April 20, 2008
Complete Stanford Invitational Results 
REDWOOD SHORES, Calif. - The 2008 Stanford Invitational saw the host school turn in solid performances from its boats, as the Cardinal men's, women's, and lightweight rowing teams captured multiple victories at Redwood Shores.
The No. 8 men, under the guidance of Director of Rowing and Head Coach Craig Amerkhanian, opened the weekend Saturday morning with the second varsity eight boat clocking in at 6:28.62, just over 11 seconds faster than Santa Clara's varsity eight. Stanford's third varsity boat also captured a pair of wins in one race, crossing the line in 6:35.23 to defeat the second varsity (7:12.71) and freshman (7:26.29) boats from Santa Clara.
Stanford would end the weekend Sunday, falling short in a pair of hard-fought races to No. 6 Wisconsin. The Cardinal varsity boat finished just 7.39 seconds short of the Badgers, while the second varsity eight came up short by 10.34 seconds to its Wisconsin counterpart.
"Coach Clark and I go back 30 years and it is an honor for Stanford to line up and race the Wisconsin Badgers, a true Midwestern All-American team with no scholarships," said Amerkhanian.
Women's Head Coach Yaz Farooq's charges finished the weekend strong after dropping its first race Saturday to Washington State by the slim margin of 1.22 seconds. The Cougars' nose just beat out the No. 10 Cardinal's, crossing the line at 7:05.78 to Stanford's 7:07.00.
The women's varsity would bounce back Saturday afternoon with an 11.14-second victory over No. 16 UCLA, crossing the line in a time of 7:18.99. The second varsity eight, though, fell twice, dropping a 6.8-second decision to No. 5 Washington State, and in the afternoon, an 11.57-second defeat at the hands of UCLA.
The Stanford women's varsity would continue to roll on Sunday, beating USC in the opening race with a time of 6:28.63, 4.12 seconds faster than the No. 6 Women of Troy. The second varsity boat (6:53.12) would come up just 5.52 seconds short of USC in its race.
The women's four split its weekend races, defeating UCLA Saturday afternoon by 16.27 seconds, but falling to USC Sunday morning.
"It was an incredibly valuable weekend," said Farooq. "The plan was to have three very tough races, and Washington State, USC and UCLA delivered in all three NCAA events. The Stanford varsity eight really made progress this weekend and they are becoming battle hardened. They know that will be a key component for success at the PAC-10 Championships."
"It was an exciting weekend to grow and really come together as a boat and continue improving our race plan," added senior Jessi Reel. "Starting against Washington State was a great challenge that inspired us for the rest of the weekend."
On the lightweight side of things, Al Acosta's squad opened the weekend Saturday morning with a time of 7:42.62, 12.99 seconds better than its Santa Clara counterpart. Both lightweight boats defeated Santa Clara once more in the afternoon, clocking times of 8:43.42 and 9:10.3 to best SCU's mark of 9:16.79.
"The Redwood Shores Henley style format has woven countless memories of great racing in the minds of Women's and Men's Collegiate rowing through the years. The Stanford Invitational continues this tradition of show casing college athletics at its finest," commented Amerkhanian.
All three Stanford rowing teams return to the water on Saturday, May 3, as the Cardinal boats battle California in a dual at Redwood Shores.
Men's Varsity 8
Cox-Andy Bracken
8 Silas Stafford
7 Tommy Mina
6 Ottavio Siani
5 Alex Osborne
4 Charles Lilly
3 Aaron Frankl
2 Alec Levy
1 David Creighton
Contributing to the Stanford women's effort were: Kathy Altman, Sophie Aubrey, Kerry Birk, Jen Brown, Tiffany Dao, Drusia Dickson, Di Eaton, Kelly Fero, Adrienne Fritsch, Alex Hasbach, Pia Hauch, Kelly Hill, Lauren Hofmayer, Wendy Kalkus, Cassie Kull, Maria Lemus, Maura Moran, Stephanie Morrison, Katie O'Neil, Sonia Poltoratski, Jessi Reel, Elena Rivera, Erika Roddy, Linda Ruiz, Eva Sheridan, Julia Thompson, Michelle Vezie, Carly Villareal, Anne Winslow, Katie White and Lena Wolfe.