Rowing Heads West for Crew Classic

March 31, 2011

NORMAN, Okla. - The University of Oklahoma rowing team travels to the San Diego Crew Classic on Mission Bay this weekend, April 2 and 3. This marks the Sooners' third appearance at the Crew Classic. OU previously placed second in the Cal Cup varsity eight grand final and third in the novice eight grand final last year.

Regatta Notes

"We're looking forward to a very competitive field out in San Diego," Head Coach Leeanne Crain said. "We'll be racing against a fast Pac-10 contingent so we need to be prepared to come out strong in the Saturday heats."

The varsity eight opens the day for the Sooners in the Women's Collegiate Varsity Invitational at 10:50 a.m. CT on Saturday. The varsity eight is in the "B" heat against Stanford (4), Washington (8), Wisconsin (15), Oregon State and Purdue. The top three finishers from the heat advance to the grand final and boats placing fourth through sixth head to the petite final.

The varsity four competes at 11:10 a.m. against Stanford, UCLA (11), USC (9), San Diego, and Tulsa. The top three finishers from this heat compete in the grand final and places four through six compete in the petite final.

The second varsity eight hits the water at 12:30 p.m. against USC, Wisconsin, Sacramento State, Georgetown, Bates, and Loyola. In this heat, the top two finishers head to the grand finals, boats in third and fourth place head to the petite finals and the remaining teams compete in the third final at 4 p.m. on Saturday.

The novice eight closes out the day for OU, competing at 1:20 p.m. against UCLA, San Diego State, Alabama, St. Maryís, Cal- San Diego, and Arizona State. The top two finishers head to the grand final, boats placing third and fourth head to the petite final at 5:40 p.m. on Saturday and the remainder head to the third final.

"I think last weekend's racing at the Longhorn Invitational gave us a chance to check our speed and I'm pretty happy with where we are at this point in the season," Crain said. "The competition will be even tougher this weekend so it will be a good test for us."

Live results for the San Diego Crew Classic may be found at the Crew Classic website, or on twitter at both @CrewClassic and @SoonerRowing.

Varsity Lineups

Varsity Eight	Second Varsity Eight	Varsity Four
Cox: Kelsey Witten	Cox: Amanda Hoffman	Cox: Carly Schueler
Stroke: Rebecca Staff	Stroke: Ashley La Follette	Stroke: Katherine Rabe
7: Meghan Farrell	7: Katie Klassen	3: Maggie Schaefer
6: Sarah Kelle	6: Ally Gray	2: Lisa Jett
5: Brooke Sheppard	5: Amber Coyne	Bow: Kelsey O'Grady
4:Nicole Bladow	4:Rebecca Winchester
3:Nicole Furmanek	3: Elizabeth Middleton
2: Morgan Whinery	2:Melissa Simpson
Bow: Meagan Harrell	Bow: Markayla Adam