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

WORCESTER, MASS.--(5/7/07)--CGA Women’s Crew posted solid times and good performances at the New England Rowing Championships held Sunday under windy conditions at Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, MA.

The Women’s Novice 8, coming off big wins over Bates and Marist but hit hard by recent illnesses, battled hard in their heat but was not able to maintain championship level speed, and then was forced to scratch after medical evaluations of two of the athletes in the boat.

The Novice 8 consisting 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 Yahaira Cervantes (Fr), will be able to use this week to get healthy and prepare to compete in the upcoming ECAC National Invitational.

The Women’s 2V, for the first time this season, was outpaced off the line and found themselves at the back of the pack. However, over the middle 1000 meters of the race, the Bears were able to pass Smith but fell short of catching Tufts so were relegated to the Petite Finals. In the Petite, the Bears lead wire-to-wire and won the race in a time of 7:22.8, ahead of Mt. Holyoke, Colby and Smith. The Second Varsity 8 consisted of Margaret Brown (Sr), Kate Gillen (So), Rory Keegan (So), Francesca Smith (Sr), Shannon McElroy (Jr), Alyssa VanDelden (So), Ashley Stone (So), Nikki Dillinger (So), and Stephanie Young (Sr).

In the Varsity race, the Bears matched the early speed of the Heat 2 favorite DI University of New Hampshire on their right and positioned themselves solidly in second place but were unable to hold off a momentum swing by DI rival Holy Cross on their left during the third 500 meters of the race. Although surging hard at the end, the Bears came up two seconds short and, they too, found themselves racing in the afternoon Petite Finals. In the afternoon finals, the Bears dominated the final and led wire-to-wire and won by open water over Smith, University of Vermont, Tufts, Mount Holyoke and Wellesley as well as posting the 3rd fastest time of all Women’s Varsity 8s in the three afternoon Finals. 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).