Solid races highlight Lady Pioneers' day at 51st annual Marietta vs. Purdue Challenge Cup

Mar. 25, 2006
MARIETTA, Ohio — Women's rowing Head Coach Karen Glowacki had one goal heading into Saturday's (Mar. 25) head-to-head competition with the Boilermakers at the 51st annual Marietta vs. Purdue Challenge Cup on the Muskingum River. Glowacki was looking for her shells to show improvement from last week's performances at the Governor's Cup.

The Lady Pioneers did just that, as both the Varsity Eight and the Varsity Four boats made the adjustments that they were asked to make during the past week of practice and put together solid races against Purdue.

Marietta's Varsity Eight, which sat from bow Anjouli Dapice, Meg Foraker, Krista Tkacz, Amanda Chuderewicz, Kim Becker, Laurel Lindamood, Sotiria Anagnostu, stroke Lindsey Letterle and coxswain Shauna Payne, beat Purdue off the line and led for the first 1,000 meters. The Boilermakers were able to take advantage of a small Pioneers mistake down the stretch to take the lead and held back a strong MC finish to claim the victory. Purdue "A" finished the race in 6:19.0, while Marietta came in at 6:28.6 and Purdue "B" placed third with a time of 6:34.4.

The Women's Varsity Four, which included bow Caroline McNulty, Meredith Hay, Kristin Rediger, stroke Brittany Durand and coxswain Saira Khan, also had a solid showing against Purdue. The shell, which included three freshman, two that are novices, stuck with the two Boilermaker boats initially, but were eventually overmatched by more experienced rowers. Purdue "A" won the race (7:11.0), Purdue "B" took second (7:21.7) and Marietta finished third (7:28.8).

The Lady Pioneers will return to action Saturday (Apr. 1) for the 12th annual Marietta Invitational, which will also be raced on the Muskingum River.