Womens Crew

Ranked as High as 7th in N.E, Wes Goes 8-12 at Varsity 8 - Three Cards Receive Post-Season Honors

Competing in a five-team affair in Worcester, Mass. Sat., April 3, the Cardinals turned the event into a two-team race as seventh-ranked Wesleyan finished just 0.7 second shy of sixth-rated Smith over the 2k course on Lake Quinsigamond. WPI, Colby and Middlebury were all 20 seconds or more behind the Pioneers and Cardinals.

Wesleyan also placed second of four in the second varsity eight race, trailing Smith by two seconds. Smith made it a sweep of the main events as the novice eight race also went its way. Conn. College joined the action in this race, nipped by less than a second at the tape with Wesleyan 10 seconds back but well ahead of the second Smith entry as well as Middlebury.

Wesleyan was in Malden, Mass. for its next races as Tufts, Bates and Wellesley comprised the usual opposition for a pair of dual races with Hamilton added as a third opponent.

Wesleyan downed Wellesley in its first race, doing so by a 3.1-second margin. The races vs. Bates and Hamilton that followed resulted in wins for the NESCAC rivals by gaps of 14.9 and 5.4 seconds, respectively.

Wesleyan took on top-ranked Williams in Worcester, Mass. Sat., April 17 with Tufts, Ithaca, Colby and Holy Cross joining in the activity. The Ephs showed their muscle, running away with the victory, followed by Ithaca, Tufts, Holy Cross, Wesleyan and Colby. The Ephs' margin of victory was :13.7. The Cardinals were :51 off the winning pace.

Wesleyan ended the regular season with another race day in Worcester Sat., April 24 with the primary competition coming from Trinity, Conn. College and Holy Cross. In the varsity eight race, Wesleyan demolished Conn. College by a 43-second margin while falling to third-ranked Trinity by a modest 4.2 seconds. Since last defeating the Bantams in 2002, Wesleyan has been no closer than 11 seconds vs. its in-state nemesis before this year, which bodes well for the upcoming New England Rowing Championships in Worcester Sat., May 1.

At New Englands, the Cardinals came up with a 13th-place showing in a field of 14 crews. Then in the final races of the year in the ECAC Collegiate Championships, also in Worcester, Wesleyan showed some improvement with a 14th-place finish among 20 entries. Following the event, the ECAC named a 20-member all-conference squad from the crews that attended and Cardinal coxswain Sami Pop '11 (photo insert lower left) was among those honored. Two rowers earned all-NESCAC recognition with Becca Schofield '11 (photo insert middle) on the first team and Clare Tradewell '11 (photo insert lower right) on the second team.