April 9, 2009
Women's rowing claimed three of five races at the Occoquan Sprints on Sunday afternoon. Mason earned first place honors in the Varsity 8, 2nd Varsity 8 and the Novice 4.
The Patriots Varsity 8 boat outdistanced second-place boat from Mary Washington by almost five seconds, finishing in 6:49.9. The 2nd Varsity 8 edged Georgetown by eight seconds with a final time of 7:38.5.
"The 2nd Varsity 8 had a strong second thousand to pull away from Georgetown," Head Coach Geoff Dillard commented. "These girls tend to find another gear for the second part of the race and get stronger as they go. It was a good win."
"The Varsity 8 had a strong race to win the event for the second year in a row," Dillard said. "Mary Washington had a great race and really pushed us the last 500m. The girls simply found a way to win, and thats what counts."
Mason's Novice 4 ran away with their race, finishing with a time of 9:38.8 a gap of 26 seconds faster than VCU's boat which finished second.
"All of our novice rowers really got a sense of fast, fun spring racing this weekend," Novice Coach Ellen Gallagher said. "Both boats compiled the lessons they've learned this spring into smart races with incredible results. We were very pleased and are looking forward to continuing our progress through the weeks ahead."
"We are getting faster each week. We will need to continue to do that as we start to get closer to our championship races," Dillard added.
Varsity 8:
George Mason 6:49.9
Mary Washington 6:53.3
Lehigh 7:02.1
Loyola College 7:07.0
Johns Hopkins 7:26.6
VCU 7:50.3
2nd Varsity 8:
George Mason 7:38.5
Georgetown 7:46.8
St. Mary's College 8:18.9
College of New Jersey 9:11.1
Varsity Four:
Loyola 8:09.1
William and Mary 8:10.2
Mary Washington 8:23.9
American 8:33.3
George Mason 8:39.4
St. Mary's College 8:39.7
Frosh/Novice 8:
Georgetown 7:03.2
George Mason 7:07.5
Loyola 7:09.5
Mary Washington 7:14.7
William and Mary 8:11.0
Stockton #6 8:39.2
Frosh/Novice 4:
George Mason 9:38.8
VCU 10:04.8
Mary Washington 10:17.0
James Madison 10:30.8
American 11:11.6
