April 24, 2002

Lauren Yoder is a junior from Charlotte and a member of the UNC rowing team. Throughout the year, she will provide TarHeelBlue.com readers with an inside look at her team and the experience of being a varsity athlete at North Carolina.

Hello Carolina Rowing fans!

We competed in the ACC championship regatta this past weekend in Clemson, S.C. It is a beautiful site with an expansive lake surrounded by plush green fields and trees. The weather more than cooperated as we had warm temperatures and sunny, blue skies for racing.

Unfortunately the results from our races weren't as impressive as the beautiful day. Each boat (the novice eight, the varsity four, manned by novice rowers, the second varsity eight, and the varsity eight) came in fourth out of four. The other teams were Virginia, Duke, and Clemson.

The one-shot races took place on Saturday morning after a nice banquet on Friday evening in Memorial Stadium on the Clemson campus. Senior Kelley Gates stole the show as she represented UNC in a program featuring a speech by one member from each team. "I'm glad I stuck around and didn't go for the draft this year," joked the 5-3 coxswain, commenting that she was glad to have followed through with her four years on the team despite some of the trials and challenges she cited that we all face as members of the sport. Racing on Saturday morning began at 9. The first race was the varsity four. The novices representing the varsity put in a good fight against some highly skilled girls.

The next race was the novice eight, which was a first-ever event at an ACC championship. Until this year, novices did not have a race in the ACC championships.

Next came the second varsity eight. Again, they raced hard and ended the season with good effort.

Last was the varsity eight race. The strong Virginia and Duke teams jumped out early with Clemson following. While we were in a good rhythm as a boat, it wasn't enough to make up the difference on the lead.

A fun highlight of the weekend came late Friday afternoon in the coxswain's race. This is a very informal 500-meter race (which ended up being only about 300 meters due to wind by the time they got started!) traditionally coxed by a senior. This year Layne Carey drove the boat which was manned by Staci Shaut at stroke, Jordana Werner in three-seat, Kelley Gates in two-seat, and Kim Baxter in the bow. They rowed a good race, didn't catch any crabs, but were barely beat out by four-tenths of a second by Virginia.

Following Saturday's racing, we de-rigged the boats to be loaded onto the trailer and taken back to Chapel Hill. There was an awards ceremony at which Layne Carey received All-ACC honors. Then all of the teams enjoyed a barbecue before heading back to school.

I am disappointed in our results from this weekend, and from some of our races this season. I am not, however, disappointed in our team, which has worked so hard over the course of the season. Following some erg testing this week to gauge our performance, we will have a team banquet and then the season is complete. It is sad to me to think of the seniors (Layne Carey, Jeanette Crets, Staci Shaut, and Kelley Gates) who will move on, but I am also excited about for the fire that we all still have in us and for the possibilities that next season holds.

Summer is a time for relaxing and rebuilding, training and preparing. I am confident that with the right spirit and the strong class of novices coming to join us, anything is possible for the fall season.

Your Tar Heel Pal,

Yoder