May 4, 2008

Lake Natoma, CA - In the 2008 Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships, the Saint Mary's women's rowing team competed in five events. In those five events, Saint Mary's would advance its two varsity boats into the petite finals, while the varsity four and lightweight four advanced to the finals.

The Saint Mary's lightweight four posted the best finish of the weekend, but posting a third place finish overall. In the only race of the weekend for the lightweight boat, SMC finished the 2,000-meter race in a time of 7:58.4, which was six seconds of the pace of golf medal winner Loyola Marymount.

The SMC varsity four boat advanced to Sunday's grand final after posting a time of 8:14.7 on Saturday. In the grand final on Sunday, the Gaels finished fourth overall following a time of 7:51.0, matching the time on UC Santa Barbara. The Gaels were 16 second behind Sacramento State and six seconds behind second place Gonzaga.

In the first of the two petite final showings, the SMC varsity eight boat finished second, resulting in an eighth place finish overall, out of 11 boats. The Gaels pulled to a time of 7:15.7, which was actually the fourth best time of the 11 boats competing in the varsity eight-D1/Open entries on Sunday. In the heat race on Saturday, Saint Mary's led the first 500-meters, before giving way to Gonzaga, San Diego and San Diego State. The Gaels finished the heat race in a time of 6:54.7

The second varsity eight posted a third place finish in the petite final, which is a ninth place overall finish in the 12-boat competition. Saint Mary's posted a time of 7:28.9, which was two second better than Saturday's qualifying time of 7:30.7.

The Gaels' last entry in the WIRA Championships was a novice four boat, which finished first overall in the third final on Saturday. The novice four boat opened Saturday's action with a time of 8:43.4 in the morning. In the afternoon row, SMC finished three seconds better in the afternoon with a time of 8:40.9.

2008 Saint Mary's WIRA Boat Line ups
Novice 4:
coxswain Molly Chow, Taylor Balian, Elyssa Roselle, Michelle Burns, and Kendra Brassfield.

vVarsity 4:
coxswain Kate Shalvoy, Johanna Timmer, Sierra Timmer, Sandra Pichelli, and Michelle Grima.

Lightweight 4:
coxswain Marrah Galvin, Kyla Tom, Ariele Elia, Valerie Vermazen, and Jen Morrison.

Second Varsity 8:
coxswain Molly Chow, Kyla Tom, Jennifer Morrison, Jamie Sullivan, Miranda Ripoli, Ariele Elia, Kristine Myhre, Whitney Medved, and Tiffany Warner.

Varsity 8: coxswain Marrah Galvin, Sierra Timmer, Johanna Timmer, Sandra Pichelli, Michelle Grima, Jacqui Lindo, Jen Tyndall, Laura Kocourek, and Linzey Simonson.

2008 WIRA Results for Saint Mary's
Novice Four
Saturday Heat Race
1 UC Davis (7:57.5)
2 Western Washington (8:13.9)
3 Humboldt State (8:36.2)
4 San Diego (8:36.2)
5 Saint Mary's (8:43.4)
6 Chapman (9:01.0)

Saturday Third Final
1 Saint Mary's (8:40.9)
2 Arizona State (8:45.7)
3 UC Irvine (8:52.1)
4 Portland (8:56.9)
5 Chapman (9:11.3)
6 Mills (9:21.6)

Varsity Eight-D1/Open
Saturday Heat Race
1 Gonzaga (6:41.9)
2 San Diego (6:46.4)
3 San Diego State (6:47.8)
4 Saint Mary's (6:54.7)
5 Santa Clara (7:03.7)
6 UC Irvine (7:15.8)

Sunday Petite Final
1 Puget Sound (7:06.3)
2 Saint Mary's (7:15.7)
3 Santa Clara (7:19.3)
4 Loyola Marymount (7:24.7)
5 UC Irvine (7:24.7)

Varsity Four
Saturday Heat Race
1 Sacramento State (7:49.2)
2 Saint Mary's (8:03.8)
3 Seattle Pacific (8:14.7)
4 Chapman (8:27.6)
5 UC Irvine (8:47.6)
6 Mills (8:53.2)

Sunday Grand Final
1 Sacramento State (7:35.7)
2 Gonzaga (7:45.4)
3 UC Santa Barbara (7:51.0)
4 Saint Mary's (7:51.0)
5 Long Beach State (7:56.7)
6 San Diego (8:10.0)

Second Varsity Eight
Saturday Heat Race
1 Gonzaga (7:05.0)
2 San Diego State (7:14.5)
3 Loyola Marymount (7:15.0)
4 San Diego (7:16.2)
5 Saint Mary's (7:30.7)
6 Humboldt State (7:46.6)
7 Pacific Lutheran (8:00.6)

Sunday Petite Final
1 San Diego (7:17.6)
2 Puget Sound (7:26.7)
3 Saint Mary's (7:28.9)
4 UC San Diego (7:40.1)
5 Humboldt State (7:43.2)
6 Santa Clara (7:44.0)

Lightweight Four Final
1 Loyola Marymount (7:52.1) 2 California (7:56.8) 3 Saint Mary's (7:58.4)
4 Santa Clara (8:16.4) 5 Humboldt State (8:19.9) 6 Pacific Lutheran (8:52.0) 7 UC San Diego (9:00.7)