United States Coast Guard Academy - Department of Athletics - Women's Crew

SHELTON, CONN.--(10/7/06)--USCGA Crew won gold in 4 of 6 events entered and garnered a bronze in one other in their first ever appearance at the Head of the Housatonic this past Saturday in Shelton, Connecticut. The winners, in order of racing, included the Women's Collegiate 4+, Men's Collegiate 8, Women's Collergiate 8 and the Men's Collegiate 4+ and the bronze medal went to the Women's Novice 8.

The Women's Collegiate 4+, with CGA having 2 entries, started off the day of racing in a very strong headwind and current against defending champ DII rival Dowling and the A Boat finshed finished first, out of 12 entries, in a time of 18:24.6, 3 seconds ahead of Dowling and 13 seconds ahead of third place finisher Mt. Holyoke A. The B Boat entry finished in fourth, 10 seconds behind Mt. Holyoke A.

In the Men's Collegiate 8's race, the Bears entered 3 boats, with all boats having had great races, finished in first, fifth and 10th out of 12 entries. The winning CGA boat posted a time of 14:42.2, 8 seconds in front of Fordham and and 10 seconds ahead of thrid place finisher Boston College.

After the lunch break, the three CGA Women's 8's entered in the Collegiate 8's race finished in first, fourth and eighth place out of 13 entries. Once again they found themselves racing defending champ Dowling who also raced in the fours earlier as well as DIII rivals Trinity, Mt Holyoke, Wellesley and Wesleyan. The CGA
Bears A Boat finished first in a time of 16:25:5, a definitive 6 seconds ahead of Dowling and 19 seconds ahead of Trinity, the 2006 Head of the Charles winner.

In the Men's 4+, the Bears once again captured gold in a time of 15:52.1, 5 seconds ahead of Dowling and 11 seconds of bronze medal finisher Boston College. The Bear's B Boat finished in sixth place.

In the Men's Collegiate 8's, the CGA Novice Men had a great race but ran up against some stiff competition from DI programs Brown and Yale and DIII rival Trinity. The Bear's eights finished fifth and eighth out of 8 crews entered.

And in the Womern's Collegiate 8, the Bear's lone entry opened up their season, with all but one of the rowers experiencing racing for the first time, with a bronze medal performance out of twelve entries, finishing only 8 seconds behind DIII rival Trinity but well off the pace set by DI UMass- Amherst.

The Bears will now work on selecting the Men's and Women's Collegiate and Club Eights that will represent the Academy at the Head of the Charles, October 21-22 in Boston.