June 2, 2007

CHERRY HILL, New Jersey - The LMU women's lightweight eight concluded its season with a strong performance at the IRA National Championships, finishing third in the Petite Final in Saturday's racing. The young boat had a thrilling race in the final, coming from behind to finish ahead of three teams to place 9th overall.

The Lions struggled in their first heat on Friday, finishing 6th in the heat with a time of 7:21.7. However, the boat rebounded with an outstanding performance in the repechage. The Lions finished second in the repechage behind Stanford, defeating Central Florida and Ohio State. However, a second place finish in the repechage was not enough to advance to the Grand Final, and the Lions earned a spot in the Petite Final.

In the Petite Final on Saturday, LMU got off to a bit of a rough start, not keeping with the other crews through the first 500. The Lions settled down into a good rhythm and steadily started moving up. LMU came through Long Beach State and Central Florida just after the half way point and started closing in on Ohio State in the last 250. The young crew showed great composure, and handled the racing very well over the weekend.

MIT won the Petite Final with Ohio State coming in second. LMU was less than four seconds behind the Buckeyesat 7:07.566, and the Lions were three seconds faster than Central Florida. Long Beach State and Lehigh rounded out the Petite Final field.

"For our first trip to National Championships, it is a great feeling to place in the top ten. We have a very young team and we're hoping this is only the beginning of a good run over the next few years," said assistant coach Sara-Mai Conway.

LMU completed the season sweep over Long Beach State, defeating the 49ers several times this season. LMU downed the Beach at the Long Beach Spring Regatta, at the WIRA Championships and again at the IRA Championships. The Lions fell to Central Florida at the Windermere Regatta in April, but was able to defeat the Knights twice this weekend.

Heat 1 Results:
1. Radcliffe 06:43.508
2. Wisconsin 06:47.034
3. Georgetown 06:50.245
4. Ohio St 07:03.312
5. MIT 07:07.623
6. Loyola Marymount 07:21.760

Repechage 2:
1. Stanford 06:50.647
2. Loyola Marymount 06:58.112
3. Cent. Fla. 06:59.784
4. Ohio St 07:00.289

Petite Final
1. MIT 7:02.751
2. Ohio State 7:04.783
3. LMU 7:07.566
4. Central Florida 7:10.533
5. Long Beach 7:13.054
6. Lehigh 7:17.501

Grand Final
1. Bucknell 6:36.096
2. Princeton 6:39.543
3. Wisconsin 6:40.500
4. Radcliffe 6:43.405
5. Stanford 6:44.088
6. Georgetown 6:47.503

- GO LIONS! -