Notre Dame's varsity eight boat turned brought the team a win this weekend in the Indiana Crew Classic, held at Eagle Creek Reservoir in Indianapolis. The No. 11 Irish competed against squads from Indiana, Purdue, Wisconsin, California and Louisville.
Despite harsh weather and choppy waters that forced the cancellation of the afternoon events, the Irish posted impressive results Saturday. The team won the first heat of the varsity eight with a time of 6:11.00, finishing ahead of Indiana and Purdue, which had times of 6:16.70 and 6:59.50, respectively.
The varsity eight boat was manned by junior coxswain Maria Romano, sophomores Julie Sobolewski, Amanda Polk, Mary Quinn, Laura Pearson and Allison Marsh and seniors Melissa Felker, Megan Boyle and Sarah Palandech.
The second Irish varsity eight, consisting of junior coxswain Eileen Froehlke, freshman Kendra Short, sophomore Ankica Jedry, juniors Jessica Guzik, Alyssa Close, Andrea Doud and Sarah Kate Hafner and seniors Pamela Jefson and Danielle Stealy, also finished first in its first heat with a time of 6:52.4.
Notre Dame's varsity four boat, led by freshman coxswain Sarah Keithley, sophomores Kristan Madison, Casey Fairbanks and Mary McNamara and junior Shannon Cassel, finished in 7:14.0, second behind Wisconsin, which had a time of 6:57.1.
"Saturday's weather was really rough, so we had to fight against that," Panladech said. "But, we came back, and we didn't let Saturday beat us down. We came back on Sunday and raced really hard."
The Irish continued their success on Sunday, finishing with the second best time in the varsity eight - a 6:55.80 - just behind Cal, who finished first with a time of 6:54.20. The Irish also finished second in the varsity four with a time of 8:23.68, behind Wisconsin, which finished in 8:17.50.
"Overall, I think we had a pretty good weekend," Panladech said. "We raced some very competitive teams. It was a good ending to our regular season."
The Irish have three weeks off before competing in the Big East championships April 30. Notre Dame has won the Big East each of the past two seasons.
"[The team's] first goal is to bring home the championship for the third year in a row," Panladech said. "That's definitely what we're training for in the next three weeks. We plan on coming back tomorrow and being really intense and focused on that goal."
