The Collegian

Issue date: 5/1/07 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Courtesy of www.facebook.com

The Saint Mary's women's crew team continued one of the their most successful seasons in the program's history this past weekend, finishing second in the WCC Championships and the varsity four boat finishing first at the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association (WIRA) Championships.

The Gaels advanced to the finals in all five events they competed in at WIRA. The second place three-way tie with Santa Clara and Loyola Marymount, behind WCC champion Gonzaga was the highest Saint Mary's has ever finished at the conference event.

The WCC competition began Friday at Lake Natoma in Sacramento with a fifth place finish by the varsity four with a time of 8:23.1. The boat's lineup included coxswain Desiree Lopez '10, Michelle Nenzel '10, Olivia Haro '10, Shannel Benisano '10, and Kristine Myhre '08, who finished 40 seconds off the pace of first place Gozaga who was followed by San Diego, Santa Clara, and Loyola Marymount.

The next event for the Gaels was the junior varsity eight. The junior varsity completed the 2000-meter course in 7:22.4 to finished fourth, behind Gonzaga (6:56.6), Santa Clara (7:16.4) and LMU (7:21.8). The fourth place finish added four more points to Gaels single mark in the overall standings.

The biggest achievement by far was the varsity eight's performance. With a boat consisting of coxswain Kate Shalvoy '09, Lindsey Anderson '07, Michelle Grima '09, Johanna Timmer '09, Lexi Billo '08, Jennifer Tyndall '09, Sierra Timmer '09, Sandra Pichelli '09, and Ally Oldfield '08, the Gaels streaked to a second place finish with a time of 6:56.0. The varsity followed only Gonzaga, who finished 13 seconds quicker, yet the Gaels earned 12 points for their finish propelling them to second in the overall standings.

One of the reasons for the varsity's success was the trio of sophomore All-WCC rowers: coxswain Shalvoy, Anderson, and S. Timmer.

Back in action the very next day in an unusual back-to-back regatta schedule, the Gaels took part in the WIRA Championships.

The biggest success story of the day came from the varsity four boat who finished in first place over 17 other boats in the grand final. The boat consisted of coxswain Shalvoy, the Timmer twins, Anderson, and Tyndall.

The Gaels came in front of second place finisher University of San Diego by a boat's length.

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