Nov. 14, 1999

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.–The UNC women's rowing team wrapped up the fall portion of its schedule Sunday with a day of competition at the Rivanna Romp, held on the Rivanna Reservoir in Charlottesville, Va.

"It was a great day of racing to finish the fall," UNC coach Joel Furtek said. "We've showed improvement at all levels, both in our intensity and in our performance, and we've learned some good lessons to take into our winter training."

In Sunday's varsity eight race, the UNC A boat finished fifth in a time of 14:30.0, ahead of crews from Virginia, Clemson, Ohio State, and Duke. "I was proud of our aggressiveness," Furtek said. "There were moments when it wasn't our best race, but we showed the ability to recover from those and pick it right back up."

In the novice eight, UNC finished fourth in 16:21.4. "This was a good result for our novices," Furtek said. "They continue to learn and are coming on strong. They were more poised and rowed much better this weekend."

UNC's varsity four boats finished near the end of that race.

North Carolina had its strongest finish of the day in the varsity pairs, with Tar Heel boats in second, fifth, sixth and seventh places. Senior Heather Higgins and junior Erin Neppel led the way in the first UNC boat. "The pairs is something we've put an emphasis on because of its developmental benefits in relation to boat-handling skills," Furtek said. "I'm very proud of the performances by Heather and Erin and our other pairs."

The Tar Heels will race next on March 4, when they host the Carolina Dash at University Lake. Following that event, UNC will travel to California for a spring break week of racing against San Diego State, Southern California, California-Davis, California-Berkeley and California State-Sacramento.