May 17, 2005

Philadelphia, Pa.--The George Mason women's rowing team participated in the 67th Dad Vail Regatta this past weekend, rowing two boats, a varsity 8 and 2nd varsity 8. The National Championship of Rowing boasted a record 116 entrants and more than 3,300 rowers.

The varsity 8 raced their boat on Friday and finished fifth in their heat with a time of 7:07.53. The 2nd varsity 8 raced in the JV 8 and placed third in their heat, with a time of 8:20.37. Neither boat qualified to race on Saturday.

"Our Dad Vail performance was a little disappointing as we did not have any boats qualify for Saturday racing," said Head Coach Geoff Dillard.

Our varsity eight got off the line a little slow, but battled back and pulled even for 3rd place with Tulsa with about a 1000m left. But they were unable to keep the pace as Tulsa pulled away and then Penn St. passed us, and we were eliminated.

Our 2nd varsity eight raced extremely hard but just came up a bit short. They finished 3rd, just 2.74 seconds behind Creighton, as it was top 2 to grand finals."

Tragedy struck the regatta as Boston College was stunned and in mourning at the death of Scott J. Laio, a student-athlete who collapsed and died shortly after his boat finished in first place Saturday.

"I also would like to express our deepest condolences to the Laio family and the Boston College Rowing Team, as one of their rowers, Scott Laio, passed away at the regatta," said Dillard.