Rowing: WVU Concludes Season
May 03, 2010 10:16 AM | General
May 3, 2010
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University rowing team concluded its season on Saturday at the ECAC Regatta in Camden County, N.J.
The Novice 8+ boat of Brittany Doss, Jordan Burns, Megan Neckelmann, Alyssa Thompson, Ashley Dolan, Hilary Meale, Katherine Leljedal, Devin Milsop, and coxswain Ellen Shular, had the best performance of the day by earning the bronze medal in the Grand Finals with a time of 7:18.6.
"Congratulations to our Novice 8+ boat in rising to the challenge today,” says coach Jimmy King. “Despite an unexpected line-up change, they kept their focus and raced admirably representing the Mountaineers well."
Entering as a sixth seed, the boat placed third in heat one of the morning race, where it advanced to the Grand Final. There it posted the fourth fastest qualifying time of 7:28.0.
The Varsity 8+ boat of Caroline Rettig, Kimberly Benda, Brett Krumholz, Danielle Widecrantz, Rachel Viglianco, Jeannine McCarty, Rachelle Purych, Alita Meyers and coxswain Amanda Mahasky took second in the Petite Finals with a time of 6:54.13, behind Colgate (6:49.83) and ahead of George Washington (7:01.12), Villanova (7:01.48) and Duquesne (7:52.57).
"The Varsity 8+ boat was able to maintain its speed from a week earlier at the BIG EAST Championship, despite some subpar practices last week,” adds King. “A crew isn't going to gain significant speed in one week if they have raced well, but they can certainly lose speed in that time. Credit goes to this crew for bringing things together on race day."
The Second Varsity 8+ boat made up of Amelia Nelson, Melissa Shaver, Jenelle Spencer, Alexandria Flavion, Jessica Kelly, Shannon Gribbons, Stephanie Roof, Lauren Washabaugh and coxswain Sarah Cartwright also finished with a second-place finish in the Petite Finals with a time of 7:16.13, behind Delaware (7:06.03).
“The second Varsity 8+ boat raced very well building on their performance at last week’s BIG EAST when they had been together for only one week at that point,” says King. “They continued to make improvements one week later and enjoyed more complete racing performances in both their heat and final races here.”
The Varsity 4+ team ‘A’ boat of Amanda Hirsch, Kaitlyn Brownson, Kensie Phillips, Brittany Brooks with coxswain Anastasia DuPont took fifth in the Grand Finals with a time of 8:06.19, while the team ‘B’ boat of Katherine Moore, Caitlin Murphy, Keyara Stevenson, Rachael Taylorson with coxswain Kimberly Alonso took third in the Third Level Finals
"Like the second Varsity 8+ boat, the line-ups for the Varsity 4+s came together just two weeks ago," concludes King. "The Varsity 4+ team 'A' boat followed up their BIG EAST performance with another solid race amidst a stronger field and team 'B' raced even better than a week earlier."
For complete results, go to www.row2k.com.
