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

WILLIAMSTOWN, MASS.--(4/28/07)--The US Coast Guard Academy women's rowing team went into this weekend ready for the showdown with some of the the top ranked DIII programs in the country and came away with mixed results and lessons learned.

The day started with the Bear's Varsity eight (ranked #4 in the CRCA/NCAA Division III regional poll) squaring off against rival #1 Williams College, #3 Ithaca College, #5 Bates College, and D1 Marist. At approximately the 150 meter mark of the race there was contact between Williams and CGA, caused by Williams moving out of their lane as noted by the starting official, and the race was stopped and called back for a restart. On the restart, Williams again encroached on CGA just beyond the point on the race course of the original incident, without hitting oars this time, while at the same time the CGA V8 saw a white flag being waved from the official's launch off of their stern and what they heard to be 'way enough', meaning stop to avoid a potential collision. This action on the part of the official caused the CGA stern pair to begin to come to a stop, only to see the other crews continue, quickly resumed their rhythm and continue on with the race having already fallen off the fast pace and momentum of the start. Never able to regain their composure or rhythm, the Bears trailed the entire race and finished 8 seconds off the pace. The race(s) was formally protested to the referee commission, and after 30 minutes of arbitration at the end of the scheduled racing, and basing her decision on the testimony of the official behind the crews indicating that he was trying to move Williams back into their lane, the head official ruled that although the CGA protest was 'substantially justfied', the racing was deemed fair, therefore, the race results were certified. The decision is being appealled to the Chair of the Referee Commission at USRowing. 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 8 rowed had a solid performance in their racing but finished in fourth behind Williams, Ithaca and Bates and ahead of Marist. The 2V, once again, got off the line quickly and established early on that this was going to be a hard fought race. However, over the middle 1000 meters of the race, the Bears were not able to match the power-per-stroke of the leaders. In the last 500 meters of the race, the Bears pushed hard to the finish line showed good closing speed. 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 showed another week of improvement and look ready to compete at the upcoming championships. The Novice 8 finished in 3rd, behind Williams and Ithace and ahead of Bates and Marist. The Novice 8 consisted of Katie McCaffery (Fr), Sarah Bradley (Fr), Kate McHenry (Fr), Loren Derrico (Fr), Ashley Lerner (So), Caitlin Cunningham (Fr), Courtney Wolf (Fr), Jaimala Requena (Fr), and Francesca Smith (Fr).

The Academy women will travel to Worsester, MA on Sunday, May 6 to compete in the New England Rowing Championships.