May 28, 2005
For Immediate Release
Contact:  Carole Grills
(413) 585-2703

 SMITH CREW TAKES SILVER AT NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP

Sacramento, CA:  The Smith College crew repeated its performance of last year winning the silver today at the NCAA Division III National Championship held at California State University Sacramento’s Aquatic Center. Defending champion Ithaca College took the gold and Trinity College (CT) the bronze.

             The Petite Final was held first with the Smith “B” crew winning the race in a time of 7:01.88, scoring 7 points and defeating the "A" boats of Coast Guard and Tufts. Ithaca “B” finished in 8^th place with a time of 7:09.01,Puget Sound was 9^th (7:15.57) and Trinity “B” 10^th (7:19.26).  The Grand Final followed and was won by Trinity “A” in a time of 6:51.34 followed by Ithaca “A” 6:57.23, Smith “A: 7:01.44,Puget Sound “A” 7:03.15, Williams “A” 7:03.64 and Colby “A” 7:11.77.

             The champion is decided by totaling the points scored by each boats place of finish with the lowest score winning. Ithaca and Smith each scored 10 points with Ithaca taking the gold as its “A” boat crossed the finish line before Smith’s.

            Members of the Smith “A” boat included coxswain Elizabeth Godshall ’05 (Mt. Kisco, NY), Alison McBreen ’05 (Montrose, CA), Kathryn Robinson ’07 (St. Louis, MO), Alex Kennedy ’05 (New York, NY), Leigh Eubank ’06 (Concord, NH), Kimberly Sonderland ’05 (Bradford, VT), Kim Paull ’07 (Edison, NY), Katie Seston ’05 (Chicago, IL) and bow Stephanie Smith ’05 (Leavenworth, WA).  The Smith “B” 8 was comprised of coxswain Elizabeth Fishback ’07 (Pittsburgh, PA), Kristina Latta-Landefeld ’07 (Toledo, OH), Ellen Keene ’05 (Honeoye, NY), Beth Nieber ’05 (Englewood, CA), Cora Olson ’06 (Tulsa, OK), Annie Coppock ’06 (Rutland, VT), Jessica Michalak ’07 (Erie, PA), Taylor McNeill ’08 (Westminster Station, VT) and bow Liz Higgins ’06 (East Falmouth, MA).