April 25, 2002

Notre Dame, Ind. - After taking the weekend off from competition, the Notre Dame rowing team fell one spot to 10th nationally in the latest US Rowing/Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association poll. It marks the second consecutive week Notre Dame has appeared in the top 10. Last week, the Irish achieved the highest ranking in the five-year history of the program at ninth, marking the first time Notre Dame has been ranked in the top 10 nationally.

Washington continues to hold the top spot with 19 first-place votes and 494 points. Brown is second with the six remaining first-place votes and 481 points, while Michigan held steady in third with 423 points. Princeton moved up one sport to fourth with 411 points, while Ohio State fell one place to fifth with 396 points. Yale checks in at No. 6, while Stanford, Cal, Harvard and Notre Dame make up the rest of the top 10.

Notre Dame has one of it biggest weekends of the year when it travels to Worchester, Mass., Sunday, April 28, for the 2002 BIG EAST Rowing Challenge. All conference teams who sponsor rowing, including 13th-ranked Syracuse, will compete on Lake Quinsigamond. Races begin Sunday at 8:10 a.m. with heat one of the Varsity Four and conclude at 1:30 p.m. with the grand final of the Varsity Eight.

Team (1st-Place Votes) 			Points    Previous Rank 
1.  University of Washington (19)		494		1
2.  Brown University (6)			481		2
3.  University of Michigan			423		3
4.  Princetone University			411		5
5.  The Ohio State University			396		4
6.  Yale University				359		7
7.  Stanford University				355		6
8.  University of California at Berkeley	340		4
9.  Harvard University				293		10
10. University of Notre Dame			267		9
11. University of Virginia			254		11
12. Michigan State University			214		13
13. Syracuse University				211		12
14. Washington State University			143		14
15. University of Southern California		121		15
16. Northeastern University			106		16
17. Oregon State University			103		20
18. Cornell University				  83		17
19. Duke University				  67		18t
20. Boston University			  	  51		18t

Others receiving votes: Columbia University 44, University of Texas 16, University of Minnesota 7, Clemson University 6, Boston College 2, University of Iowa 2, University of Wisconsin 1.