In the scattered rain of Saturday morning, the No. 6 Virginia women's crew team managed to win three out of five races against the No. 11 Michigan State Spartans.
The Cavaliers won the second varsity eight and the first and second varsity four events. Despite the two other wins, the regatta was highlighted by the first varsity four's dramatic three-second win over the Spartans.
The boat consisted of freshmen Michelle Ellison, the coxswain, Katrin Sydlik and Mindy Fiesler and sophomores Anna Samaha and Annemarie Pitts. Their 7:41.2 time edged out the 7:44.3 time of Michigan State. This proved to be a dramatic win because the Spartan varsity four boat defeated No. 1 Princeton and No. 4 Brown March 26.
"The varsity four had a very good race," coach Kevin Sauer said. "They beat Michigan State and they had beaten Brown and Princeton. They did a very good job."
In the first event of the morning, the novice eights' race, Michigan State won with a time of 7:01.2. The Virginia "A" boat finished second with a time of 7:25.5 minutes, followed by Virginia "B," just five seconds behind.
In the varsity four event, the Virginia "A" boat claimed the top spot with a 7:45.7 minute time. Michigan State followed with a 8:02.6 minute time. The Virginia "B" boat (8:05.1) placed in third just behind the Spartans. The Virginia "A" boat was manned by coxswain Caitlin Mixter, Victoria Moore, Jen Furstenau, Allison Brennan and Kim Southern.
The Virginia second varsity eight finished first in its event with a time of 6:50.5. The boat was named the ACC Crew of the Week March 26 for its performance at the ACC/Big Ten Dual Regatta. Coxswain Katie Hilton and rowers Chrissie Monaghan, Katie Yrazabal, Crystal MacLeod, Heather Gardner, Andria Haneman, Libby McCann, Ashley Jones and Catelyn Coyle formed the winning Virginia varsity eight.
The final event of the regatta proved to be a tough loss for Virginia after the competitiveness of the previous four events. Virginia recorded a time of 6:42.9 minutes but fell by less than a second to the Spartans (6:43.8).
"I guess we went in there trying to improve on last weekend and row together as a team," said sophomore rower Kerry Maher. "It did not happen the way we wanted it to. We had a good fight. They were a lot stronger today and a little bit faster than last year. They took action this weekend and decided that they were going to win."
Virginia has finished within five seconds of all of its ranked opponents in varsity eight events so far this year. The Cavaliers finished behind No. 4 Michigan March 26 by less than two seconds and behind No. 5 Ohio State by less than five seconds.
The Cavaliers have the opportunity to build upon their close finishes against more ranked opponents this weekend. The Virginia first and second varsity eights will compete against No. 9 Washington and No. 19 UCLA in Redwood City, California April 9. The Virginia varsity four and novice eight will race, on the same day, in the George Washington Invitational in Washington, D.C.
The team hopes further challenges against ranked opponents will allow it to build upon its top-ten ranking.
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