Women’s Crew Finishes Regular Season at Eastern Sprints
MAY 9, 2004
CAMDEN, NJ - The entire women’s crew raced at the EAWRC Sprints on Sunday, May 9th. It was the final race of the season for all of the boats except the lightweight varsity 8, who will go on to compete at the IRA National Championships in Camden, NJ on June 4-5.
The program had a solid performance, medalling in two events and posting strong finishes in several others. On the lightweight side, the Hoyas took third in the novice 8 and varsity 4, and fourth in the varsity 8. The heavyweights were lead by the first novice 8, which posted an unprecedented 5th place finish in the grand final.
The novice 8 was the first Georgetown heavyweight boat ever to reach the grand finals at the EAWRC Sprints. In their heat, the Hoyas had to beat Boston University – to whom they had lost earlier in the season – in order to advance to the grand final. Cornell won the heat and went on to take second in the final. Princeton won the event with finals a time of 6:33.75. Brown was third, and the Hoyas were narrowly edged by fourth place Radcliffe, 6:46.79 to 6:47.28. Bow to stern, the boat consisted of Samantha Wang, Kathleen Hughes, Lauren Libera, Lauren Holowesko, Meghan Orie, Julia Schroer, Natalie Ciomek, Chrissie Pasquesi and coxswain Erica Rose.
The lightweight novice 8 was a final only event. Princeton won the race decisively in 7:04.40, followed by Wisconsin in 7:14.99 and Georgetown in 7:19.96. Radcliffe placed fourth. The Hoyas were pleased with their performance, which was another addition to the growing momentum of the lightweight program.
The varsity lightweight 4 also took third to Princeton and Wisconsin, defeating Radcliffe, RPI, and Princeton B. Bow to stern, the boat included coxswain Erica Marerro, Danielle Bush, Jennifer Stokes, Lauren Smeeding, and Kristen Hollar. Stokes aptly summed up the championship competition: “It was an exhilarating race; I’ve never been more tired at the end of a race… except maybe at last year’s Sprints.”
The lightweight varsity 8 placed fourth in their final-only event. The result was disappointing, coming off the previous weekend’s win over Wisconsin, but the race was nonetheless very exciting. Radcliffe posted the winning time of 6:38.60, followed by Wisconsin in 6:41.47, Princeton in 6:42.10, and Georgetown in 6:43.88. All four crews know that nothing can be taken for granted going into the IRA, and the rematch is eagerly anticipated.
The heavyweight varsity 8 placed 4th in the third level final. However, they felt better about the race than the results suggest. Said Grace Miller, “the motivation and effort that we saw in that race made me really excited to see what we can do for next year. We didn’t quite see the results we wanted, but we were really pleased with the race overall.” The heavyweight varsity will also look to this year’s freshmen to make a strong impact next year, and look forward to building on this past season.
This was the last regatta for many of the seniors. Graduating this year on the heavyweight squad are Rachel Pacheco, Molly Plimpton, and captain Justine Landegger. It was the final Sprints for lightweights Emily Dempsey and captain Alli Dryer. Each of them has made invaluable contributions over their career, and they are much appreciated.
