May 13, 2007
Gold River, Calif. - The Stanford women's varsity eight brought home the silver medal at the Pac-10 Championships behind No. 1 nationally ranked USC.
"It was a first class operation by the Pac-10 and Lake Natoma," said Director of Rowing Craig Amerkhanian about the event.
The Cardinal women entered the regatta seeded third and ranked 18th in the country. Stanford upset No. 8 California in their heat and went on to beat California again in the grand final, along with No. 10 UCLA, and No. 16 Washington. No. 20 Oregon State finished fifth, and Washington State was sixth.
It was the highest finish at the Pac-10's for Stanford since its varsity eight victory in 2002. The silver medal was a dramatic improvement over last year's fifth place showing.
"We are tapping into this team's potential," senior Carly York said. "We've learned how to put together four solid quarters of the race, and now we're ready to take it up another notch."
"This team is only getting faster and they would certainly make the postseason very interesting," said head women's coach Yasmin Farooq. "The races today were truly blade-to-blade combat, and the varsity eight now understands and embraces that, which is important since margins at the NCAA's have been notoriously tight over the years. This crew is ready for the next level."
Stanford finished 3.5 seconds behind USC, the closest any team has gotten to the #1 seed this year.
"The women's varsity eight race provides an inspiration and optimism that will carry over to the post-season races for both teams," head men's coach Amerkhanian added.
The varsity eight was comprised of senior Carly York, juniors Kerry Birk, Jen Brown, Steph Morrison and Jessi Reel, sophomore Lauren Hofmayer, and freshmen Bea Gordon, Elle Logan and Eva Sheridan.
The women's second varsity eight won the Petite Final over UC Davis, Gonzaga, Sacramento State, San Diego State and Saint Mary's. California won the grand final ahead of Washington, USC, UCLA, Oregon State and Washington State.
The women's varsity four finished fifth behind Washington, Gonzaga, USC, and Oregon State.
Contributors to the women's second varsity eight included: sophomores Kathy Altman, Sophie Aubrey, Kerry Pigott and Sarah Vick, and freshmen Adrienne Fritsch, Alex Hasbach, Melissa Hulme, Cassie Kull, Julia Liebner and Lena Wolfe.
The women's varsity four was comprised of junior Katie O'Neil, and freshmen Amelia Carr, Drusia Dickson, Kelly Fero and Sonia Poltoratski.
NCAA bids for the women's teams will be announced on Tuesday, May 15. The NCAA Championships are May 25-27 in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
2007 Pac-10 Rowing Championships
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Lake Natoma - Gold River, California
TEAM RESULTS
Women
1. USC 71
2. CAL 61
3. WASH 58
4. UCLA 56
5. STAN 51*
6. OSU 51*
7. WSU 40
*Stanford claims fifth place with a better finish in the Varsity 8.
EVENTS
Women's Varsity 8
1. USC 6:39.8
2. STAN 6:43.3
3. CAL 6:44.5
4. UCLA 6:48.7
5. OSU 6:50.5
6. WASH 6:55.3
7. WSU 6:41.9
8. GONZ 6:44.3
9. SAC ST. 6:50.1
10. UCD 6:51.2
11. SMC 7:02.1
12. SDSU 7:18.7
Women's 2nd Varsity 8
1. CAL 6:53.1
2. WASH 6:57.0
3. USC 6:59.3
4. UCLA 7:04.5
5. OSU 7:05.5
6. WSU 7:11.2
7. STAN 6:58.5
8. UCD 7:04.0
9. GONZ 7:04.9
10. SAC ST. 7:05.9
11. SDSU 7:23.7
12. SMC 7:50.3
Women's Novice 8
1. GONZ 7:06.8
2. WASH 7:12.0
3. UCLA 7:14.0
4. WSU 7:25.0
5. OSU 7:27.8
6. USC 7:33.9
7. CAL 7:20.9
8. UCD 7:23.2
9. SAC ST. 7:38.0
10. SMC 7:50.8
Women's Varsity Four
1. WASH 7:39.7
2. GONZ 7:42.2
3. USC 7:44.2
4. OSU 7:44.6
5. STAN 7:45.8
6. WSU 7:51.4
7. UCLA 7:45.7
8. CAL 7:46.9
9. SAC ST. 8:06.2