United States Coast Guard Academy - Department of Athletics - Women's Crew - Cardiac Bears Late Push puts them in Grand Final at NCAA's

GOLD RIVER, CA.--(5/30/08)--The Coast Guard Academy women's varsity eight, which was all but out of the Grand Qualifier with 500 meters to go, kicked it into another gear and finished third to become the first Division III at-large eight to earn a spot in the Grand Final at the NCAA Division III Women's Rowing Championships at Lake Notoma.

Before the race, Coast Guard grabbed the attention of the spectators as a C-130 cargo plane did a fly by at Lake Notoma as part of at training mission.

Coast Guard, which is making it first appearance in the Grand Final since 2004, needed to finish in the top three of the six boat Grand Qualifier, but got off to a slow start and were fifth after the first 500 meters. The Bears made up some ground and moved into fourth place at the halfway point (1,000 meters).

It appeared the Bears would not qualify for the Grand Final as they were 2.5 seconds behind third-place Bates with just 500 meters to go before the Coast Guard crew simply dominated the final 500 meters of the race posting a blistering time of 1:45.61 down the stretch to finish with a time of 7:07.80 to beat Bates which had a time of 7:08.22

Coast Guard also had the fastest time in the third 500 meters of the race with a time of 1:49.02 as the Bears, who trailed Puget Sound by seven seconds with 1,000 meters to go were beaten by just over one second by Puget Sound (7:06.53) as Ithaca placed second with a time of 7:07.08.

The Bears Varsity 8 became the first Division III at-large eight to earn a spot in the Grand Final.

In the morning's Grand Qualifer, the Bears placed third in the opening heat. Defending national champion Williams won the heat with a time of 6:46.84, St. Lawrence placed second (6:55.07) while the Bears were third with a time of 6:56.43.

The varsity eight consists of four seniors; coxswain Tenley Barna, All-American Adriana Knies, Emily Holt and Sarah Southard, a trio of juniors, Maggie Ward, Lauren Milici and Rory Keegan and a pair of freshmen Kate Dacimo and Sarah Jane Otey.

In the morning race, the Bears were fourth after the first 500 meters, but made a move to slide into third place at the halfway point (1,000 meters). Trinity's second varsity eight was in second after 1,000 meters.

St. Lawrence surged past Coast Guard into third place as the team's entered the final 500 meters. The Bears responded and as St. Lawrence kept up the pace, Coast Guard raced past the Trinity entry to secure a spot in the Grand Qualifier. Trinity finished in 6:57.55, over a second behind the Bears.

Coast Guard will compete for the school's first ever National Championship in the Grand Final which will consist of Coast Guard, Williams, Williams II, Trinity, Puget Sound and Ithaca and will take place on Saturday at 10:30 am PST, 1:30 EST.