Lightweight 8 Set To Row In The Interscholastic Rowing Championship

June 2, 2004

The University of Rhode Island women's rowing team will send their Lightweight 8 to the IRA National Championship in Camden, N.J. June 3-5. This is the second time in two attempts that the Lightweight 8 has qualified for the Championship since the program was elevated to varsity status in 1998. The Rams secured the 6th place seed out of 12 schools selected while 30 Division I schools compete in the Lightweight 8 nationally.

The Interscholastic Rowing Championship, now in it's 102nd year has allowed the Lightweight women to continue their National Championship along with the Men's National Championship at the Cooper River. The Varsity 8, Second Varsity 8 and the Varsity 4 are the only events to compete at the Women's NCAA Rowing Championship since lightweight rowing is not yet recognized as a NCAA event.

The lightweights are the defending Atlantic 10 and ECAC Metro Champs where they placed first in both regattas. Coach Beasley has made some changes to the lineup and unfortunately lost Marissa Owens (Albany, N.Y.) just last Friday to a back injury, forcing her to replace the bow seat position which is one of the most difficult seats to row. Kim Gaudette (Greenville, R.I.) from the Varsity 8 also made the switch to lightweight, which she has not done since her sophomore year.

The lineup for this weekend will be coxswain Lara Fritz (Hyde Park, N.Y.), Lindsay Beauregard (Shrewsbury, Mass.) in stroke, Kim Gaudette (Greenville, R.I.), Ryan Lindsay (Ramsey, N.J.), Erin Baxter (Enid, Okla.), Heather Mushnick (Sudbury, Mass.), Joy Memory (Belmont, Mass.), Kathryn McKeown (Cheltenham, Pa.), and Lori Sutton (Londonbury, N.H.) in bow.

"Our goal is to qualify for the final, and the training has shown times that should allow them to be contenders. We are looking forward to a great weekend for these four seniors."

The regatta will also be broadcasted on the Comcast Network and will air on CN8 network wide to 6.2 million homes on Friday, June 11, 8:00-10:00 p.m./ET. It will re-air on Saturday, June 12, 5:00-7:00 p.m./ET.

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