April 7, 2003
San Diego, Calif. - In only the second year of the program, the Lightweight varsity eight challenged the two time defending Crew Classic champions Wisconsin for 750 meters. After the three minute mark the Badgers began to open up a lead and continued to move throughout the final 1000 meters. With 500 meters to go, Villanova moved ahead and ended up nipping the Cardinal at the line by .43 seconds. Two seat Gill Quandt commented, "Though our third place finish was a disappointment, we proved today that we can start a race, row with power and then recover when a mistake occurs. The race motivated us and encouraged us to continue our hard work." In the Petite finals, the novice eight took five seconds off of their fastest time of the year and finished in second place, four seconds behind Long Beach State. Coach Acosta commented, "The varsity has raced the top three teams in the country in their first two regattas. They have learned a lot and gained a good amount of confidence in a short amount of time. The varsity and novice eights are getting closer and closer to putting together complete races."
Women's Collegiate Lt. Wt. Grand Final 1. Wisconsin 7:08.6 2. Villanova 7:16.95 3. Stanford 7:17.38 4. Georgetown 7:26.04 5. SDSU7:31.87 6. Cal7:36.22
Women's Collegiate Lt. Wt. Petite Final 1. CSULB 7:18.5 2. Stanford7:32.04 3. UCSD 7:37.72