Women's Rowing Shines at Midwest Championships

Two Irish boats advance to Grand Final on Sunday.

May 1, 1999

MADISON, Wis. - The Notre Dame Second Novice Eight and Novice Four boats will row in tomorrow's grand final at the Midwestern Championships in Madison, Wis.

The Second Novice boat of coxswain Allison Henisey (Mission Viejo, Calif.), Katie Lewis (Rockford, Ill.), Theresa Ferry (Tamaqua, Pa.), Annie Sutera (Shawnee Mission, Kan.), Cecilia Lavelle (San Jose Calif.), Amber Thill (Springfield, Pa.); Kristen Courtney (Auburn, Me.); Stephanie Morris (Minnetonka, Minn.) and Katie Cleary (Birmingham, Mich.) finished second in one heat and then one another to advance to tomorrow's grand final. In its first race of the day, the Irish boat finished 1:41 in back of the Wisconsin boat as Notre Dame crossed the finish line in 6:35.66. In its second race of the day, the Second Novice Eight group came back to win its heat with a time of 6:46.86, which proved to be more than seven seconds better than the second-place boat from Kansas.

The Novice Four boat of coxswain Suzanne Kellman (Fremont, Calif.), Jennifer Spanbauer (McKeesport, Pa.), Amber Thill (Springfield, Ohio), Tara Driscoll (Westport, Conn.) and Mary Lampe (St. Louis, Mo.) also was impressive in its two races. The Irish boat took third in its first heat with a time of 7:44.16 and then placed second in its other head with a time of 8:16.70 to earn a spot in the grand final.

The top-seeded Novice Eight boat of coxswain Kim Benard (Burr Ridge, Ill.), Michelle Olsgard (Fort Collins, Colo.), Courtney Mercer (Herndon, Va.), Katherine Burnett (Germantown, Tenn.), Kelly Cooney (Rochester, N.Y.), Amy Braun (Indianapolis, Ind.), Erin Dowd (Concord, N.H.), Katie Besson (Hales Corner, Wis.) and Megan Feely (University City, Mo.) will row in the final tomorrow for the opportunity to row in the grand final after winning its heat with a time of 6:218.88. The Irish boat was more than six seconds better than the Novice Eight crew from Ohio State.

The Varsity Eight boat is also in the finals as is Notre Dame's Lightweight Eight crew, which is ranked 12th nationally. Only the Varsity Four and Second Varsity Eight failed to make the tomorrow's finals and grand finals.