April 2, 2005
San Diego, Calif. – The Notre Dame rowing team enjoyed a strong day of competition at the prestigious San Diego Classic on Mission Bay as the Irish open eight crew qualified for tomorrow’s Grand Final, while the varsity eight will row in the Petite Final of the Jessop-Whittier Cup. The Irish second varsity eight and novice eight crews also will row in Sunday’s Petite Finals.
“This was a strong day of competition and good all-around effort for all of our boats,” head coach Martin Stone said. “This was really the first time all season that we rowed a full 2,000-meter race. We rowed very hard and I think we learned a lot today going up against some strong competition. We’re looking forward to the competition tomorrow and to improve up on performances of today.”
In the first heat of the prestigious Jessop-Whittier Cup race, Notre Dame’s varsity eight crew of coxswain senior Maureen Gibbons (Langhorne, Pa.), sophomore, Jessica Guzik (Annandale, Va.), senior Rachel Polinski (Mansfield, Ohio), freshman Amanda Polk (Pittsburgh, Pa.), freshman Mary Quinn (Plymouth Meeting, Pa.), junior Sarah Palandech (Lakenheath, United Kingdom), senior Kathleen Chenoweth (East Lansing, Mich.) and junior Melissa Felker (Bellevue, Wash.) finished fourth with a time of 7:03.21. No. 8 California won the heat and finished with the fastest time overall crossing the finish line in 6:46.5. Also finishing ahead of the Irish wwere No. 14 USC (6:55.05) and No. 16 Washington State (7:00.88). Oregon State took fifth with a time of 7:04.87, while Loyola-Marymount 7:11.26.
In heat 2 of the Jessop-Whittier, Stanford posted the morning’s second best time overall with the Cardinal finishing with a time of 6:53.00. No. 19 UCLA finished in 6:42.42, followed by No. 10 Tennesee in third place with a time of 6:55.87, No. 17 Texas (6.55.87) and Purdue (7:16.67).
Notre Dame took fourth in the second heat of the second varsity eight race and posted the sixth best time amongst the 12 crews in the two heats. The crew of senior Caitlin Rackish (Williamsport, Pa.), senior Meredityh Thornburgh (Indianapolis, Ind.), freshman Ankica (Chicago, Ill.), senior Elizabeth Specht (Berekely, Calif.), sophomore Alyssa Close (South Dennis, Mass.), freshman Brittany Burnham (Hilton Head, S.C.), junior Andrea Doud (Redford, Mich.), junior Pamela Jefson (Kalamazoo, Mich.) and sophomore Sarah Kate Hafner (Tampa, Fla.) finished wth course with a time of 7:10.69. Stanford won the race in 7:01.00 with the second-best overall time, followed by Washington State (7:04.49) and Miami (7:09.38). San Diego State and California-Irvine finished behind the Irish with times of 7:13.59 and 8:07.89, respectively.
In heat 1 of the second varsity eight race, California won the heat with the morning’s best overall time of 6:58.8 Texas was second in 7:02.90, followed by Oregon State (7:14.99), Sacramento State (7:17.18), Central Florida (7:30.57) and San Diego “B” (8:309.74).
Notre Dame’s novice eight crew enjoyed a successful afternoon as it posted the fifth fastest time amongst the 21 boats entered in the event. The Irish crew of freshman coxswain of freshmen Christina Padayhag (Kwajalein, Mich.), Julie Sobolewski (Haddonfield, N.J.), Lindsay McQuaid (Beaverton, Ore.), Casey Fairbanks (Dandridge, Tenn.), Kathleen Linzmeier (Coto de Caza, Calif.), Carolyn Sarb (Lisle, Ill.), Laura Pearson (Bloomington, Minn.), Kristan Madison (Saginaw, Mich.) and sophomore Megan Marshall (South Bend, Ind.) were third in the heat 2, behind UCLA (7:02.1) and Oregon State (7:04.43). UC-San Diego took fourth in the heat with a time of 7:32.91, followed by UC-Santa Barbara (7:32.32), Santa Clara (7:38.77) and Chapman (8:38.57).
In the first heat of the novice eight competition, California finished with a time of 7:06.1 to post the third-fastest time. San Diego State took second in the heat in 7:21.72, followed by USC (7:24.56), Loyola-Marymount (7:33.99), St. Joseph’s (7:39.16), Sonoma State (7:39.66) and Colorado (7:50.19).
In heat 3, Texas was first in 7:11.27 and had the day’s fourth fastest time, followed by Washington State (7:15.11), Sacramento State (7:18.02), UC-Davis (7:24.45), San Diego (7:25.21), UC-Irvine (7:36.51) and Claremont (8:08.18).
In the open eight race, Notre Dame crew of coxswain junior Shannan Lettieri (Cairo, N.Y.), senior Shannon Mohan (Naperville, Ill.), senior Kati Sedun (Lake Oswego, Ore.), sophomore Shannon Cassel (Bettendorf, Iowa), junior Danielle Stealy (Culver, Ind.), senior Kristin Henkel (Manchester, Conn.), senior Devon Hegeman (Haddonfield, N.J.), senior Tricia Hale (Page, Ariz.) and sophomore Ariel Klingaman (Canton, Ohio) had the third best time amongst the 19 entrants.
Notre Dame rowed in heat 1 and finished second behind Cal (6:54.3) as the Irish registered a time of 7:05.49. St. Mary’s (Calif.) took third in the heat in 7:09.95, followed by the Tempe Rowing Club (7:21.56), the Lions Rowing Club (7;24.97) and UCI Alumnis (7:52.13).
In heat 2 of the open eight, USC Alumni posted a time of 7:04.55, followed by San Diego Rowing Club (7:07.16), UCLA (7:12.22), River City (7:18.37), Texas (7:18.70), Blair Island (7:32.47) and San Diego (8:00.92).
In the third heat of the race, USC took first with a time of 7:08.5 and was followed by California Alumnis (7:12.97), Sacramento State Alumni (7:;13.04), Lake Union (7:23.24), Santa Clara (7:40.89) and UC-Santa Barbara (8:03.57).