ROWING: Irish win two races, finish in top five in several more
By CHRISTINE ARMSTRONG
Sports Writer
The Irish triumphed Saturday at the Head of the Ohio Invitational. The team won two races, including the open four, and the open eight placed fourth. The club four and varsity four crews were successful. In the pairs races, the team finished in third through sixth places.
The Irish A crew of coxswain Cassie Markstahler, Natalie Ladine, Ashlee Warren, Elizabeth Specht, Alice Bartek, Rachel Polinski, Erica Drennen, Kerri Murphy, and Kathleen Welsh finished fourth in the open eight with a time of 15:25. Ohio State took first in 14:31, followed by Michigan State in 15:05, Boston University in 15:11. Kathryn Long, Kati Sedun, Ann Marie Dillhoff, Casey Buckstaff, Meghan Boyle, Diane Price, Meredith Thornburgh, Katie Chenoweth and Sarah Keefer led the Irish B crew to a sixth place finish.
"Our performance this week tells us once again that we have great depth of talent, but that we need to improve as a group to have great depth at a higher level," said Drennen. "We all raced well and showed toughness in enduring some harsher water conditions than we ordinarily face here at home."
The team of coxswain Caitlin Rackish, Shannon Mohan, Melissa Felker, Christine Donnolly and Sarah Palandech won its varsity four race.
Notre Dame also secured third through sixth place in the pairs race. Bartek and Dillhoff led in third, followed by the twosome of Murphy and Price. Natalie Ladine and Ashlee Warren were fifth and Drennen and Keefer were sixth.
"This was the most competition we have faced so far this fall, and our team handled it fairly well," said Drennen. "This weekend we saw Ohio State, Michigan, and Michigan St. and next weekend we'll face Iowa and Wisconsin —rounding out the teams we consider to be our major competition for a team NCAA bid at the Central Regions this spring."
The club four team of coxswain Kathryn Long (coxswain), Buckstaff, Boyle, Chenoweth and Thornburgh finished in first and the second club four Rebecca Campbell (coxswain), Katie O'Hara, Kristen Henkel, Antoinette Duck and Megan Sanders took fourth.
The team has consistently performed well in races this fall and will travel to Rockford, Ill., for the Head of the Rock On Oct. 13th.
"With the Head of the Rock being our last fall race, it's our final chance to see how we stack up against some tough competition before we head into winter training. Hopefully we will be able to end the fall season on a positive note so we can build off that energy as we shift the focus to spring racing," said Warren. "Each year we have been able to improve our speed as a team in relation to how some of the other schools are rowing. Two years ago we were third. Last year we were second. Hopefully we can continue this pattern."
All Sports Stories for Monday, October 7, 2002
