May 15, 2011

Varsity Eight Places 14th at Sprints

CHERRY HILL, N.J. – In its final race of the season, the women's openweight varsity eight defeated Navy for the first time in decades to secure 14th place at the EAWRC Sprints. The second varsity eight topped Boston College once again to finish 16th overall.

In a challenging morning heat the varsity eight took aim at Georgetown in an attempt to qualify for the petite finals, but fell short by about a length and instead headed to the third-level final. The opponents in that final were very familiar: Boston College, Boston University, George Washington, and Navy. BU and MIT jumped out to an early lead and were neck-and-neck through the halfway mark before the Terriers were able to earn an advantage of a few seats over the Engineers. Final times were: BU 6:55.0, MIT 6:58.5, Navy 7:03.5, GW 7:03.9, and BC 7:21.5. Princeton capped an undefeated season by winning the grand final.

The second varsity eight finished last in its heat and also headed to the third-level final. That race proved less exciting, as the crews separated early; final results were: BU 7:01.0, Georgetown 7:03.1, Rutgers 7:08.3, MIT 7:14.8, and BC 7:19.4. The grand final for this event was also won by Princeton.

"These are the best results our program has enjoyed in recent memory, so the squad is very excited about how we finished this season," remarked head coach Holly Metcalf. "We're also already really looking forward to next year – our rebuilding efforts are bearing fruit as our fourth class of recruited rowers will be joining in the fall." The team will only be losing two seniors: first-year rower Monique Squiers and fourth-year rower Hilda Buss, winner of the Most Inspirational award for this year.

Varsity Eight

C – Grace Lin

8 – Catherine Crowley

7 – Rebecca Heywood

6 – Erin Meyer

5 – Tess Saxton-Fox

4 – Monique Squiers

3 – Katie Everett

2 – Allison Simi

1 – Jean Sack

Second Varsity Eight

C – Jessica Haskins