Jan. 8, 2001
The Notre Dame women’s rowing team will compete in the first-ever BIG EAST Conference sponsored rowing regatta as the 2001 BIG EAST Women’s Rowing Challenge is scheduled Sunday, April 29, at Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, Mass. The Quinsigamond Rowing Association (QRA) will host the event as all nine BIG EAST members currently sponsoring varsity women’s rowing will participate in the regatta including Boston College, Connecticut, Georgetown, Miami, Notre Dame, Rutgers, Syracuse, Villanova and West Virginia.
Lake Quinsigamond has been home to the New England Rowing Championship annually since 1975. In 2000, Lake Quinsigamond hosted four major regattas including The Champion International Collegiate Regatta, The New England Rowing Championship, the ECAC’s Eastern Sprints and The New England Interscholastic Regatta.
Traditionally, the BIG EAST schools who field rowing squads have held an non-sponsored regatta called the Georgetown Invitational on the water of the Potomac River in Washington DC.
“For the past seven or eight years, Georgetown has hosted an invitational with all the BIG EAST rowing teams without any official recognition,” Irish head coach Martin Stone said.
“Although it’s still on a trial basis, it is a big step for the conference to actually pay for the organization of the meet. Hopefully, we will soon have an official BIG EAST championship regatta now that we have the required number of teams.”
BIG EAST Conference commissioner Michael Tranghese expressed the conference’s interest in women’s rowing.
“The conference is excited to add this event and further develop a relationship with the QRA,” Tranghese said.
“The league continues to be committed to identifying new programs for women and the inclusion of this challenge creates more opportunities for our female student-athletes.”
The following is the schedule of events for the 2001 BIG EAST Rowing Challenge:
2001 BIG EAST Rowing Challenge Schedule
Sunday, April 29
Second Novice Eight
Novice Four
Varsity Lightweight Four
First Novice Eight
Varsity Lightweight Eight
Varsity Four
Second Varsity Eight
Varsity Eight