June 1, 2002

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Indianapolis, Ind. - The Notre Dame women's rowing varsity eight crew of coxswain Cassie Markstahler, Jayme Szefc, Michelle Olsgard, Ashlee Warren, Becky Luckett, Diane Price, Natalie Ladine, Katie Besson and Katherine Burnett finished fourth in the "C" final and 16th overall on Saturday at the 2002 NCAA Rowing Championships in Indianapolis, Ind.

Notre Dame, making its first-ever appearance in the NCAAs, battled all race but was edged out over the last 500 meters. Washington State was first, claiming 13th place overall, after finishing in a time of 7:01.05. Cornell was second in the heat at 7:02.01, while Michigan State was third in 7:03.66 and the Irish fourth in 7:04.27.

"We gave it all we had today and just ran out of water to overtake Michigan State," head coach Martin Stone said. "Although we would have liked to finish higher, it was a great experience for our program. This is just the next step in us competing with the nation's best on a consistent basis."

Notre Dame just concluded its fourth season as a varsity rowing program and was featured in Saturday's Indianapolis Star newspaper. For an in-depth feature on Notre Dame's NCAA experience, please visit www.indystar.com.

In the spares race, senior Courtney Mercer and sophomore Alice Bartek placed second in their pairs heat. The spares race is an exhibition race in which the alternates for the qualifying crews are given a chance to compete.