March 8, 2005

San Diego, CA-Saint Mary's women's crew opened the season with difficult circumstances in Mission Bay this past weekend in a dual against the University of San Diego. The varsity-4 defeated San Diego by eight seconds, while the varsity and novice eight came in third behind the two USD boats.

The women's team came home with a victory in the varsity four, finishing with a time of 8:43 while the Toreros finished with a time of 8:51. After racing in the women's varsity eight, four athletes doubled up to make the varsity four and defeated USD's four in open water. "That race was definitely more relaxed and more on target of our race plan," said head coach Pasha Spencer.

"It was a challenge to bring stroke rates up to race speed this early in the season," said Spencer. The early in the season race against USD was a learning experience for the young squad. "We got to race. We got to go through the motions, but we didn't put together what we had been working on in practice. That's the next step," said Spencer.

The varsity eights finished third with a time of 8:10, falling short of the two USD boats who came in at 7:43 and 7:57. The varsity eight lineup included: coxwain Amy Bellman, stroke Lindsey Anderson, Dana Smith, Brittney Cunningham, Janelle Silva, Kyla Tom, Kristine Myhre, Linzey Simonson, and bow Lindsay Jurisich.

The novice eight also finished third behind two USD boats, but because of a technical problem, no times were recorded for the event. The Novice eight lineup included: coxwain Tina Sanchez, stroke Kate Shalvoy, Arielle Elia, Kristine Myhre, Kaitlin Carrington, Lexi Billo, Eve Laokwansathitaya. Katie O'Brien and bow Kyla Tom.

Rowing will resume competition on March 12th at the Sacramento Invite.

Results
Varsity 4
1. Saint Mary's    8:43
2. USD             8:51
Varsity 8
1. USD1            7:43
2. USD2            7:57
3. Saint Mary's    8:10
Novice 8
1. USD1
2. USD2
3. Saint Mary's
*due to technical problem, no times were recorded for the Novice event