April 29, 2007
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SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Three LMU boats earned gold medals at the WIRA Championships this weekend at Lake Natoma in Sacramento, Calif. The women's lightweight 8 earned LMU's first gold medal of the weekend, edging Long Beach State by one tenth of a second. The women's lightweight 4 earned victory with a solid eight second margin. The men's pair of Scott Wike and David Cronin provided highlights for the men's team, winning the grand final to bring home gold.
LMU's lightweight program had strong success at WIRAs with two boats winning the championship. In the eight, LMU and Cal State Long Beach took an early lead over the field of six, which included Cal Lightweights, Arizona State, UC San Diego, and Chapman University. Long Beach held a four seat lead over the LMU lightweights until about 1600 meters in when LMU began to make a move. Coming into the last 30 strokes, LMU had managed to bring the deficit down to 2 seats, and just before the finish line, edged their bow-ball in front to a win, with a .1 second margin over Long Beach. In third place was UC San Diego, 12 seconds back.
The lightweight 8 boat will get another chance to compete this season as it will head back up to Lake Natoma in two weeks for the PCRCs.
Rowing in the women's lightweight 8 this weekend were coxswain Candice Matheny, Jill Austin, Talya Courtney, Kathryn Maloney, Lizz Baxter, Jen Glassman, Courtney Bannerman, Melanie Tansuwan, Larissa Meltz.
The women's lightweight 4 also earned a victory this weekend. In the final on Sunday, the Lions finished first with a nearly eight second margin over second place Long Beach State. The Lions took the early lead and quickly had open water on the 6-boat field, winning by 8 seconds over second place Long Beach, and third place, UC San Diego. LMU had a time of 8:06.8, while the 49ers were in second with a time of 8:14.3.
Members of the lightweight 4 were coxswain Candice Matheny, Jill Austin, Courtney Bannerman, Kathryn Maloney, Larissa Meltz. All five were members of the lightweight 8 boat, and took double gold medals for the weekend.
The men's pair of Wike and Cronin provided the highlights for the men's team. The duo earned a spot in the Grand Final by finishing first in their heat with less than a second margin over Long Beach State. In the Grand Final, they were able to increase their margin to over three seconds, finishing in a time of 7:25.2 while LBSU finished in a time of 7:28.4. The duo will race again at the PCRCs in two weeks.
The women's varsity 8 boat advanced to the Grand Final after finishing third in its heat. The Lions defeated WCC rivals Saint Mary's and USD to advance to the top final. In the Grand Final, LMU finished 6th.
Members of the women's varsity 8 at WIRAs were coxswain Jennifer Guess, Marni Hietbrink, Alexa Aftias, Courtney Cox, Molly Stewart, Kathryn Holzberger, Alli Mitrovich, Sydney Johnson, Becky Nolan.
The men's varsity 8 had a disappointing heat, finishing fifth to earn a spot in the Third Final. The Lions were able to pull out a strong performance to win the Third Final by a seven second margin to finish 13th of 17 teams.
Members of the men's varsity 8 this weekend were coxswain Vanessa Garrett, Tim Santy, Mark Stellner, Scott Wike, John McAndrew, Kevin Druffel-Rodriguez, Landon Storaasli, Mike Wither, David Cronin.
The women's pair advanced to the Grand Final as well. Marni Hietbrink and Kathryn Holzberger earned a spot in the Grand Final by finishing third in their heat. The duo placed fifth in the Grand Final with a time of 8:46.6.
The women's varsity 4 finished 10th out of 17 teams after placing fourth in the Petite Final. Rowing for the women's varsity 4 this weekend were coxswain Amy Guion, Stephanie Speer, Jen Topor, Adrienne Lindstrom, Sam Cloonan.
The men's varsity 4 also finished 10th out of 17 teams. Rowing in the men's varsity 4 this weekend were coxswain Whitney Powell, Miles Dobbyn, Hamilton Hiatt, Jordan Perez, Hansen Perkins.
The men's novice 8 placed third in the Petite Final to finish 9th out of 18 teams. In the boat this weekend were Nick Llanos, Mike Wither, Miles Dobbyn, Lorenzo Nardini, Kyle Hickman, Ben Ashley, Kent Stephanoff, Patrick Callan, Dominic Leone.
The men's novice 4 finished 10th out of 17 boats to round out LMU's boats at the WIRA Championships. Members of the men's novice 4 this weekend were coxswain Megan Palmer, Ben Ashley, Kyle Hickman, Lorenzo Nardini, John Landwehr.
- GO LIONS! -
