May 9, 2004

WORCESTER, Mass.—The William Smith College crew team closed out its 2004 spring racing season this past weekend at the ECAC National Invitational Rowing Championships. The Herons’ second varsity eight captured the team’s best finish, taking fifth of 12 boats.

After one day of racing, William Smith’s second varsity eight began the final day of racing well by progressing out of their heat to the grand final. Placing third out of six boats, the Herons defeated Colby, winners of last year’s National Championship, by 10.92 seconds, as well as WPI, and Vassar to proceed to the grand final.

“The boat really did their job well this morning,” said Head Coach Sandra Chu. “While we know there are some things we can do better, we were able to progress as planned and to identify a few things we’ll improve upon this afternoon. I know there is more speed in this boat and it’s nice to know we didn’t need all of it just to get out of the heats.”

Later in the afternoon in the grand final, the second varsity eight boat comprised of senior coxswain Sarah Roberts (Burnt Hills Ballston Lake/Burnt Hills, N.Y.), sophomore stroke Frances Parsons (Hoosac School/Liverpool, N.Y.), junior seventh seat Sarah Powell (Mt. Lebanon/Pittsburgh, Pa.), first-year sixth seat Susan Hendrickson (Hanover/Wrj, Vt.), sophomore fifth seat Susan Tarrant (Kimball Union Academy/Saratoga Springs, N.Y.), first-year fourth seat Liz Staino (Poughkeepsie/Poughkeepsie, N.Y.), senior third seat Lauren Ulvestad (Breck School/Shorewood, Minn.), first-year second seat Michelle Dodge (St. Paul’s School/Jackson, N.H.), and senior bow Colleen Franz (Nichols School/Derby, N.Y.) had their best race of the season. The crew finished fifth of six boats in the grand final, crossing the line in 7:21.38, nearly eight seconds ahead of Coast Guard.

“They came down the course executing every part of their race plan to the fullest,” said Chu. “I do not think they could have raced harder.”

Following a great opening day on Saturday, the Heron first varsity crew met some tough conditions in their semi-final race and was unable to qualify for the grand final after finishing sixth.

“We just didn’t have our best race—and we really needed to,” said Chu. “The chilling rains and high winds during the warm-up took us out of our game a little and we didn’t recover quickly enough to come down the course with the confidence we needed to progress out of this semi.”

The first varsity eight of first-year coxswain Jess Hardy (Shrewsbury/Shrewsbury, Mass.), sophomore stroke Rebecca Gutwin (Champlain Valley Union/Williston, Vt.), sophomore seventh seat Edwina Wilson (Churchill/Bethesda, Md.), senior sixth seat Libby Weick (Fairport/Fairport, N.Y.), senior fifth seat Julie Deprez (The Bancroft School/Paxton, Mass.), sophomore fourth seat Cassie Priest (King & Low-Heywood Thomas School/Stamford, Conn.), first-year third seat Laura Batchelor (Brookline/Brookline, Mass.), first-year second seat Nicole Balsamo (Newton Country Day School/Centerville, Mass.), and junior bow Lisa White (Deering/Portland, Maine) bounced back and turned in the most exciting race of the entire weekend in the petite final.

With 500 meters left to go in the race, all 6 boats were within a few seats of each other. Less than 7 seconds separated winner Trinity and sixth place William Smith (7:12.26).

“This was a real dog fight and I think we fought well,” said Chu. “Obviously we were all hoping for a better result but I think the competition in this final was really fierce. This was easily the most exciting race of the day.”

The first novice eight were put in an extremely hard heat and were unable to progress to the petite or grand final. Their fifth place finish earned them a berth in the third level final with St. Lawrence, Coast Guard, Ohio State, Virginia Tech. and Trinity.
“This was a terribly hard heat,” said Chu. “The novices raced their hearts out and did well considering their competition.”

Coxswain Jennifer Singer (Hollidaysburg Area/Duncansville, Pa.), stroke Liz Orofino (The Branson School/Mill Valley, Calif.), seventh seat Lauren Brady (Westover School/Ridgefield, Conn.), sixth seat Kat Loddengaard (Hampton Bays Secondary School/Hampton Bays, N.Y.), fifth seat Rebecca Racine (Otter Valley Union/Leicester, Vt.), fourth seat Kacy Cerasoli (Thayer Academy/Quincy, Mass.), third seat Carrie Miller (Belmont/Belmont, Mass.), second seat Lindsey Sprague (Marcellus/Marcellus, N.Y.), and bow Allie Clark (Milton Academy/Vineyard Haven, Mass.) had a great third level final in for the novice eight, finishing fourth of six boats. The Herons defeated Ohio State and Coast Guard with a time of 7:32.29.

The team returns to action on October 10th in Rochester at the Stonehurst Capital Invitational.

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