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Thursday, March 28, 2024
The Observer

Irish capture fourth Big East title in Massachusetts

Notre Dame captured its fourth consecutive Big East championship Sunday in Worcester, Mass., after it raced for its second straight day after taking down two ranked teams Saturday."It wasn't the easiest thing to do; it was pretty difficult. We raced some great teams and then rode five hours on a bus and had to perform against some top-level competition." head coach Martin Stone said. Notre Dame was able to cope with the back-to-back races, winning the varsity eight, varsity four, and novice four races, garnering enough points to claim the Big East title. "It was a risk we took, racing back-to-back. But we were able to get it done," Stone said.Louisville took second place, while Syracuse earned the number three spot. Other teams present at the regatta included Georgetown, Rutgers, Connecticut, Villanova, Cincinnati, and West Virginia. Stone and assistants Joe Schlosberg and Marnie Stahl earned the Big East Coaching Staff of the Year Award for the second straight year. On Saturday, Notre Dame's varsity eight boat continued its winning streak with two more victories over top-10 ranked teams. The team traveled to New Jersey for races against No. 5 Virginia, No. 7 Princeton and George Washington. The Irish varsity eight crew of Maria Romano, Lauren Buck, Meghan Boyle, Christine Trezza, Allison Marsh, Lauren Pearson, Mary Quinn, Amanda Polk, and Julie Sobolewski finished the 2,000-meter course two seconds ahead of second-place Virginia. The second varsity eight, varsity four, novice eight, and second varsity four boats all finished third in their respective races, while the novice four boat took second in its race. The novice eight crew entered Saturday's race with a perfect 7-0 record. The crew lost their first race of the season, finishing third place behind Virginia's two novice eight boats. The Virginia A boat posted a winning time of 6:42:01, 14 seconds ahead of Notre Dame. The Irish compete again May 12-13 when they travel to Oak Ridge, Tennessee, for the Central/South Regional NCAA Championships.