Nov. 5, 2005

Marina Del Rey, Calif. - The UCLA women's rowing team won both the open eight and novice eight events at the Head of the Marina in Marina Del Rey on Saturday morning.

In the open eight event, the Bruins finished 1-2, with the UCLA "A" boat (Liz Pallas-Jacobs, Jessica Fritz, Erin Rice, Patricia Dudziec, Vanessa Teff, Erin Haggerty, Elizabeth Lee, Leah Wachtel and Kirsten Potenza) placing first in the time trial with a time of 18:00.0. The UCLA "B" boat of Jessica Holt, Brittany Merchant, Elizabeth Herron, Alexandra Howard, Clara Cartwright, Larisa Pender-Healy, Alexis Kalionzes, Jaclyn Roewe and Megan McQuown overtook three teams to finish in second with a time of 18:51.0, three seconds ahead of third-place Loyola Marymount (18:54.0). UC Irvine placed fourth (20:43.0), followed by the Los Angeles Rowing Club (21:03.0).

Earlier in the morning, the UCLA freshman "A" boat easily won the novice division in the rowers' collegiate debut. The crew of Meleana Carr, Bree Hemingway, Laura Garnett, Jennifer Weber, Candace Ferguson, Kerry Kilduff, Victoria Kaso, Katja Wanberg, and Chanel Suares finished in a time of 20:51.0. The Bruins started behind Loyola Marymount but quickly caught up to the Lions, passed them and then pulled away to an almost three-minute margin of victory. The UCLA "B" crew of Katie Virk, Laura Ferretti, Torrey McKnight, Nadia Ruiz, Sheerin Salimi, Elizabeth Wallace, Megan Lightfoot, Ashley St. Germain and Melanie Seto finished in third with a time of 23:47.0, just three seconds behind second-place Loyola Marymount (23:42.0). The UCLA "C" boat of Anais Sahabian, Tasha Carey, Elizabeth Stephenson, Elise Hubble, Amy Sean, Linda Le, Maria Rodriguez, Kyla Lew and Maria Nickerson placed fourth in a time of 28:20.0.

The Bruins will compete at the Newport Autumn Rowing Festival on Sunday, Nov. 6 in Newport Beach.