May 29, 2009
CHERRY HILL, N.J. – The third-ranked Seattle Pacific varsity eight crew closed within one seat of No. 1 Mercyhurst at the finish line to place second in its heat Friday during the first day of the NCAA Division II Women’s Rowing Championships on the Cooper River.
The Falcons completed the 2,000-meter course in 7-minutes, 2.35-seconds, just over one second behind Mercyhurst’s winning time of 7:01.16. SPU had open water between its stern and the bow of fifth-ranked Philadelphia University, which finished third in 7:13.07.
Mercyhurst raced to an early open-water advantage, with SPU and Philadelphia battling for second. The Falcons moved firmly into second and gained seats on the leader with a strong mid-race surge.
The lead again extended to open water before SPU’s furious closing sprint narrowed the Mercyhurst margin as the crews crossed the finish line.
“It was a really good race. We know how to sprint well and that definitely helped us a lot,” said freshman Katy Stine (South Berwick, Maine), who occupies the second seat in the SPU boat. “It’s so exciting to get so close to the team that’s ranked No. 1. We’re definitely excited about tomorrow and think we can do well.”
Six members of the SPU varsity eight are underclassmen, including three freshmen. Jefferson was impressed that his youthful crew was not rattled in the first national championship regatta for all but one of the rowers.
“To be able to be disciplined with so young a group and be able to stick to your plan is really critical,” Jefferson said. “They felt so good and had such good productivity and were able to still sprint really well.
“Making up a length of open water is going to be challenging no matter what the situation, but we have it on good authority that Mercyhurst had to race hard. That’s what we wanted.”
The Falcons also closed the gap on Mercyhurst from the first time they raced, three weeks ago at the Dad Vail Regatta in Philadelphia. Mercyhurst clocked a winning time of 6:50.20 in the May 9 final and SPU was the next Division II finisher, placing fourth overall in 6:55.77.
“This is a big confidence-builder, to realize we were five seconds behind last time we raced Mercyhurst and now we were one second behind,” said the Falcons freshman coxswain Annie Mulder (Grand Rapids, Mich.) “It’s good to know that we can do this. We kept pulling it forward until the sprint. We took off and kept pulling hard, the blades were clean and it was beautiful.”
Defending champion Western Washington, ranked No. 2, won Friday’s other heat in 7:01.72. Fourth-ranked Dowling had a second-place time of 7:27.48 and Nova Southeastern was third in 7:37.35.
Mercyhurst and WWU advance directly to Sunday’s grand final. The remaining four crews will compete Saturday in a repechage that will determine the other two grand finalists.
Saturday's repechage race will be contested at 7:30 a.m. Pacific Time (10:30 a.m. Eastern). SPU registered the top heat time among the four repechage entrants.
“I’m super proud of them. They said they were just doing great the whole way and felt really good and that’s what we’re after,” said SPU coach Keith Jefferson. “They still are achieving peak. It reflected that out there with a great sprint and a fun race. They are all super-charged for the next round.”
The Falcons are competing at the NCAA Championships for just the second time. SPU’s varsity eight won the petite final, placing fifth overall at the 2007 NCAA regatta. Senior stroke Rachel Savage (Encinitas, Calif.) is the only member of that boat on the current crew.
NCAA Women’s Rowing Championships
Friday, May 29, 2009
Cooper River; Cherry Hill, N.J.
All races were 2,000 meters
Division II Varsity Eight Heats
(Winners to grand final, rest to repechage)
Heat I
1, Mercyhurst, 7:01.16
2, Seattle Pacific, 7:02.35
3, Philadelphia, 7:13.07
Heat II
1, Western Washington, 7:01.72
2, Dowling, 7:27.48
3, Nova Southeastern, 7:37.35
SPU lineup: cox-Annie Mulder, stroke-Rachel Savage, 7-Emily Pitts, 6-Eleni Johnsen, 5-Katie Degner, 4-Lacey Sheridan, 3-Holly Allan, 2-Katy Stine, bow-Katja Ibsen.
Division II Varsity Eight Repechage
Saturday, May 30 – 7:30 a.m. Pacific Time (10:30 a.m. EDT)
Lane 2 – Nova Southeastern
Lane 3 – Dowling
Lane 4 – Seattle Pacific
Lane 5 – Philadelphia