April 20, 2005

USD Women's Rowing showed the depth of its program making the Grand Final in three of the four events raced at this year's Miller Cup hosted by nationally-ranked, UCLA. In one of the highlight events of the day, the JV Eight fully recovered from a difficult circumstances at the Crew Classic to take 2nd in the Grand Final behind UCLA, also defeating the SDSU Aztecs by open water and WCC rivals LMU by 2 seconds.

In the Women's Varsity Four, walk-on Novices Rachel Ourieff, Ashley Yergler, Lauren Contillo, Aubrey Klaich and Coxswain Lisa Sharp placed second behind UCLA, defeating rivals SDSU by 10 seconds. "This Varsity Four line-up were the real heroes of the weekend. They are all brand new to rowing and have only practiced together for a week," commented Head Coach, Joan O'Hara. "We are all really excited to see what they can do at the WCC Championship in two weeks."

Also performing strongly were the Novice Eight, who won their heat easily over UC Irvine and LMU and took third place in the Grand Final. "I have an outstanding group of novice athletes this year," said Novice Coach, Brianna Leissoo. "They have not only learned to only to row well, but to become true competitors. I think this squad has the potential to go really far in the next few years."

The Varsity Eight had a disappointing performance in their heat, finishing 6 seconds behind UC Santa Barbara, whom they had beaten by 9 seconds at the Berg Cup earlier in the month. But they turned-up the heat in the Petite Final, taking their stroke rating up to a more competitive 36, and finishing with the 4th fastest time of the regatta, and diminishing UCSB's lead to a mere second and a half. UCSB went on to place second overall behind UCLA, ranked 13th in the country, and ahead of Crew Classic winners the SDSU Aztec's by more than 5 seconds. The Torero's also beat the Aztec's final time by more than 4 seconds.

"This was a very good showing for the USD Women as a whole," said O'Hara. "To come to this regatta and take two second place finishes behind a nationally-ranked team, make the Grand Final in three events, and post the fourth fastest time in the Varsity race really proves the strength of the Torero program. There was some serious competition here this weekend. I think at this point the whole team is chomping at the bit to race at WCC's!"

Later this week, the Varsity Squad will move to the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista for a four-day peak performance training camp in preparation for the WCC and WIRA Championships to be held in Sacramento at the end of the month.

For complete results of the Miller Cup, please visit www.row2k.com