9/21/2002

Washington, DC—Under sunny skies and into a moderate wind, the Hoya crews won two of the three events they raced at the 22^nd Head of the Potomac.  Racing began in the Women’s Open Eight where Georgetown started first and steadily pulled away from cross-town rival George Washington who started in the number two slot.  Striking a conservative but steady 28, the Hoyas focused on a good rhythm rowing alone for most of the 2.8 mile course.  Winning in 17:08.5, the Hoyas finished 11.2 seconds ahead of Water Street Rowing (Washington, DC) and 17.1 seconds ahead of third place GW.

Five of the rowers from the winning Open Eight doubled up into the Club Eight to pace their crew to another Georgetown win.  Starting in the number four slot, the crew quickly gained on GW who started ahead, passing them within the first mile.  Rowing alone for much of the remainder, the Hoyas continued to press, finishing with a winning time of 17:41.0.  Alexandria Community Rowing (Alexandria, VA) placed second in 17:55.8 and Capitol Rowing Club (Washington, DC) third in 18:12.2.

The five rowers who paced the winning crews to gold medal finishes were sophomores Peggy Donnelly (Cooperstown, N.Y. / Cooperstown HS), Lauren Hodapp (Chadds Ford, Pa. / Archmere Academy; Del.), and Minta Madeley (Dhahran, Saudi Arabia / St. Andrew’s School; Del.) and juniors Justine Landegger (Ridgefield, Conn. / Taft School) and Rachel Pacheco (Gardner, Mass. / Gardner HS).

For Georgetown’s third race of the day, the lightweight women raced two fours.  For most of them this was their second race of the day and the growing headwind didn’t aid their competitiveness in this open event (there are no lightweight sweep events in the Potomac).  The lightweights raced strongly, placing tenth and fourteenth in a field of seventeen won by the Saugatuck Rowing Club from Connecticut.

Complete race results can be found at www.row2k.com.

Next up for the Hoyas is the Head of the Charles on Sunday October 20.  There the women’s crew will compete in the Lightweight Eight and the Championship Eight.