April 28, 2007
Princeton, N.J. – The No. 6 Notre Dame varsity eight crew continued its streak of victories over to-10 boats this afternoon as the Irish defeated No. 5 Virginia, No. 7 Princeton and George Washington at Carnegie Lake in Princeton, N.J. The wins over Virginia and Princeton pushes Notre Dame’s string of wins over top-10 boats to five straight, the most wins over top-10 boats in the program’s nine-year history.
In other action on the afternoon, the second varsity eight, varsity four, novice eight and second varsity four boats finished third, while the novice four took second.
Notre Dame’s varsity eight crew of coxswain Maria Romano (River Forest, Ill.), Lauren Buck (Flint, Mich.), Meghan Boyle (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Christine Trezza (Staten Island, N.Y.), Allison Marsh (Mashpee, Mass.), Laura Pearson (Bloomington, Minn.), Mary Quinn (Plymouth Meeting, Pa.), Amanda Polk (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and Julie Sobolewski (Haddonfield, N.J.) finished the 2,000-meter course with a time of 6:19.1, better than two seconds ahead of second-place Virginia which posted a time of 6:21.9. Princeton was third in the race in 6:25.0, while George Washington was fourth in 6:47.5.
“Our varsity eight crew had another outstanding race and continued to race well against the top boats in the country,” head coach Martin Stone said. “We broke away from Virginia and Princeton at the 1,000-meter mark and rowed a steady race the rest of the way. This boat continues to get better with every race.”
Notre Dame’s second varsity eight crew of coxswain Sarah Keithley (Austin, Texas), Sarah Kate Hafner (Tampa, Fla.), Mallory Glass (Okemos, Mich.), Anni Nowhitney (Ballston Spa, N.Y.), Lindsay McQuaid (Beaverton, Ore.), Ankica Jedry (Chicago, Ill.), Jessica Guzik (Annandale, Va.), Elli Greybar (Western Springs, Ill.) and Brittney Kelly (Wexford, Pa.) finished third in 6:42.1, behind Virginia’s winning time of 6:21.0 and Princeton’s second-place time of 6:42.1.
The varsity four boat of coxswain Eileen Froehlke (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Laura Petnuch (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Erica Copeland (Marietta, Ga.), Shannon Cassel (Bettendorf, Iowa) and Mary Kate McNamara (North Potomac, Md.) was third in its four-boat race as the crew posted a time of 7:29.0. Virginia also was victorious in this race with a time of 7:16.2, while Princeton was second in 7:23.0. George Washington was fourth in 7:51.4.
Notre Dame’s novice eight crew of coxswain AZ Tice (Woodsbury, Minn.), Lisa Bunn (Wilsonville, Ore.), Casey Sullivan (Wilmettte, Ill.), Emily Backer (Cannelton, Ind.), Melissa Miller (Redding, Calif.), Kathleen Donahue (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Dana Gates (Peoria, Ill.), Casey Robinson (Dulles, Va.) and Kellyn Nestor (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.), which headed into Saturday’s race with an unblemished 7-0 record, finished third in losing its first race of the season. Virginia’s top two novice eight boats took1-2 in the race with the Virginia A boat posting a winning time of 6:42.1, while the second novice eight boat finished in 6:51.0. Notre Dame completed the course in 6:56.7, while George Washington was fourth in 7:24.2.
The second varsity four boat of coxswain Stephanie Szegedi (South Lyon, Mich.), Alyssa Teves (Denver, Colo.), Bridget Leone (Garden City, N.Y.), Erica Castro-Larsen (Lake Matthews, Calif.) and Brittany Burnham (Hilton Head, S.C.) finished third in its four-boat race with a time of 7:50.7, while Virginia A and Virginia B took the top two spots. Virginia’s A crew finished in 7:31.8, while Virginia B crossed the finish line in 7:33.3. Princeton was fourth in 7:57.1.
Notre Dame’s novice four boat of coxswain Katie DeMartini (San Mateo, Calif.), Katherine McMackin (Chevy Chase, Md.), Braegan Padley (Boise, Idaho), Carolina Elizondo (Clarence, N.Y.) and Andrea Archer (Redding, Conn.) finished with a time of 7:53.8, while Princeton won the race in 7:28.0. The Irish will be in action tomorrow (Sunday, April 29) at the BIG EAST Championships in Worcester, Mass.) as they look for an unprecedented fourth conference title.
“I think we learned a lot today,” Stone said. “A couple of our boats made a couple of mistakes today and we will look to correct them for tomorrow. We know that there are going to be some very tough races tomorrow at the BIG EAST.”