April 16, 2005
Notre Dame, Ind. –
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NOTRE DAME HOSTS CINCINNATI : Notre Dame will host Cincinnati in the only home regatta of the spring season on Sunday, April 17 beginning at 7:00 a.m. on the St. Joseph’s River in South Bend … Rowers will compete in six races.
THE SCHEDULE: Lineups and schedule still to be determined.
MICHIGAN STATE REGATTA CANCELLED: Notre Dame’s regatta on Tuesday, April 12 was cancelled due to high winds at the race site in East Lansing. Mich.
SEVEN YEARS YOUNG: The Notre Dame program is in its seventh season of competition at the varsity level … It was granted varsity status in 1996 and then competed in its first regatta in the fall of 1998 … The Irish claimed the BIG EAST Rowing Challenge title in 2004 after three consecutive runner-up finishes … The Irish varsity eight crew also earned an at-large berth in the NCAA Championships for the second time in school history and placed 11th … Notre Dame also was 16th in the final US Rowing/CRCA poll.
HEAD COACH Martin Stone: Martin Stone has been the only coach the Notre Dame rowing program has known … He was named head coach on October 29, 1997 after five years as head coach at the United States Naval Academy … Stone has guided the Irish varsity eight to two NCAA appearances — 2002 (finished 16th) and 2004 (finished 11th) … Last season, he was selected BIG EAST Coach of the Year after leading the Irish to their first-ever team title at the 2004 BIG EAST Rowing Challenge.
THE CAPTAINS: Senior coxswain Maureen Gibbons (Langhorne, Pa.) and senior stroke Meredith Thornburgh (Indianapolis, Ind.) will serve as captains for the 2004-05 campaign … Gibbons was a member of the Irish varsity eight crew which won the BIG EAST title and earned an at-large berth in the NCAA Championships in 2004 … Thornburgh rowed in the first varsity four boat that won the gold medal in that event last season.
INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE: Freshman Amanda Polk (Pittsburgh, Pa.) was a member of the United States Rowing Junior National Team in the summer of 2004 that competed at the FISA Senior and Junior World Rowing Championships in Banyoles, Spain … She was a member of the junior women’s eight crew that won the B final to earn a seventh-place finish overall in the event.
IRISH AND CINCINNATI WILL MEET NEXT YEAR IN BIG EAST REGATTA: The 2005-06 season will mark Cincinnati’s entrance into the BIG EAST Conference … The Bearcats will take part in the 2006 BIG EAST Championships next season.
NEXT UP FOR THE IRISH: Notre Dame will row in a pair of events next weekend … On Saturday, April 23, Notre Dame will face Harvard and Yale in Boston, Mass. … The following day, on Sunday, April 24, the Irish will look to defend their BIG EAST crown at the 2005 BIG EAST Championships in Worcester, Mass. … At last year’s championships, the Irish tied a meet record by winning four of five races to claim their first-ever crown.