Nov. 8, 2010
LAKE KARAPIRO, New Zealand – Former University of Notre Dame women’s rower Amanda Polk captured another gold medal on Saturday at the 2010 World Championships on Lake Karapiro in New Zealand. The gold medal, which came as a member of the United States women’s eight boat, now gives her three in international competition with the United States team.
The American boat cruised to victory, pulling away down the stretch for nearly a four second victory over second place Canada. The United States crew crossed the gate in 6:12.42, securing the fourth-straight gold medal for the women’s eight boat at the World Championships, dating back to 2007.
For Polk, it represents her second medal at the World Championships, previously helping her women’s four boat grab the silver medal last year in Poznan, Poland.
Along with her successes at the World Championships, Polk also has medaled twice more, helping the women’s eight-boat claim gold at the ’10 FISA Rowing World Cup III in Lucerne, Switzerland and her Under-23 women’s eight boat captured gold at the ’08 FISA World Rowing Championships in Brandenburg, Germany.
Polk remains the standard in Notre Dame rowing with her accomplishments in the water from 2004-08. She is the only Irish rower to be named a Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association (CRCA) All-American four-times, including three years on the first team. She was also named a CRCA All-Central Region first-team honoree all four years at Notre Dame, while being named to the BIG EAST All-Academic team twice for her accomplishments in the classroom.
During her era in South Bend, the Irish achieved unprecedented success by earning back-to-back berths in the NCAA Championships. In `06, in the program’s first-ever appearance in the team competition, Notre Dame grabbed a ninth-place finish, and followed that up with a 12th-place finish in `07. Her ’06 varsity eight crew won the Petite Final at the NCAA Championships after winning the gold medal at the Central/South Sprints and finished fifth in the final CRCA/US Rowing rankings. In ’07, Notre Dame finished in the top-10 of the national rankings with a sixth-place finish after placing third at the Central/South Sprints.
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