Nov. 5, 2008

Occoquan, Va. - On Saturday, November 1st The George Mason University women's rowing team, with its largest squad ever, hit the water at the Head of the Occoquan Regatta. With temperatures in the high sixties, low winds and glass flat water reflecting vibrant treetop colors, both racers and spectators were treated to a perfect fall day on the Occoquan Reservoir.

Racing 11 boats in 4 boat classes Mason Women's Rowing placed two boats in the top ten of each event for the first time in program history. Led by a gold medal performance in the Novice Women's Four, a silver in the Varsity Women's Four and a bronze in the Varsity Women's Eight, the Patriot rowers put together a strong ending to their fall campaign.

Coach Geoff Dillard notes, "Our program has really grown over the last couple of years, not only in size but also in competitiveness. With such a large squad it took a little longer to come together as a team, but I think this past weekend we made big strides in what it means to be a team."

Coach Ellen Gallagher adds, "While we're excited and thrilled by the potential and speed shown by the top varsity and top novice entries, we're equally excited by how well the second and third entries in each event performed. They show the heart and depth of Mason Rowing. It made my day, as a coach, to see those rowers smiling, high-fiving (and going fast!)"

The Varsity 8 started the day's racing. Mason boated three varsity eights against strong competition from the Naval Academy, George Washington University, West Virginia University, The University of Delaware and Duquesne, among others. "We have seen some good speed from our Varsity 8 in practice this fall, and we wanted to let it show this race. We knew if we just focused on ourselves that we would be very competitive with the field," said Coach Dillard.

The first varsity eight finished third with a time of 17:08.4, right behind Navy's entries at 16:39.4 and 17:07.6 and ahead of The George Washington University. The second varsity raced into eighth place with a time of 17:52.8, ahead of Duquesne's and Delaware's first boats. Mason's third varsity eight finished in 16th of 23 with a time of 19:07.0.

The Varsity 4s continued to show Mason's strength and depth. In a field of 26 boats, Mason placed 2nd, 4th and 9th. The winning time of 18:52.8 went to The George Washington University followed by Mason's 19:12.1. WVU followed closely at 19:13.1 followed by another Mason entry at 19:34.2. Mason's 9th place finishers rowed the course in 19:56.3.

Mason also raced 3 Novice 8s and 2 Novice 4s. "This was the second race ever for the novice rowers. They learned some great lessons last weekend in Philadelphia and showed that they were able to apply those lessons to our first home race. We had the opportunity to mix more experienced freshmen into each of the eights which provided great learning moments throughout our week of preparation. It all paid off with strong results and promise for future speed," said Gallagher.