April 8, 2006

RALEIGH, N.C. - After winning its trial heat, the Navy women's crew team saw its varsity boat place third in the grand final at the Lake Wheeler Invitational, Saturday morning in Raleigh, N.C.

The format for the day of racing was changed slightly due to the quickly approaching poor weather in North Carolina. After boats in each of the three varsity races completed their trial heats, they all stayed on the water to race immediately in either a petite or grand final.

Navy's varsity boat completed the 2,000-meter course in a time of 6:52.7 in the grand final to place third behind Duke by nine seconds and George Washington by four seconds. The Mids topped fourth-place North Carolina by nine seconds.

"While we would have liked to have won the race, I still feel with some additional experience our varsity boat will be able to go faster than it demonstrated today and has so far this year," said Navy head coach Mike Hughes. "We have three weeks to go until the Patriot League Championship and I feel we can pick up some more speed during this time."

Navy's second varsity boat placed second in its initial trial heat, then posted a five-second victory in the grand final. The Mids were timed in 6:58.2 in the final to outdistance second-place Bucknell by five seconds.

"It was a great race by our second varsity boat this morning," said Hughes. "They lost to Bucknell at the start of the spring season but won by open water today. They have made a lot of progress in a short period of time."

Bucknell did edge Navy in the varsity four race, though, with the Bison defeating the Mids by six seconds.

Only one race was contested in each of the final three divisions, with Navy placing first in both the second novice eight and second varsity four races and third in the first novice race.

Navy will close its regular season April 23 when the Mids play host to Georgetown on the Severn River in Annapolis.

Lake Wheeler Invitational
Raleigh, N.C.

First Varsity 8
Trial Heat - Navy, 1st of 4 boats
Grand Final - Duke, 6:43.0; George Washington, 6:48.2; Navy, 6:52.7; North Carolina, 7:03.8

Second Varsity 8
Trial Heat - Navy, 2nd of 4 boats
Grand Final - Navy, 6:58.2; Bucknell, 7:03.4; Eastern Michigan, 7:04.7; Duke, 7:09.7

Varsity 4
Trial Heat - Navy, 2nd of 3 boats
Grand Final - Bucknell, 7:48.2; Navy, 7:54.6; Duke, 8:07.3

First Novice 8
Final - North Carolina, 7:10.3; George Washington, 7:13.5; Navy, 7:15.7; Bucknell, 7:45.2

Second Novice 8
Final - Navy, 7:22.8; North Carolina, 7:35.9

Second Varsity 4
Final - Navy, 8:23.7; Bucknell, 8:28.8; Duke, 8:36.2