Tennessee Nets Three Wins

By Donnie Conley, Media Relations Student Assistant
OAK RIDGE, Tenn. – The No. 16-ranked University of Tennessee Lady Vol rowing team captured three victories against Louisville during a dual meet competition Saturday morning on Melton Hill Lake.
Tennessee took wins over UL in the Novice 8+, Varsity 4+ and Second Varsity 8+ races.
While UT wasn’t able to defeat the Cardinals in the Varsity 8+, head coach Lisa Glenn felt her team took a step in the right direction today.
“The Tennessee crews demonstrated progress from last week today.” Glenn said. “Obviously, it’s difficult to come up short in the varsity eight. I give credit to Louisville; they were relentless and that’s how we need to be all the time. Today, we had two eights within 7/10’s of a second of each other. Our third eight is seven seconds off the first two. During the next two weeks, we’ll be looking to define each event a little more clearly while continuing to progress our entire squad.”
Ashley Fichthorn helped guide the 2V8+ crew of Nikki Arcamuzi, Andrea Keesecker, Marissa Bell, Ruth Ann Johnson, Liz Dickson, Kaelyn Gibson, Mary-Hannah Daugherty and Jen Bailey to a first-place finish, crossing the line in 6:34.6. Taking second was another Tennessee crew, consisting of: Ragan Oliver, Paige Austin, Arin Anderson, Evelyn Radford, Emily Boyer, Michelle Goodwin, Ashley Case, Liza Rader and Taylor Athan.
In the V8+, the Cardinals narrowly edged Tennessee, finishing in 6:31.0. The Orange and White shell of Rachel Dooley, Hilary Epes, Erika Lauderdale, Rachel White, Karoline Mikolajewski, Kristin Coggin, Jesse Burns and Melissa Toms was led by Emily Krison and completed the 2,000-meter course in 6:33.9.
Senior Rachel Dooley said that facing a strong opponent like Louisville will only help the Lady Vols going forward.
“We knew Louisville was going to be a hard competitor coming in,” Dooley said. “We came into today wanting to push the whole team forward over Louisville. It’s unfortunate that we didn’t take the race in the top eight. They are a fast boat, and racing them was good for us. It seems like we’ve improved from last weekend.”
The varsity four race saw the largest margin of victory of the day in a varsity race. UT’s V4+ boat, comprised of Erika Johnson, Katherine Changes, Sam Sedgwick, Anita McLure and Lindy Kirk was solid from start-to-finish, posting a time of 7:26.9, nearly 10 seconds better than Louisville.
Though things were a bit different from previous years with today’s race not on Lake Loudoun, today still marked the final regular season home competition for UT’s five seniors: Bell, Dooley, Ruth Ann Johnson, Sedgwick and Toms.
Glenn said that her team will be relying on the knowledge and experience of that group as it heads down the stretch of its season.
“They’ve had a lot of experience in the program,” Glenn said. “They’ve seen what good teamwork and training can do. I expect them to use that experience in their current roles, helping to insure all the strengths of this team are used to get where this team ultimately wants and needs to be.”
UT’s first win of the day came in the Novice 8+, where the Big Orange came from behind to narrowly edge Louisville, finishing in 7:11.16.
The day was bookended by Novice 4 races, both of which were won by Louisville.
Tennessee is off for two weekends before traveling to Sacramento, Calif., to compete in the 2011 Lake Natoma Invitational, held from April 16-17.
Tennessee Nets Three Wins
By Donnie Conley, Media Relations Student Assistant
OAK RIDGE, Tenn. – The No. 16-ranked University of Tennessee Lady Vol rowing team captured three victories against Louisville during a dual meet competition Saturday morning on Melton Hill Lake.
Tennessee took wins over UL in the Novice 8+, Varsity 4+ and Second Varsity 8+ races.
While UT wasn’t able to defeat the Cardinals in the Varsity 8+, head coach Lisa Glenn felt her team took a step in the right direction today.
“The Tennessee crews demonstrated progress from last week today.” Glenn said. “Obviously, it’s difficult to come up short in the varsity eight. I give credit to Louisville; they were relentless and that’s how we need to be all the time. Today, we had two eights within 7/10’s of a second of each other. Our third eight is seven seconds off the first two. During the next two weeks, we’ll be looking to define each event a little more clearly while continuing to progress our entire squad.”
Ashley Fichthorn helped guide the 2V8+ crew of Nikki Arcamuzi, Andrea Keesecker, Marissa Bell, Ruth Ann Johnson, Liz Dickson, Kaelyn Gibson, Mary-Hannah Daugherty and Jen Bailey to a first-place finish, crossing the line in 6:34.6. Taking second was another Tennessee crew, consisting of: Ragan Oliver, Paige Austin, Arin Anderson, Evelyn Radford, Emily Boyer, Michelle Goodwin, Ashley Case, Liza Rader and Taylor Athan.
In the V8+, the Cardinals narrowly edged Tennessee, finishing in 6:31.0. The Orange and White shell of Rachel Dooley, Hilary Epes, Erika Lauderdale, Rachel White, Karoline Mikolajewski, Kristin Coggin, Jesse Burns and Melissa Toms was led by Emily Krison and completed the 2,000-meter course in 6:33.9.
Senior Rachel Dooley said that facing a strong opponent like Louisville will only help the Lady Vols going forward.
“We knew Louisville was going to be a hard competitor coming in,” Dooley said. “We came into today wanting to push the whole team forward over Louisville. It’s unfortunate that we didn’t take the race in the top eight. They are a fast boat, and racing them was good for us. It seems like we’ve improved from last weekend.”
The varsity four race saw the largest margin of victory of the day in a varsity race. UT’s V4+ boat, comprised of Erika Johnson, Katherine Changes, Sam Sedgwick, Anita McLure and Lindy Kirk was solid from start-to-finish, posting a time of 7:26.9, nearly 10 seconds better than Louisville.
Though things were a bit different from previous years with today’s race not on Lake Loudoun, today still marked the final regular season home competition for UT’s five seniors: Bell, Dooley, Ruth Ann Johnson, Sedgwick and Toms.
Glenn said that her team will be relying on the knowledge and experience of that group as it heads down the stretch of its season.
“They’ve had a lot of experience in the program,” Glenn said. “They’ve seen what good teamwork and training can do. I expect them to use that experience in their current roles, helping to insure all the strengths of this team are used to get where this team ultimately wants and needs to be.”
UT’s first win of the day came in the Novice 8+, where the Big Orange came from behind to narrowly edge Louisville, finishing in 7:11.16.
The day was bookended by Novice 4 races, both of which were won by Louisville.
Tennessee is off for two weekends before traveling to Sacramento, Calif., to compete in the 2011 Lake Natoma Invitational, held from April 16-17.