April 25, 2002

Notre Dame, Ind. – After taking the weekend off from competition, the Notre Dame rowing team fell one spot to 10th nationally in the latest US Rowing/Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association poll. It marks the second consecutive week Notre Dame has appeared in the top 10. Last week, the Irish achieved the highest ranking in the five-year history of the program at ninth, marking the first time Notre Dame has been ranked in the top 10 nationally.

Washington continues to hold the top spot with 19 first-place votes and 494 points. Brown is second with the six remaining first-place votes and 481 points, while Michigan held steady in third with 423 points. Princeton moved up one sport to fourth with 411 points, while Ohio State fell one place to fifth with 396 points. Yale checks in at No. 6, while Stanford, Cal, Harvard and Notre Dame make up the rest of the top 10.

Notre Dame has one of it biggest weekends of the year when it travels to Worchester, Mass., Sunday, April 28, for the 2002 BIG EAST Rowing Challenge. All conference teams who sponsor rowing, including 13th-ranked Syracuse, will compete on Lake Quinsigamond. Races begin Sunday at 8:10 a.m. with heat one of the Varsity Four and conclude at 1:30 p.m. with the grand final of the Varsity Eight.

Team (1st-Place Votes)           Points    Previous Rank 1.  University of Washington (19)       494     12.  Brown University (6)            481     23.  University of Michigan          423     34.  Princetone University           411     55.  The Ohio State University           396     46.  Yale University             359     77.  Stanford University             355     68.  University of California at Berkeley    340     49.  Harvard University              293     1010. University of Notre Dame            267     911. University of Virginia          254     1112. Michigan State University           214     1313. Syracuse University             211     1214. Washington State University         143     1415. University of Southern California       121     1516. Northeastern University         106     1617. Oregon State University         103     2018. Cornell University                83        1719. Duke University               67        18t20. Boston University                 51        18t

Others receiving votes: Columbia University 44, University of Texas 16, University of Minnesota 7, Clemson University 6, Boston College 2, University of Iowa 2, University of Wisconsin 1.