April 6, 2003

The Duke University Varsity 8+ took second place in the Jessop-Whittier Cup Petite Final on Sunday at the San Diego Crew Classic. The Blue Devils qualified for Jessop-Whittier Cup, a 14-crew invitation only event, after winning the Cal Cup at the San Diego Crew Classic in 2002.

The Duke crew of Jessi Batzell (c), Amelia Booth, Katie Lakin, Joanna Hingle, Natalie Zervas, Mae Joyce Gay, Abby Hawkins, Kim Bailey and Missy Buckmiller opened the 2000m race with a split time of 1:43.09. Sitting in fourth place through the first leg, the Blue Devils posted a time of 1:40.02 in the next 500m to move into third place behind Tennessee and Minnesota.

A split time of 1:43.04 in the third leg propelled Duke into the lead just over two-tenths of a second ahead of Tennessee. With 500m remaining Duke and Tennessee held on to the top two spots with Wisconsin and San Diego State still challenging at third and fourth, respectively.

Over the final 500m, Tennessee edge the Blue Devils slightly with a split time of 1:40.29, while Duke closed with a time of 1:40.74. The Volunteers collected the win with a combined time of 6:46.67, while Duke was just behind at 6:46.89.

Clemson took third (6:51.29) in the event with Wisconsin (6:52.22) and Minnesota (6:52.60) finishing fourth and fifth respectively.