March 8, 2008
Oak Ridge, Tenn. – The Notre Dame rowing team concluded its eight-day spring break training trip in Oak Ridge, Tenn., by winning all nine races against Northeastern. The Irish were victorious in all three varsity eight, varsity four races and novice eight races.
The varsity eight blue boat won the opening race. The crew of coxswain Kelsey Otero (Meqoun, Wis.), Casey Robinson (Dulles, Va,), Anni Nowhitney (Ballston Spa, N.Y.), Emily Crosby (Long Branch, N.J.),Kristan Madison (Saginaw, Mich.), Christine Trezza (Staten Island, N.Y.), Allison Marsh (Mashpee, Mass.), Lauren Buck (Flint, Mich.) and Julie Sobolewski (Haddonfield, N.J.) crossed the finish line in 5:08,8, while the varsity eight gold crew of coxswain Stephanie Szegedi (South Lyon, Mich.), Erica Copeland (Mariette, Ga.), Brittney Kelly (Wexford, Pa.), Carol Ann Michel (Princeton, N.J.), Elli Greybar (Western Springs, Ill.), Kendra Short (Everett, Wash.), Laura Pearson (Bloomington, Minn.), Mary Quinn (Plymouth Meeting, Pa.) and Amanda Polk (Pittsburgh, Pa.) crossed the finish line in second with a time of 5:10.13. Northeastern A finished in 5:13.1, while its B crew posted a time of 5:20.00.
In the second of three varsity eight races, Notre Dame Blue was again victorious with a time of 5:10.4, followed by Northeastern A 5:11.1, Notre Dame Gold 5:13.7 and Northeastern B 5:20.0.
The third race of the day between the four crews saw Notre Dame Gold come away with a victory with a time of 5:08.2, while Notre Dame Blue finished second in 5:09.9. Northeastern A was third in 5:17.8 and Northeastern B was fourth in 5:36.6.
Notre Dame had three boats in the three varsity four races that were contested. In the first varsity four races, the Irish Gold crew of Sarah Keithley (Austin, Tex.), Megan Keegan (Canton, Ohio), Katherine Linnemanstons (Milwaukee, Wis.), Bridget Leone (Garden City, N.Y.) and Ankica Jedrey (Chicago, Ill.) posted a time of 5:53.0. Notre Dame also swept the next two places with the green crew of coxswain Katherine McMackin (Chevy Chase, Md.), Braegan Padley (Boise, Idaho), Lisa Bunn (Wilsonville, Ore.), Kaitlin Jackson (West Bloomfiefld, Mich.) and Lindsey McQuaid (Beaverton, Ore.) finishing with a time of 5:56.0, follwed by the Irishh Blue boat of coxswain Rachael Louie (Summit, N.J.), Danielle Leary (Shrewsbury, Mass.), Mary Kate McNamara (North Potomac, Md.), Brittney Burnham (Hilton Head, S.C.) and Mallory Glass (Okemos, Mich.) finished in 6:02.0. Northeastern’s lone boat in the race posted a time of 6:36.0.
In the second varsity four race, Notre Dame’s Gold boat was first in 5:46.0, while the Green crew was second in 5:50.0. The Blue crew, which was made up of Louie, Lauren Petnuch (Pittsburgh, Pa,), McNamara, Burnham and Glass was third in 5:59, while Northeastern finished in fourth in 6:20.0.
Notre Dame also swept the first three places in the final varsity four race with the Gold crew earning its third victory of the day with a time of 5:57.0. The Blue crew, which was made up of the same rowers that participated in the second race took second in 6:01, while the Green boat featured McMackin, Leary, Jackson and McQuaid as that crew posted a time of 6:06.0. Northeastern finished the race with a time of 6:35.0.
Notre Dame’s novice A boat of coxswain Christy Le (Vietnam), Neva Lundy (Santa Monica, Calif.), Elise Smith (Summit, N.J.), Shannon Kiernan (Glen Ridge, N.J.), Mary Teresa DeSipio (Bryn Mawr, Pa.), Erika Shults (Virginia Beach, Va.), Stephanie Gretsch (Downers Grove, Ill.), Christina Buckley (Huntington, N.Y.) and Genevieve Malone (Dayton, Ohio) won all three of the novice races in times of 5:28.8, 5:44.9 and 5:35.8, while the Irish novice B boat of coxswain Jimena DiOrio (Asuncion, Paraguay, Sarah Gray (Midland, Mich.), Melissa Nolan (Dayton, Ohio), Brianna Krafcik (Aurora, Ohio), Elaine Amoresano (Ridgewood, N.J.), Kristen Andree (Bloomfield Village, Mich.), Paige White (Muenster, Tex.), Amanda Cosfol (Broomall, Pa.) and Calley Ryckman (Wyandotte, Mich.) was third behind Northeastern in all three races with times of 6:03.6, 6:04.3 and 6:03.0.
“We had a good week of training outdoors and trained ver y hard,” head coach Martin Stone said. “I was pleased with how we responded in our first races of the season. We know what we need to work on, but all in all, it was happy with our performance.”
Notre Dame returns to action in three weeks when they travel to Palo Alto, Calif., for the Windemere Real Estate Rowing Classic, Sat.-Sun., March 29-30. Some members of the team also we be competing in the Lubbers Cup in Grand Rapids, Mich., on March 29.