March 27, 1999

EAST LANSING, Mich. — The Notre Dame women’s rowing team, competing in just its second outdoor race of the 1999 spring season, won two races today in a tri-meet with Michigan State and Creighton.

The Lightweight Eight boat of Lezlie Potter, Emily Miner, Catherine Hammel, Patricia Oatley, Sarah Nelson, Angela Chaput, Barb Arleth and Katie Miller was victorious with a time of 7:30.91. The boat, which also included coxswain Erin Kiernicki, defeated the boat from Creighton which was ranked 12th nationally and finished in .

The Novice Eight boat of Michelle Olsgard, Courtney Mercer, Katherine Burnett, Kelly Cooney, Amy Braun, Erin Dowd, Katie Besson and Megan Feely with coxswain Kim Benard won its race as its with a time of 7:15.70, outdistanced the second-place boat from Michigan State which finished in 7:23.98. The Second Novice Eight boat of Stephanie Morris, Mimi Raleigh, Ceci Levelle, Katie Lewis, Heather Shannon, Annie Sutera, Theresa Ferry and Leah Ashe with coxswain Chana Jayme placed third in 7:30.98.

The Varsity Eight boat of Beth Cushing, Betsy Storey, Elizabeth Nerney, Katrina Ten Eyck, Quinn Vandenberg, Katie Fox, Allison Bartsch, Christine Nardi with coxswain Jade Benn was second in 7:21.40. MichIgan State’s boat, which ranks 13th nationally, won the race in 6:51.70.

Notre Dame also had second-place finishes by its Varsity Four, Second Varsity Four and Second Varsity Eight boats.

“I was very pleased BY everyone’s performance today,” first-year head coach Martin Stone says. “I’m excited with what our novice boats did and I thought our varsity crews also performed well. The Lightweight Eight boat was very impressive against a good group of rowers from Creighton. Their finish shows the strong progress we have made this season.”