May 27, 2003
Notre Dame, Ind. – The Notre Dame rowing team once again earned many postseason awards as senior Ashlee Warren was named to the 2003 Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association all-Central Region first team announced late last week, while junior Natalie Ladine earned second-team honors. Also, Warren, senior coxswain Cassie Markstahler and sophomore Katie Chenoweth were named to the 2003 CRCA National Scholar-Athlete team.
Warren, from Gibsonburg, Ohio, earned her third consecutive first-team all-region honor. Sitting in the seventh seat of the first varsity eight, Warren helped the Irish to a seventh-place overall finish in the first eight race at the Central/South Sprints and a fifth-place mark among Central Region crews. In 2002, Warren became the first Notre Dame rower to earn CRCA All-America honors – being named to the second team – after leading the Irish varsity eight to its first-ever berth in the NCAA Rowing Championships.
The 2003 BIG EAST/A?ropostal? Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year for Notre Dame, Warren earned her second CRCA National Scholar-Athlete Award (she won her first award in 2001) this season. A pre-med/anthropology major with a 3.504 grade-point average, Warren graduated from Notre Dame in May and is attending medical school at Ohio State in the fall. Warren is also a candidate for an NCAA postgraduate scholarship and is a nominee for the 2003 NCAA Woman of the Year Award.
Ladine, from Sacramento, Calif., was named a second-team all-region award winner for the second straight year. Sitting in the stroke seat at the end of the season, Ladine helped the Irish to a second-place team and varsity eight finish at the 2003 BIG EAST Rowing Challenge and an invitation to the prestigious Windermere Cup in Seattle earlier this year. Ladine posted the third fastest erg score for the Irish in 2003 and will be a team leader next season for Notre Dame.
Markstahler earned her second consecutive National Scholar-Athlete award in 2003 after posting a 3.635 overall grade-point average in accounting. The native of North Manchester, Ind., posted a perfect 4.00 grade-point average in her final semester as she graduated from Notre Dame in May. She coxed the first varsity eight for the Irish in both 2002 and 2003.
Chenoweth received her first nod as a CRCA National Scholar-Athlete this season. Enrolled in the College of Arts and Letters, the native of East Lansing, Mich., posted a 3.683 overall grade-point average in her first two years at Notre Dame. A member of the first varsity eight, Chenoweth rowed in the second seat most of the season.
As a team, the Irish rowing team recorded an overall grade-point average of 3.312 for the 2003 spring semester. It marked the 11th consecutive semester under Notre Dame head coach Martin Stone the Irish have posted a 3.200 semester GPA or higher. Overall, the combined grade-point average of the rowing team, which consists of 65 women on both the varsity and novice rosters, is an impressive 3.317.