March 23, 2002

PORTSMOUTH, Va.--The University of North Carolina novice women's rowing squad came away from Saturday's racing at the Crawford Bay Crew Classic with a victory, a pair of seconds and plenty of valuable experience.

Competing for the third time this season, the first exposure to rowing for most of the squad, the Carolina novices raced well on a sunny but chilly day on the Elizabeth River. UNC entered two boats in the novice eight race and the Tar Heel crews battled each other neck-and-neck for most of the race. Carolina's boats ultimately came in first and second with times of 7:18.4 and 7:27.1.

The Tar Heels' novice four placed second despite racing against varsity competition. Franklin Pierce finished first in the varsity four with a time of 8:40.0, followed by Carolina at 8:47.5 and Catholic University at 8:54.1

"I was really proud of the novice four for stepping up to th e challenge of racing in the varsity four event and coming in second," said UNC novice coach Sarah Haney. "I was also proud of the one-two finish in the novice eight event. I was glad to see them fighting with each other and doing what they could to come across the line first. All three boats had really good, strong races."

UNC will scrimmage Williams on Thursday at University Lake, with the novice squad then looking ahead to the Knecht Cup in Camden, N.J., on April 13. The varsity will race at the San Diego Crew Classic on April 6-7.