April 1, 2006

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Navy women's crew program put together a very successful day of racing Saturday while competing in regattas in both Boston and San Diego.

Competing at the San Diego Crew Classic was Navy's varsity boat, which won its heat by nearly two seconds to advance to Sunday's grand final of the California Cup division. The Mids recorded a time of 6:45.80 over the 2,000-meter course in Mission Bay to outdistance second-place UC Davis (6:47.57) and third-place Bucknell (6:47.89).

"We were in second place at the middle of the race, but the lead changed hands several times over the third 500 meters of the course," said Navy head coach Mike Hughes. "By the 1500-meter mark we had established a pretty good lead and kept our pace over the final 500 meters to secure the victory."

Navy and UC Davis both advanced to Sunday morning's final by virtue of placing first and second during the trial heats. They will be joined in the final by Sacramento State, Miami, Kansas State and St. Joseph's.

"It's going to be a great race Sunday," said Hughes. "All of the finalists had very close times during the trial heats, so it should be exciting."

The remainder of the program sent boats to the Playfair Cup on the Charles River in Boston where the Mids won both the second varsity and novice races. The second varsity boat posted a time of 7:26.9 to defeat Boston University by four seconds (7:26.9), while the novice boat recorded a time of 7:57.57 to top second-place MIT by nearly five seconds (8:02.07). In the remaining race, the varsity four contest, Navy placed third with a time of 8:35.5.

"It was a great effort by all of our crews," said Navy assistant coach Nicky Stimpson. "Our second varsity boat put together a very strong race, while you could see our novice boat applying the lessons they learned last week in today's victory."

Sunday's grand final for the California Cup will begin at 2 p.m. Eastern time. The entire Navy team will compete April 8 at the Carolina Invitational in Raleigh, N.C.

San Diego Crew Classic, Mission Bay, San Diego, Calif. Cal Cup, 2nd of 3 heats Navy, 6:45:80; UC Davis, 6:47:57; Bucknell, 6:47:89; Lehigh, 6:57:08; UCSB, 6:58:28; Sonoma State, 7:07:93; UC Irvine, 7:08:44

Playfair Cup, Charles River, Boston, Mass. 1st Novice 8 Navy A, 7:57.57; MIT, 8:02.07; BU, 8:03.1; Navy B, 8:24.1

2nd Varsity 8 Navy, 7:26.9; BU, 7:31.0; GW, 7:46.2

Varsity 4/Novice 4 BU A, 8:25.3; MIT, 8:30.9; Navy, 8:35.3; GW, 8:54.3; Navy B, 8:56.4