Oct. 17, 2002

Notre Dame, Ind. – The Notre Dame novice rowing team will compete in its first regatta of the season Saturday, Oct. 19, at the Head of the Grand in East Lansing, Mich. The 3,300-meter course on the Grand River will feature head-style racing for the novice crews, which primarily consist of freshmen who have just started the sport of rowing.

The novice roster is very important in the overall development of the Notre Dame rowing program. From the 2001-02 novice roster, 12 women made the jump to the varsity roster for the 2002-03 season adding increased depth throughout the entire program. Overall, almost every person on the varsity roster spent some time working with the novice team, including senior Ashlee Warren, who went on to become Notre Dame’s first rowing All-American by earning second-team honors last season.

Notre Dame will be sending three crews to East Lansing for Saturday’s race. Rowing in the first shell will be coxswain Meeghan Conroy, stroke Karen Carlaccini, Sarah French, Pamela Jefson, Megan Sheehan, Jenna Redgate, Cat Schmidt, Andrea Schmidt and Nikki Karis.

In the second eight will be coxswain Nicole Barczak, stroke Lindsay Buehler, Beth Caron, Meghan O’Neil, Morgan Ertel, Erin Doyle, Rachel Neidert, Liz Hagen and Marcia Luttio.

The Irish third boat will feature coxswain Alison Kelly, stroke Kat Brown, Rachel Kemp, Julie Lewis, Rebecca Spohrer, Katie Hanafin, Jessica Fox, Laura Joyce and Laura Froyen.

Shannan Lettieri will serve as the spare coxswain on Saturday, while Alison Ruddy will be the non-traveling spare rower.

Results will be available Sunday afternoon on www.und.com.