Lady Vols' second varsity eights take fifth

GOLD RIVER, Calif. - Rowing figuratively in uncharted water, Tennessee placed fifth in the first grand final in the Lady Vols' brief history Sunday at the NCAA Women's Rowing Championships.

Competing in the second varsity eights, Tennessee completed the 2,000-meter course on the concluding day of the three-day regatta in 6 minutes, 51.60 seconds, about nine seconds slower than victorious Brown.

"I think we all came out with the mentality to win, do our best and make all the work we did over the course of the year worth it," said sophomore coxswain Sydney Newman.

"So every race, we just said to ourselves, 'This is it, go out, put it all out there.' So, that's what we did, especially in the last 250 today. I just reminded them that all that work is going to get us into the top five and they just took it and ran."

The effort was the second of three Tennessee squads competing at the Sacramento State Aquatic Center on Lake Natoma.

The Lady Vols finished 11th in the team standings, two places lower than last year. Tennessee finished 12th in the team competition in 2006, its first team participation since women's rowing became an NCAA sport in 1997.

"We were just really honored to be here," said Tennessee coach Lisa Glenn. "The second varsity eight just did a great job of embracing the challenge of each race and really understanding that it's anybody's guess on race day.

"They were mentally and physically geared toward that and just went out and had a lot of fun racing."

Nine of the Lady Vols competed at NCAAs for the third straight year.

Yale successfully defended its Division I varsity eight title with a sterling sprint to overtake surprising Stanford in 6:34.05. The Cardinal finished second (6:34.95) with Brown third (6:35.25).

Brown combined three strong finishes to win its second straight Division I team title and sixth crown since 1997.

Western Washington won the varsity four and eight grand finals to capture the Division II team title.

The Lady Vols also finished fifth in the varsity fours petite final in 7:45.70. Ohio State won in 7:34.33, with Washington State second (7:38.47) and Wisconsin third (7:43.39).

Tennessee also finished fourth in the four-boat third eights final for places 13-16 in 6:49.19. Wisconsin won race in 6:41.98. "The varsity eight I don't think was able to experience the same sort of enjoyment and energy (as the second eights)," said Glenn. "They worked really hard and they certainly wanted to do more than they did."

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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