May 13, 2006

Lake Natoma - The Saint Mary's women's rowing team competed in the Pacific Coast Rowing Championships at Lake Natoma on Saturday morning, taking home two medals in two races. The second varsity eight won a silver medal, while the novice four finished third in their race for a bronze medal.

The women's rowing team put three boats on the water, two in the novice four race and one in the open eight competition. The second varsity eight matched last year's varsity eight second place finish by winning a silver medal in the open eight competition. SMC's second varsity eight's pulled to a time of 7:07.6 and finished seven seconds off the pace of gold medalists UC San Diego.

As the open eight race neared the finish line, it looked like the Gaels would finish in fourth place, but a good sprint helped SMC post a one second advantage over Sonoma State. The River City Rowing Club finished fourth with a time of 7:10.1 and Capital Crew finished fifth in 7:16.2.

In the novice four race, SMC entered two boats and captured third and fifth place in the seven-boat race. The SMC "A" pulled a time of 7:52.9 on the 2K course and finished 15 seconds off the pace of Stanford, which captured gold. Loyola Marymount finished second in a time of 7:49.9 and Sacramento State posted the fourth fastest time at 7:49.6.

The second novice four boat for SMC finished the race in a time of 8:16.9 to which was 14 seconds better than UCLA and 17 second ahead of Humboldt State.

The Saint Mary's varsity eight will compete in the Pac-10 Championships on Sunday. Sunday's invitation to the Pac-10 Championships marks SMC's first in five years. The varsity eight squad will take to the water for a heat race at 9:20 a.m. and will finish the day with a finals race at either 3:40 or 4 p.m. at Lake Natoma.