Nov. 10, 2008

MORAINE, Ohio - In their annual dual meet with the Ohio State Buckeyes Club Crew team, the Dayton Flyers not only concluded the fall season on a positive note, but saw strong signs of progress from the novice rowers.

Held at the Moraine Boathouse along the Great Miami River on Saturday, Dayton won four of the seven heats over the Buckeyes with the UD novice crews defeating OSU's boats in three events.

"The girls rowed as a team and not as a group of individuals," said head coach Derek Copeland. "The novice boats had a very strong showing and were able to beat all of OSU's novice crews. They were all very excited to have done so well."

The First Novice 8 of Katie Hocin (cox), Michele Baeder, Katy Duerre, Martha Sitkiewicz, Lauren Bielak, Emily Huffman, Katherine Bruening, Caitlin Emmerich and Laura Zborowski won their race convincingly with a 12:45.77 to 14:12.00 advantage.

The Second Novice 8 picked up a big win in their race defeating OSU 14:15:00 to 16:10:43. The Third Novice 8 also tallied a victory defeating the Buckeyes 13:42.03 to 14:42.13.

The First Varsity 8 of Kate Athmer (cox), Allison Gates, Ashley Kairit, Cydne Mason, Clare Hubbard, Kacy Carmichael, Anna Heink, Lydia Caldwell, Grace Doepker won their heat 11:40.82 to 12:10:45.

Ohio State's victories included the Second Varsity 8's 12:22.56 to 13:03.02 time, the Open Varsity 8's 12:14.07 to 12:37.23 win and the Lightweight Varsity 8 12:19.20 to 12:51.45 advantage over UD.

"Dayton's varsity 8 proved to be much stronger than the OSU boat, but when the 1st and 2nd boats were split up into open weight and lightweight, the OSU team showed a little more depth," Copeland said.

The Flyer women's rowing team now transitions to indoor training for the winter season, and will resume competition in the spring.