United States Coast Guard Academy - Department of Athletics - Women's Crew - #4 Bears Beaten by #2 Williams; Defeat DI Marist

PITTSFIELD, MASS.--(4/26/08)--The Coast Guard Academy women's rowing team (ranked #4 in the CRCA/NCAA Division III national poll) went into this weekend ready for a showdown with some of the the top ranked DIII programs in the country including #2 Williams College, #3 Bates College, #6 Ithaca College, and DI Marist. The Bears came away with solid performances in preparation for next weekend's New England Championships.

The day started under cloudy skies, showers and extremely variable wind conditions, with varsity eights using a heat/finals format racing, with the heat winners and next fastest overall time advancing to the Grand Final. The Bears drew the first heat racing against Williams in a 2-boat heat. The Bears raced solidly against the defending national champions and finished in a time of 7:20.5; 7.5 seconds behind Williams. With the wind conditons ever-changing, the second heated posted a Bates, Ithaca and Marist finishing order and with times over ten seconds faster than heat one; so the Bears were relegated to the Petite Finals, never getting the opportunity to square off against Bates or Ithaca, where they won easily over DI Marist by a 17 second margin. Williams went on to win the Grand Final, beating Bates by just over 5 seconds and Ithaca by 14 seconds.

In the Varsity Fours event, the Bears 'A' boat posted a solid second place finishing 14 seconds behind the Williams' entry, consisting of their stern four from their varsity eight, and 20 seconds ahead of the Marist entry. The Bears 'B' entry finished in fourth.

In the Novice eight event, the Bears faced some of the fastest competition thus far and finished in fourth, behind Williams, Marist and Ithaca.

The Academy women will travel to Worcester, Mass. this coming weekend to compete in the New England Rowing Championships on Saturday, May 3 and the New England Fours Championships on Sunday, May 4. The full schedule, as well as directions to the venue, can be found at www.qra.org.