United States Coast Guard Academy - Department of Athletics - Women's Crew - Varsity Eight Wins Petite Final at ECAC National Invite

WORCESTER, MASS.--(5/11/08)--The Coast Guard Academy Womenʼs Varsity 8 was edged out of the Grand Final by less than a length finishing fourth behind DI University of New Hampshire in their A/B Semi-Final on Sunday morning at the ECAC National Invitational held on Lake Quinsigamond.

The Bears qualified for the their Semifinal by finishing in the top two in their heat on Saturday evening, finishing second to the eventual 2008 ECAC Champion Williams College while beating two teams that finished ahead of them at the 2007 NCAA's, William Smith and Mary Washington as well as the University of Vermont.

Later on Sunday, racing for finishing positions 7 through 12, the Bears got locked up with D1 rival Holy Cross, helping to pull both of them away from the field while both crews battled over the 2000 meter course. Entering the last 500 meters of the race, the two crews were even with the Bears showing a strong sprint ability and pulled out to about a third of length lead to win in a time of 7:05.3. This finish position and time placed them as the sixth fastest overall DIII competitor.

In the Women's Varsity Four event, an event that that CGA had qualified for the first time ever, the Bears qualified for the Grand Finals by finishing in the top three in their heat in the morning. In the afternoon Grand Final, the CGA four had the best race of the season and challenged for third most of the race but fell back into the fourth finish position in the windy conditions on Sunday afternoon.

In the Women's Novice 8 event, the Bears qualified for the Petites in the morning and then definitely had the best race of their season finishing in second place in the Petite, just 6 seconds behind William Smith but ahead of New England rival Trinity, to have an 8th place overall finish.

As a team, the CGA Women's team, finished 7th in the points total out of 27 teams competing. The complete results can be found in the Results sections at www.row2k.com.

The Bears now wait to see if they will receive an invitation on Tuesday, May 13 to the 2008 NCAA DIII National Rowing Championships to be held in Sacramento, California at the end of the month.