March 25, 2005

GENEVA, N.Y.—The William Smith College crew team will begin the 2005 season ranked fifth in the USRowing/Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association Division III Varsity Eight preseason poll. Ranked ninth in the 2004 preseason rankings, this is the Herons’ highest preseason ranking in the program’s history. Smith College tops the list with eight first-place votes, while Trinity, Ithaca, and Williams round out the top four, respectively.

Returning four members from its spring 2004 varsity eight lineup that captured the inaugural Liberty League title and just missed the grand final at the ECAC National Invitation Rowing Championships. Led by captains senior Sarah Powell (Mt. Lebanon/Pittsburgh, Pa.) and junior Cassie Priest (King & Low-Heywood Thomas/Stamford, Conn.), William Smith is looking to build on a successful fall campaign that saw the Herons earn a medal at the Stonehurst Regatta with a third place finish and post a top-15 finish at the Head of the Charles.

Rowing in the varsity eight for William Smith in its season opener on March 26, will be sophomore coxswain Mandy Lassell (Noble & Greenough/Walpole, Mass.), Priest, sophomore Laura Batchelor (Brookline/Brookline, Mass.), first-year Jessica Mahon (Rhinebeck/Rhinebeck, N.Y.), sophomores Nicole Balsamo (Newton Country Day/Centerville, Mass.), Liz Staino (Poughkeepsie/Poughkeepsie, N.Y.), and Lauren Brady (Westover School/Ridgefield, Conn.), Powell, and junior bow Edwina Wilson (Churchill/West Port, Conn.).

The Herons open their season on March 26, hosting Rochester and Rensselaer on the Cayuga-Seneca Canal. Racing is scheduled to begin at 9:15.

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