Women Rowers Open Spring Season At ACC/Big 10 Regatta

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March 23, 2005

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The University of Virginia women’s rowing team opens its 2005 spring season on Saturday (March 26). Virginia joins Duke in competition against non-conference rivals Michigan and Ohio State in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. The regatta will be held on the Griggs Reservoir in Columbus, Ohio.

The dual regatta begins at 9:00 a.m., with Virginia competing against Michigan and Duke racing against Ohio State. At 2:00 p.m., UVa will face OSU and Duke will take on Michigan.

Head coach Kevin Sauer remarked that the team “trained well in the fall and had a particularly productive Florida trip in January. I feel we have the athletes to do very well this spring, and I am looking forward to the racing.” Virginia is lead by captains Beth Clark, Margaret Matia, and Carolyn McMillan. The team enters the regatta ranked sixth in the preseason USRowing/Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association NCAA Division I Varsity Eight Coaches Poll. The varsity eights from Michigan and Ohio State are ranked fourth and fifth in the nation, respectively. The first regular season poll will be released on March 30.

Virginia completed the 2004 spring season by tying for sixth place in the team competition at the NCAA Championships. The Cavaliers’ varsity four crew won the national championship in that event, and UVa placed seventh in the second varsity eight and ninth in the first varsity eight competition. Virginia won the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship for the fifth consecutive year in 2004 and head coach Kevin Sauer was named ACC Coach of the Year.