Trinity Women's Crews Compete For NCAA National Title This Weekend in Indianapolis

 Trinity College

Hartford, Conn., May 27 - The Trinity College women’s rowing team, which won its first ever New England Championship and finished fourth among Division III teams in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) National Invitational Regatta earlier this month, will compete in the 2003 NCAA Division III National Championships on Fri., May 30 and Sat., May 11 on Eagle Creek Reservoir in Indianapolis, Ind.

Senior Christine Horton

The Bantams, coached by Lou O’Brien Berl (1st season), received an at-large bid to the field of six teams. Colby earned the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) automatic qualifier for finishing first among NESCAC schools in the ECAC Championships. Wellesley, Puget Sound, Ithaca, and Coast Guard round out the Championship schools. Trinity is currently ranked No. 4 in the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association (CRCA)/US Rowing Division III National Poll.

Trinity finished less than a second ahead of its closest competitor in its first place finish in the grand final of the New England Rowing Championships on May 3 with a time of 6:40.46, which was 0.83 seconds ahead of second place New Hampshire in the grand final. The Bantams finished ahead of six Division III teams that had been ranked higher than the Bantams entering the weekend.

The women's first varsity eight line-up consists of senior Christine Horton (San Marino, Calif.) in the bow seat, senior co-captains Amanda Gifford (Lower Gwynedd, Pa.) and Ashley Donoghue (Humerick, Mass.), senior Katherine Jessup (Wellesley, Mass.), sophomore Danielle Markel (Villanova, Pa.), freshmen Sarah Carter (Durham, N.H.) and Hadley Wilmerding (Haverford, Pa.), junior Carolyn Walker (Winston-Salem, N.C.), and sophomore coxswain Emily McLean (Fisher's Island, N.Y.).