April 1, 2005
ORLANDO - The UCF women's rowing team seeks to improve upon its success of a year ago when it competes in the San Diego Crew Classic from April 2-3.
At the 2004 Classic, the Knights' Lightweight Eight crew took third place in grand final, while the Varsity Eight was sixth in the petite final.
In the 2005 quest for the Women's Cal Cup, UCF's Varsity Eight opens up in heat one with a strategic lane one assignment as one of the higher seeds. The crew races against UC-Davis, West Virginia, UC-Santa Barbara, Trinity and Chapman.
Meanwhile, the Junior Varsity Eight makes its Crew Classic debut with a lane four assignment in heat one of three. The Golden Knights go head-to-head with Cal, Oregon State, Texas, Sacramento State and the University of San Diego "B".
In both the Varsity and JV heats, the top two boats advance to the grand final, while the third and fourth place crews are relegated to the petite final. All others go to the third final.
The Lightweight Eight also earned a high seed and will take lane one in the first heat of its event, where it faces strong competition from USD, UCSB, Villanova and Stanford "B". Stanford's "A" boat finished just ahead of the Knights in second place last year. The Golden Knights must be one of the top three in their race to advance to the grand final. The bottom three move to the petite final.
The regatta takes place on Mission Bay at Crown Point Shores Park. Because the course is mapped out on a bay, often tides, currents and other factors can influence a crew's finish time.
UCF Projected Lineups
Varsity Eight: Amy Price (stroke), Kyla Smith, Tanya Kleisler, Melissa Westhoff, Caitlin Pauls, Krystina Sarff, Katherine Motes, Mary Rosser, Lisa Beltran (cox).
Junior Varsity Eight: Maya Fluharty (stroke), Erin Wiegers, Becky Meale, Kristin Roach, Alex Guillermety, Christine Richardville, Hawley Jervis, April Verpoorten, Kim Swift (cox).
Lighweight Eight: Robin Capers (stroke), Laura Brad, Pamela Wall, Melissa Kroll, Lindsay Wood, Lauren Rice, Nikki Jones, Jennifer Frye, Stephanie Mangone (cox).