May 14, 2005

The 2004-05 rowing season at the University of Dayton came to a successful end Saturday in at the 67th annual Dad Vail Regatta, as Dayton 's nationally-ranked Lightweight Eight Boat won the Dennis Kamrad Trophy by placing first in its event. In addition, the Flyer Varsity Eight placed ninth in the prestigious meet, which is held on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia.

Only five schools entered the Lightweight Eight event, but it was a powerful field that featured every entrant ranked in the latest national polls. UD came into the race the lowest ranked boat at #13, but the Flyers may have had extra motivation since they dropped from 10th in the May 4 poll to 13th in the May 11 poll without racing.

Dayton's winning time of 7:34.00 was over five seconds faster than anyone else in the field. UD picked off four boats that were ranked ahead of it -- No. 8 Ohio State (7:39.52), No. 7 Santa Barbara (7:43.34), No. 11 Central Florida (7:44.60) and No. 12 Villanova (8:17.59). This is the first gold medal won by a UD women's boat at a national-level competition.

The Flyers in the Lightweight Eight were Lizzy Tomber, Anson Brennan, Marie Doenges, Megan Riley, Melissa Brandfass, Addie Patterson, Liz Goins, Katy Jo Brown and Meg Rigney.

In the Varsity Eight event, the top two finishers in each semifinal heat qualified for the championships, and UD missed by just 1.49 seconds. In the morning heat, eventual champion UConn placed first, with Eastern Michigan second. Dayton had finished eight seconds behind Eastern Michigan on Friday, but the Flyers' time of 7:37.89 was not good enough to put UD into the race for the Evelyn Bergman Trophy. The Flyers did qualify for the second finals heat, and placed third in that race with a time of 7:31.70, giving them a ninth-place finish overall.

Dayton's Novice Eight placed fifth in its semifinal heat with a time of 8:09.53 in its only race of the day.

The 2004-05 season was the most successful to date for the Flyer rowing program, despite the fact that former head coach Geoff Dillard moved on to become the head coach at George Mason University in February. Interim head coach Mike Farrey took over and led UD to a second-place finish at the Atlantic 10 Regatta behind perennial champion Massachusetts. It was UMass' tenth straight A-10 title, but the six points that separated the Minutewomen and the Flyers was the smallest margin of any of the ten championships.

UD's Lightweight Eight boat is nationally ranked for the second straight year, rated as high as tenth following the A-10 meet. That's the highest ranking in UD history, but that could change based on the Flyers' performance at the Dad Vail Regatta.

In addition, three Dayton rowers were named to the Atlantic 10 All-Academic Rowing Team. Seniors Anson Brennan, Liz Goins and Katie Lesko were all honored. It was the second straight year Lesko was named.

UD loses just seven rowers to graduation for next season.