March 25, 2006
Grand Rapids, Mich. – The Irish rowing team won six of seven races on Saturday afternoon at the Lubbers Cup in Grand Rapids, Mich., under less than ideal rowing conditions. Notre Dame was victorious in the varsity eight, second varsity eight, varsity four, third varsity four, novice eight and second novice eight races, while the second varsity four crew finished second. Due to a mishap before the start of the second varsity eight race, the Irish “b” boat was forced to row in the varsity eight race and finished fourth.
The Irish boats had to weather through some unpleasant weather conditions that saw hail fall on three separate occasions.
“I thought we raced well and hard under hard conditions,” Irish head coach Martin Stone said. ” I’m happy how we handled the racing conditions and I could see that each of our boats had improved from the previous week.
“As I told the team, they can be happy with their performance today, but we now need to focus on next weekend’s regatta at the San Diego Crew Classic where we are going to go up against seven of the top 20 teams nationally.”
**Please note that times and order of finish of the races were not immediately available, but will be posted as soon as they become available.**
Notre Dame’s varsity eight boat was comprised of coxswain Maria Romano (River Forest, Ill.), Julie Sobolewski (Haddonfield, N.J.), Amanda Polk (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Mary Quinn (Plymouth Meeting, Pa.), Laura Pearson (Bloomington, Minn.), Allison Marsh (Mashpee, Mass.), Melissa Felker (Bellvue, Wash.), Megan Boyle (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and Sarah Palandech (Lakenheath, United Kingdom).
The second varsity eight “A” crew consisted of coxswain Eileen Froehlke (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Ankica Jedry (Chicago, Ill.), Jessica Guzik (Annandale, Va.), Meghan Boyle (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Danielle Stealy (Culver, Ind.), Elli Greybar (Watersprings, Ill.), Kendra Short (Everett, Wash.), Sarah Kate Hafner (Tampa, Fla.) and Pamela Jefson (Kalamazoo, Mich.).
Rowing for the second varsity “B” crew that finished fourth in the varsity eight race were coxswain Sarah Keithley (Austin, Texas), Casey Fairbanks (Dandridge, Tenn.), Shannon Cassel (Bettendorf, Iowa), Kristan Madison (Saginaw, Mich.), Brittany Burnham (Hilton Head, S.C.), Ashley St. Pierre (Kingston, N.H.), Lindsay McQuaid (Beaverton, Ore.), Mary McNamara (North Potomac, Md.) and Danielle Leary (Shrewsbury, Mass.).
The varsity four boat that took first was made up of coxswain Shannan Lettieri (Cairo, N.Y.), Cassel, Madison, Fairbanks and McNamara, while the second varsity four crew that earned a second-place finish in its race consisted of Christina Padayhag (Kwajalein, Marshall Islands), Erica Castro-Larsen (Lake Matthews, Calif.), Alyssa Teves (Denver, Colo.) and Kaitlin Jackson (West Bloomfield, Mich.).
Notre Dame took one-two in the third varsity eight race. The winning crew was coxswain Kelsey Young (McLean, Va.), Mallory Glass (Okemos, Mich.), Teves, Christine Trezza (Staten Island, N.Y.) and Lauren Buck, while coxswain Kelsey Otero (Mequon, Wis.), Laura Petnuch (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Amanda Gonzales (Redlands, Calif.), Megan Black (Cedar Rapids, Ia.) and Erica Copeland (Marietta, Ga.) finished second.
Both of Notre Dame’s novice eight boats were impressive and won each of their races. Rowing in the first novice eight boat was coxswain Stephanie Szegedi (South Lyon, Mich.), Glass, Greybar, Trezza, Buck, Black, Gonzales. Petnuch and Copeland, while coxswain Sarah Sullivan (Norwich, Conn.), Stephanie Bauer (Wilmington, Ohio), Kelsey Reno (Freeland, Mich.), Kate Sylvia (Tiburon, Calif.), Bridget Leone (Garden City, N.Y.), Vanessa Milano (The Woodlands, Texas), Katherine Notter (Ballston Spa, N.Y), Sabrina Barbosa (Azusa, Calif.) and Katie Elverman (Hartland, Wis.) made up the second novice eight crew.
Notre Dame returns to action next weekend at the prestigious San Diego Crew Classic in San Diego, Calif. The two-day regatta will be held Sat.-Sun., April 1-2.