March 22, 2008

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - North Carolina's second novice eight boat led the way as the UNC rowing team raced against Bucknell Saturday morning on the Rivanna Reservoir. The freshmen provided Carolina's only victory of the day, finishing its race in 7:28 for an open-water win in the first race of the morning.

"The second novice eight had a very, very solid race," said UNC coach Sarah Haney said. Racing in the Tar Heels' second novice eight were Sarah Nolan (coxswain), Brittany Walsh, Cait Clendenin, Lauren Maidment, Audrey Whitmeyer-Weathers, Elizabeth Golly, Ashley Trudeau, Laura Brookshire and Elena Boucher.

Bucknell came out on top in the other five races. Following the second novice eight was the novice eight, which Bucknell won in a time of 7:14 followed by UNC in 7:22. Racing in the novice eight were Jill Lunsford (coxswain), Paige Wolf, Katherine Williamson, Anna Noguchi, Lindsay Paterniti, Katie Frayler, Caroline Rekuc, Vanessa Matos and Tallie Casucci.

In the varsity four, both Bucknell boats came across before UNC's lone entry. In the varsity four for UNC were Amy Dement (coxswain), Maeghan Sill, JoAnne Rogers, Eugenia Delbono and Emily Schultz.

The Bison also won the second varsity eight, coming across first with UNC finishing in 7:10. The Carolina second varsity eight was Shannon Wilson (coxswain), Diane Reynolds, Chandler Sours, Kelsey Grich, Andrea McGovern, Andi Drabot, Katie Wood, Molly Jones and Kristi Roblin.

In the morning's final race, Bucknell won the novice four, finishing at 8:00 with UNC five seconds behind. Racing took place on flat water in calm conditions with an increasing tailwind in later races.

"Across the board, we felt like as a team we've gotten faster since we raced Alabama two weeks ago," Haney said. "As a staff we feel good about that and feel like we're progressing as a team. We're going to continue progressing as we are with our stroke rating increases throughout the season. With the increases and gaining more experience in the 2,000 meters, we'll keep bringing our times down.

"For the varsity crews in specific today, I think they all did a really good job of doing the things well that we've been working on for the past week. We've spent a lot of time on certain aspects of the race and those are the things we did well today."

Next up for the Tar Heels is the Carolina Classic, which UNC will co-host with Duke at Lake Wheeler next Saturday morning.