March 29, 2008
Redwood Shores, Calif. – The Notre Dame rowing team won two of three races against both Stanford and UCLA on the opening day of competition at the Pac-10 Challenge presented by Windemere. The Irish second varsity eight and varsity four crews were victorious against the Cardinal, while the varsity eight and second varsity eight boats were victorious against UCLA.
Notre Dame’s varsity eight boat, ranked 14th in the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association/US Rowing poll, went head-to-head against No. 10 Stanford in its first race of the morning. The crew of coxswain Kelsey Otero (Meqoun, Wis.), Lauren Buck (Flint, Mich.) Kendra Short (Everett, Wash.), Christine Trezza (Staten Island, N.Y.), Allison Marsh (Mashpee, Mass.), Laura Pearson (Bloomington, Minn.), Julie Sobolewski (Haddonfield, N.J.), Amanda Polk (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and Mary Quinn (Plymouth Meeting, Pa.) finished with a time of 7:02.45, seven seconds behind Stanford’s winning time of 6:55.0.
Against No. 13 UCLA, the Irish rebounded to post a better than five-second victory over the Bruin boat as Notre Dame posted a time of 7:25.1, while UCLA finished in 7:31.6.
“I thought we raced fairly well, especially in the second race,” head coach Martin Stone said. “We came out flat against Stanford and fell behind early. Stanford is too good to not be at your best when you start the race. We regrouped against UCLA in the afternoon and felt that we had did a much better job.”
The second varsity crew of coxswain Stephanie Szegedi (South Lyon, Mich.), Brittney Kelly (Wexford, Pa.), Carol Ann Michel (Princeton, N.J.), Emily Crosby (Long Branch, N.J.), Kristan Madison (Saginaw, Mich.), Elli Greybar (Western Springs, Ill.), Anni Nowhitney (Ballston Spa, N.Y.), Casey Robinson (Dulles, Va.) and Erica Copeland (Marietta, Ga.) won both of its races. The Irish bested Stanford in the opening race by just less than 13 seconds with a winning time of 7:13.8, while the Cardinal finished in 7:26.4. In its second race, Notre Dame edged out the Bruins but just over two seconds as the Irish crossed the finish line in 7:28.9, while UCLA complete the course in 7:31.1.
“Our second varsity eight boat raced extremely well in the morning,” Stone said. “We had a tough second half of the race against UCLA, but we were able to hold them off during their late charge at the end.”
The varsity four crew of coxswain Sarah Keithley (Austin, Tex.), Mary Kate McNamara (North Potomac, Md.), Mallory Glass (Okemos, Mich.), Bridget Leone (Garden City, N.Y.) and Ankica Jedry (Chicago, Ill.) split its two races as they posted a win against Stanford before falling to the Bruins in the afternoon. The Irish bested the Cardinal by more than 30 second in its opening race with a winning time of 8:38.0, while Stanford finished in 9:11.6 In its second race of the day, Notre Dame posted a time of 8:54.1, while the Bruins were first in 8:41.1.
“The varsity four had an excellent race against Stanford in the morning session,” Stone said. “In the afternoon, UCLA got out early on us and we were unable to keep up with them. I thought we raced well in the tough conditions, but were not together enough to be effective.”