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

NEW LONDON, CONN.--(4/7/07)--The US Coast Guard Academy women's rowing team hosted their first home race of the season Saturday with solid performances under perfect conditions on the Thames.

The day started with the Bear's Varsity eight (ranked #4 in the CRCA/NCAA Division III polls) squaring off against rival Trinity College (ranked #2) in a much anticipated early season race. Off the line, both eights were level and maintained that position approaching the 1000 where Trinity pushed out to a two seat advantage. As they passed through the 1000m, or halfway, mark in the race the Bantams made a tremendous burst, raising the rate to 38 to the Bear's 33, and surged out to an open water advantage in 10 strokes and put the race out of reach for the Bears. Although both boats battled hard over the remainder of the race the Bears were never able to close the gap and finished in a time of 6:54.4, just over 9 seconds off of Trinity. The Varsity 8 was comprised of Christy Davis (Sr), Heidi Schmidt (Sr), Lauren Milici (Jr), Emily Holt (Jr), Adriana Knies (Jr), Sarah Southard (Jr), Maggie Ward (So), Sarah Thompson (So), and Kelly Haupt (Sr).

The women's varsity second varsity 8 had their best race of the season thus far. Both boats got off the line extremely quickly and established early on that this was going to be a hard fought race. Over the first 1000 meters of the race, the Bears pushed out to a 3-4 seast lead only to have Trinity pull level coming through the 1200 meter mark. The Bears responded with a move of their own and that was good enough to begin a momentum swing that would see them gain as much as 6 seats finishing in time of 7:12.8 to Trinity's time of 7:14.5. The Second Varsity 8 consisted of Margaret Brown (Sr), Kate Gillen (So), Rory Keegan (So), Lelea Littlefield (So), Shannon McElroy (Jr), Alyssa VanDelden (So), Ashley Stone (So), Nikki Dillinger (So), and Stephanie Young (Sr).

And, once again, the women's novice 8 posted a great race with two new freshman rowers in the boat this weekend. The two crews rowed almost completely level until the 1250 meter mark when the experience and a very solid rhythm, saw the Bantams secure the lead and finish 6 seconds of the Bears who finished in a time of 7:39.6. The Novice 8 consisted of Jess Vogel (Fr), Loren Derrico (Fr), Kate McHenry (Fr), Sarah Bradley (Fr), Ashley Lerner (So), Caitlin Cunningham (Fr), Courtney Wolf (Fr), Jaimala Requena (Fr), and Yahaira Cervantes (Fr).

The Academy women will travel to Lowell, Massachusetts next Saturday morning, April 14, to take on Colby College, UMass-Lowell and Massachusetts Martitme Academy and then return home to race Connecticut College on Sunday afternoon, April 15, on the Thames.