UConn's Junior Varsity Squad Makes History

PHILADELPHIA, PA (May 9) -- For the first time in the young program history, the University of Connecticut’s women’s rowing teams name will be engraved on the prestigious Coleman D. Boylan Cup for winning the junior varsity eight event at the Dad Vail Championships on Saturday in Philadelphia.

UConn’s junior varsity eight consisting of Liz Glomb (Arlington, VA), Alison Elmo (Highland Mills, NY), Nicole DeCambra (Somerset, MA), Brooke Grauer (Fairfield, CT), Tina Spagnoli (Mansfield, MA), Jenn Rogers (Needham, MA), Kristy Dahlstrom (Killingworth, CT), Erin Bartie (Westport, CT) and Jodi Hope (Marlborough, MA) dominated the grand final with a time of 7:00.94, almost seven seconds ahead of second place St. Joseph’s (7:07.39). Temple was third (7:11.99), followed by Fordham (7:21.62), Villanova (7:22.46) and Drake (7:31.47). The junior varsity eight was very strong off the line and continued to open their lead and walk away from the field over the 2000 meter race. At the conclusion of the race, they were presented their gold medals on the awards dock and head coach Jennifer Sanford-Wendry accepted the Coleman D. Boylan Cup for the University of Connecticut.

The Dad Vail Regatta is the largest collegiate regatta in the United States, with over 100 colleges and universities from the U.S. and Canada. Thousands of student-athletes visit the city of Philadelphia during the second week of May every year.

Connecticut’s varsity eight advanced into the second level final and finished third behind San Diego and Purdue. UConn finished ahead of Drexel who they had lost to earlier in the season, and Creighton and Loyola, both had beaten UConn in the earlier heats.

“We raced well on Saturday. In the second level final, I was happy to see us execute the race plan well and come out ahead of crews that had beaten us either earlier in the season or earlier in the regatta,” said Sanford-Wendry. “It was disappointing not being in the grand finals, but I feel that we raced to our potential in the second level final.”

Placing third in the second level final put UConn ninth overall in the varsity eight event out of thirty-two crews.

UConn also raced a Varsity Four, Novice Eight and Novice Four. The squads raced well in heats on Friday and all advanced to Saturday morning’s semifinals but did not make it out of the semis into the grand final.

Varsity Eight
Heat Rep
St. Josephs 7:06.11      Loyola 7:27.6
Creighton 7:15.3          UConn 7:29.9
UCONN 7:15.7             George Mason 7:31.9
Lawrence 7:45.3          Santa Clara 7:33.1
Lowell 8:07.8               Lafayette 7:50.1
Albany 8:22.6

Semi Final Petite Final
Sacramento St. 6:33.2   San Diego 7:04.0
Temple 6:39.4               Purdue 7:09.0
San Diego 6:44.2           UConn 7:11.1
UCONN 6:52.8               Drexel 7:14.5
LaSalle 6:55.3               Creighton 7:15.7
Bucknell 7:12.7              Loyola 7:19.5

JV 8
Heat Final
UCONN 6:46.6              UConn 7:00.94
Fordham 7:00.6            St. Joseph’s 7:07.39
Lehigh 7:25.2               Temple 7:11.99
Renselear 8:03.4           Fordham 7:21.62
Villanova 7:22.46          Drake 7:31.47

Novice Eight
Heat Semi Final
UCONN 7:05.4               St. Joseph’s 6:47.8
American 7:12.7            Creighton 6:54.7
George Mason 7:20.4     Bucknell 6:59.5
Michigan State 7:23.6    Mary Washington 7:01.6
Temple 7:35.3              UConn 7:04.9
Lafayette 7:45.5

Novice Four
Heat Semi Final
UCONN 7:59.5                     North Park 7:36.7
Carnegie Mellon 8:05.5         Purdue 7:37.7
Creighton 8:11.4                 Emory 7:45.3
US Merchant Marine 8:31.0   UCONN 7:55.0
Georgia Tech 8:49.4            Bucknell 8:02.5
Manhattan 8:08.8

Varsity Four
Heat Semi Final
Dowling 7:53.1                   Grand Valley 7:25.9
UConn 8:17.3                    Vermont 7:30.3
Drexel 8:32.6                     Northwestern 7:39.2
Florida Tech 8:36.2             LaSalle 7:47.2
Coll. of Charleston 8:36.9     UConn 8:02.2
Pittsburg 8:06.