Notre Dame's women's rowing team came away with an impressive fourth-place finish in the Jessop-Whittier Cup competition at this weekend's San Diego Crew Classic.
The Irish finished second in their preliminary heat on Saturday with a time of 6:28.53 to advance to the finals for the Jessop-Whittier Cup, the top honor for collegiate varsity eight teams at the Classic. The Irish varsity eight boat, manned by coxswain Marina Romero and rowers Julie Sobolewski, Amanda Polk, Mary Quinn, Laura Pearson, Allison Marsh, Melissa Felker, Meg Boyle and Sarah Palandech, finished fourth in the Cup finals with a time of 6:58:66. The California rowers finished first with a time of 6:52:10, and were followed by Southern California and Washington State, with times of 6:54:29 and 6:57:83, respectively. The Irish improved on last year's time - 7:03.21 - which earned them an eighth-place finish in the competition for the Cup.
"It was great to come in on this day and race very competitively in the varsity eight," head coach Martin Stone said. "It was a great race, and we defeated some quality opposition in the process."
The Irish, who began the week ranked No. 22 in the NCAA coaches' poll, were content with their performance at the Classic but were not satisfied with a fourth-place finish. The team will look to continue to improve throughout the rest of the season.
"We were very happy with the way we rowed," freshman Mallory Glass said. "We definitely turned a few heads."
Freshman Amanda Gonzales agreed with Glass' assessment but stressed that her team was still working to get better.
"We're staying focused," she said after the races, "and working to improve our speed."
