Men, Women Rowers In ECAC Championship
5/9/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Crew
May 9, 2003
SPOKANE, Wash. - Gonzaga University's men's and women's rowing teams will compete in the ECAC National Invitational Rowing Championships this Saturday and Sunday on the Cooper River in Camden, NJ.
Formerly the Avaya Championships, the invitational is for rowing programs across the country who offer scholarships that do not exceed a student-athlete's need and for club programs.
Gonzaga's men and women will both have varsity eight boats entered. The Bulldog women, winners of a seventh straight West Coast Conference title and runnerup in the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association championship last weekend, will race at 1:48 PDT Saturday in heat two. Gonzaga's men, also second in the WIRA, will race at 1 p.m. PDT in heat one.
Gonzaga's women's boat will consist of coxswain Courtney Haase, Cynthia Savoca, Maria Bokulich, Renee Holl, Jenifer Gehlsen, Breah Neimiec, Karen O'Hagan, Kristi Aamodt and Bridget Troy.
The Bulldogs women, seeded second overall, will be in the same heat with Smith, Ohio State, USCGA, Marist and Bates. Gonzaga's men, the top seed, will be pitted against Trinity, Rhode Island, Marist, Virginia and Tulane.
"Trinity is looking like the team to beat, but I'v learned learned over the past couple of years you can't predict who will be the fastest crew," Gonzaga head women's coach Glenn Putyrae said. "We're rowing well, although we were disappopinted in last Sunday, more in the result than in the race itself>"
The Bulldogs lost to WCC foe Loyola Marymount University in the WIRA Grand Final after having defeated the Lions two days earlier in the WCC Championship.
Gonzaga's men will send coxswain Elaine Parry, Mark Voorhees, Pat Haffey, Connor Barry, Nathan Wilson, Ben Foley, Jeff Kiely, Brad Hughes and Mike Baisch in search of the ECAC Championship crown, the same crew that finished second in WIRA after capturing a second straight unofficial WCC title last weekend. The WCC does not sponsor men's crew.
"I thought we rowed some solid races," Gonzaga head men's coach Dan Gehn said. "I think this group is coming together and I look for us to be strong this weekend. Anytime you are the top seed I think there's a little more pressure on you, but if we go out and row our race we'll be fine."
The top two teams out of the three heats will advance to Sunday's Grand Final, the third and fourth place finishers will be in the Petite Final and the fifth and sixth place finishers will be in the Third Final.
