CRCA). It marked the third consecutive year the Irish senior had earned first-team All-America honors.
Polk, who also was a four-time CRCA all-Central Region honoree and rowed with the varsity eight throughout her career, was a second-team All-America selection as a freshman.
This past season, the four-time monogram winner’s boat finished 18th in the final CRCA/US Rowing poll and won a gold medal at the BIG EAST Championships for the third consecutive season that helped the Irish to an unprecedented fifth consecutive conference title. In addition, the Irish finished second in the Petite Final at the Central/South Region Championships. Polk also served as a tri-captain during the 2007-08 season.
During Polk’s career, Notre Dame achieved unmatched success, earning back-to-back berths in the NCAA Championships. In 2006, in the program’s first-ever appearance in the team competition, the Irish earned a ninth-place finish, and followed that up with a 12th-place finish in 2007. Her ’06 varsity crew won the Petite Final at the NCAA Championships after winning the golf medal at the Central/South Region Championship and finished fifth in the final CRCA/US Rowing ranking. In ’07, Notre Dame finished in the top-10 of the national rankings with a sixth-place finish and placed third at the Central/South regionals.