March 17, 1999

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - After a successful performance in last Sunday's scrimmage in Gainesville, Ga., the North Carolina rowing team will travel to Charlottesville, Va., this Saturday to take on second-ranked Virginia in another preseason scrimmage. The UNC crew, in its second season of women's varsity competition, opens the spring schedule at the San Diego Crew Classic March 27 and 28.

In last weekend's scrimmage, the culmination of a spring break training camp, Carolina's varsity eight won all five of its races against boats from Savannah College of Art & Design, University of Central Florida and Ithaca College. In a display of the Tar Heels' depth, UNC's second varsity eight placed second in two of those races. Carolina also took the top two spots in the varsity fours race, even though both of the Tar Heel boats were manned by novice athletes who had not rowed before entering UNC last fall.

"I'm extremely proud of our athletes," UNC coach Joel Furtek said. "The varsity eight showed tremendous early-season speed in winning all their races. And the success of our novices against varsity competition is another sign of a great year to come."

Furtek will depart from Chapel Hill on Monday to drive the team's boats to California. The team will fly out on Wednesday and stage a final scrimmage on Thursday against San Diego State before the weekend's competition.