Aug. 10, 2009
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Former Notre Dame rower Amanda Polk (’08), the first four-time All-American in Irish rowing history and a member of the 2008 United States Under-23 National Team, has been named to the 2009 World Rowing Championships Team. Polk will compete as a member of the women’s four boat that will be rowing for the United States from August 23-30 in Poznan, Poland.
Polk will be part of a twelve-crew team that will be competing in the Championships. She will be competing in the women’s four alongside Elle Logan, Jamie Redman and Esther Lofgren. The team secured its berth by finishing the qualifying race in a time of 6:37.83, 6.6 seconds ahead of the second-place crew of USTC teammates Megan Smith, Suzanne Van Fleet, Karen Colwell and Kelsie Chaudoin in the finals.
Polk will look to build off of her `08 success in the Championships held in Bradenburg, Germany. She, along with the crew of the women’s eight, was able to capture the gold medal in the Under-23 event.
Polk concluded her Notre Dame career as the most decorated rower in program history. As a senior, she garnered first team All-America honors by the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association (CRCA) for the third consecutive year and concluded her career as a four-time honoree after earning second-team accolades as a freshman. Polk, a four-time CRCA all-Central Region first-team selection, rowed in the varsity eight boat throughout her career.
A four-time monogram winner and tri-captain during the 2007-08 campaign, she led the varsity eight boat to a final ranking of 18th in the CRCA/US Rowing poll and helped her crew to a third consecutive gold medal at the BIG EAST Championships as Notre Dame won the team title for the fifth consecutive year.
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 grabbed a ninth-place finish, and followed that up with a 12th-place finish in 2007. Her ’06 varsity eight crew won the Petite Final at the NCAA Championships after winning the gold medal at the Central/South Region Championships 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 and placed third at the Central/South regionals.
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