May 27, 2007
NCAA Rowing Championships Website
Oak Ridge, Tenn. - The Stanford women's eight capped off its season with a top 10finish at the NCAA Championships on Melton Lake in Oak Ridge, Tenn. TheCardinal placed fourth in the Petite Final en route to its 10th place finishoverall.
The race followed the pattern of the weekend - very tight margins throughoutand a photo finish in the end. The Stanford lineup of Carly York, EvaSheridan, Stephanie Morrison, Bea Gordon, Lauren Hofmayer, Jessi Reel, KerryBirk, Elle Logan and coxswain Jenifer Brown got the initial jump out of theblocks in the 2000 meter race, but Dartmouth pushed ahead in the middlethousand. The two boats overlapped and led the tight field through 1500m.Minnesota outsprinted both to narrowly capture the victory and a seventhplace overall finish. Tennessee edged the Cardinal in the final strokes forthird. Stanford defeated Notre Dame for the first time in three meetingsthis season to take fourth. Harvard came across the line in sixth.
"It was yet another incredibly tight race that came down to the finalstrokes," head coach Yasmin Farooq said. "The depth of talent in this eventleaves no margin for error. It was a great learning experience for our teamto go stroke for stroke with these high-caliber teams. We're sending offsenior Carly York with her best NCAA finish, and the returning underclassmennow have an idea of what it will take to come back and truly compete at thechampionship level."
Stanford logged four races in three days in the warm and humid Tennesseeweather. On Thursday morning the Cardinal placed fourth in their Heat afterbeing edged at the line by Notre Dame and Dartmouth in a photo finish.Stanford returned four hours later to win the seven-boat repechage anddefeat Princeton, the eventual sixth place overall finisher, in anothertight race. On Saturday, Stanford finished sixth in the Semifinal, sendingthem to Sunday's Petite Final.
"Rowing four close races in three days was truly a learning experience thatwill prove invaluable for our young team in the coming years," said freshmanstroke Elle Logan. "Although there is unavoidable disappointment in ourfinish, we did establish a solid base. I'm confident we will be able to takethe things we did well and the things we need to improve on and incorporatethem into our rowing for next year. It is only up from here."
Stanford's 10th place finish by the varsity eight is its best ranking since2003 and comes on the heels of its #2 finish in the PAC-10 two weeks ago.
"This season was a huge learning experience for all of us," juniorseven-seat Kerry Birk said. "We really grew as a team this year, and allreally enjoyed ourselves along the way. I think we're all already thinkingabout next year, and are excited for what we can do with this team. We onlyhave two seniors leaving, and we are all committed and dedicated to goingeven faster next year."
Yale won the Grand Final to capture the varsity eights title and BrownUniversity took home the team trophy. It was the second time ever that theoverall winner did not win an individual event title.
2007 NCAA Rowing Championships
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Oak Ridge, Tenn. (Lake Melton)
Final Points Standings (All Events)
1. Brown (58)
2. Virginia (54)
3. Ohio State (52)
4. Yale (51)
5. USC (48)
6. Minnesota (47)
7. California (38)
8. Princeton (34)
9. Tennessee (29)
10. Washington (25)
11. Harvard (19)
12. Notre Dame (13)
Women's Varsity Eights
Grand Final
1. Yale (6:37.08)
2. Ohio State (6:38.77)
3. USC (6:39.45)
4. Brown (6:39.55)
5. Virginia (6:41.50)
6. Princeton (6:45.38)
Petite Final
1. USC (6:43.53)
2. Dartmouth (6:43.95)
3. Tennessee (6:44.32)
4. Stanford (6:45.71)
5. Harvard (6:49.16)
6. Notre Dame (6:51.04)
Third Final
1. California (6:47.40)
2. UCLA (6:51.55)
3. Washington (6:52.94)
4. Central Florida (7:03.18)
Women's Second Eights
Grand Final
1. Minnesota (6:56.39)
2. California (6:59.15)
3. Brown (6:59.71)
4. Virginia (7:01.52)
5. Ohio State (7:08.52)
6. Washington (7:11.29)
Petite Final
1. USC (6:58.34)
2. Tennessee (6:59.30)
3. Yale (7:01.10)
4. Harvard (7:06.34)
5. Princeton (7:11.15)
6. Notre Dame (7:16.16)
Women's Fours
Grand Final
1. Virginia (7:35.03)
2. Brown (7:45.54)
3. California (7:47.87)
4. Princeton (7:50.90)
5. Washington (7:53.75)
6. Yale (7:54.41)
Petite Final
1. USC (7:44.06)
2. Minnesota (7:49.31)
3. Tennessee (7:54.18)
4. Ohio State (7:56.02)
5. Notre Dame (7:56.34)
6. Harvard (7:58.91)