May 16, 2007

GENEVA, N.Y.—William Smith College crew team is one of six schools that will compete for the 2007 NCAA Division III Rowing National Championship, May 25-26 at Melton Hill Lake in Oak Ridge, Tenn. The Herons are making their sixth NCAA Championship appearance and first since 2002.

William Smith finished the regular season ranked first as a team in the New York Region by the NCAA Rowing Committee. The Heron varsity eight also was top-ranked in the region and second in the nation according to the College Rowing Coaches Association poll.

William Smith will send its varsity eight and second varsity eight to contend for the national title. They will be joined by Bates, Ithaca, Puget Sound, Trinity (Conn.), and Williams. Additionally, Coast Guard and Mary Washington received at-large bids for their varsity eights.

The Heron varsity eight is comprised of sophomore coxswain Kenzie Cannon (Berkshire/Canaan, Conn.), junior stroke Hannah Gallup (Holy Names/Alameda, Calif.), senior Nicole Balsamo (Newton Country Day/Centerville, Mass.), sophomore Anne Wakeman (Lawrence Academy/Marlboro, Mass.), senior Lauren Brady (Westover School/Ridgefield, Conn.), junior Lucinda Keck (The Lawrenceville School/Pennington, N.J.), sophomore Kerry O’Neill (Brighton/Rochester, N.Y.), junior Jenn Kirst (Principia/Darien, Conn.), and senior bow Michelle Dodge (St. Paul’s School/Jackson, N.H.).

The second varsity eight will include some combination of coxswains junior Julie Kozarsky (Shawnee/Medford, N.J.) and first-year Abbie DiPalma (Portsmouth Abbey Schoool/Middleton, R.I.) and oarswomen senior Kathryn Loddengaard (Hampton Bay/Hampton Bay, N.Y.), juniors Cristina Mulcahy (St. Michael’s/Santa Fe, N.M.) and Jessica Wojslaw (Norwalk/Norwalk, Conn.), sophomores Becky Gosse (Cortland/Cortland, N.Y.), Christa Hibbard (Fairport/Fairport, N.Y.), Emily Maguire (Miss Porter’s School/Madison, Conn.), and Kristin Yerkie (VVS/Vernon, N.Y.), and first-years Jamie Billington (Rye/Rye, N.Y.), Kirsten Cooper (Atholton/Columbia, Md.), and Meghan Cox (Perry/Perry, N.Y.).

William Smith will take one extra coxswain and two extra oarswomen to Tennessee to make adjustments to the line ups as needed.
The Herons are led by fifth-year Head Coach Sandra Chu. She has led the Herons to three consecutive Liberty League Championships and has been named the conference coach of the year three times.

The NCAA has sponsored a rowing championship since 1997. The Herons earned a berth in each of the first four, which at the time was an all-divisions affair. In 2002, the NCAA sponsored the first Division III championship, with William Smith taking home the third place trophy.

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