Bucknell's Women's Lightweight Eight Crew Ranked Fourth By US Rowing.
5/22/2003 8:00:00 AM | Women's Rowing
May 22, 2003
LEWISBURG, Pa. - The Bucknell University women's varsity lightweight eight finished their season with a fourth place ranking by the USRowing and the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association poll on May 15. This is the highest ranking Bucknell women's crew has received in Bison history.
The varsity lightweight eight crew is comprised of coxswain Kyra Harris, Jill Harrington, Vi Ngo, Lauren Ewald, Kara Schroepfer, Lauren Donnelly, Joan Wendler, Alexis Will and Rachel Trusheim.
The Bison rank above Stanford University, Georgetown University and five other crews they defeated at the Dad Vail Regatta on May 10.
"It is great to have our crew ranked among the top lightweight eights in the country," said Head Coach Stephen Kish. "However, it would be nice to race Georgetown, Stanford and the 'Ivies' at the end of the season in order to give these rankings a little more validity," said Coach Kish referring to the Intercollegiate Rowing Association championship regatta held at the end of May.
Bucknell's spring campaign got off to a rocky start, with losses to Georgia Tech, University of Central Florida, Delaware and Villanova. The worst was a 13.5 second loss to UCF on April 13. As the season progressed, the Bison defeated each of these crews, culminating with Bucknell's first ever gold medal in an eight-oared event at the Dad Vail Regatta. Bucknell dominated the field in the varsity lightweight eight with a time of 6:57.9, finishing 5.2 seconds ahead of Purdue University. The University of Central Florida, Georgia Tech and the University of Delaware followed in that order. Villanova University did not advance from the heats.
The first place performance in the lightweight eight also helped the Bucknell women's program finish second overall at the Dad Vail regatta. Purdue University finished first and the University of Massachusetts finished third.
The Bison have completed their 2002-03 season and will start to prepare for the 2003-04 in the upcoming months.