April 27, 2000

In the three seasons since it became a varsity program, the University of North Carolina rowing team has encountered plenty of firsts. This weekend the Tar Heels will face yet another when they compete in the first Atlantic Coast Conference Rowing Championship, to be held Saturday, April 29, in Charlottesville, Va. The field includes the four ACC schools that sponsor women's varsity rowing: Clemson, Duke, North Carolina and Virginia.

"This is a great step for rowing in the ACC and with three of the crews ranked nationally, it will be a great showcase for the conference," Carolina coach Joel Furtek says. "I also think it's particularly important for our student-athletes to experience what it's like to compete for an ACC championship."

Hosted by Virginia, the regatta will be held on Lake Monticello and begins at 9 a.m. Because the course is narrow enough to allow only two boats across, racing will be in a dual format. In the categories of varsity eight, second varsity eight, varsity four and second varsity four, the No. 1 seed will take on No. 4 and the No. 2 will meet No. 3 in the morning's trials. In the afternoon racing, which begins at 1 p.m, the losers of the morning trials will meet in the petite finals for third and fourth places, then the trial winners will meet in the finals to determine the conference champions. An ACC Champion team also will be crowned.

Virginia, ranked No. 6 in the nation, is seeded first in all four events. Clemson, 25th in the country, is seeded second. UNC, 24th nationally, is seeded third in the eights and fourth in the fours. Duke is fourth in the eights, third in the fours.

Thus, UNC's fours are in for a tough morning as they open against powerful Virginia. All the Carolina rowers in those boats are novices (in their first season of collegiate rowing), but Furtek has been pleased with their progress. "Our first varsity four has been very fast, competing well against our varsity rowers in practices," he said. "I've been very impressed."

The eights, meanwhile, look forward to facing off with Clemson in the morning. UNC's varsity eight and second varsity eight both were beaten by the Tigers at the Southern Intercollegiate Rowing Championships on April 16 in Carolina's most recent competition.

Seedings:
First varsity eight: 1. Virginia, 2. Clemson, 3 UNC, 4. Duke (Trials-10:30 and 10:45 a.m., Petite final-1:45 p.m., Final-2:45 p.m.)
Second varsity eight: 1. Virginia, 2. Clemson, 3 UNC, 4. Duke (Trials-10:00 and 10:15 a.m., Petite final-1:30 p.m., Final-2:30 p.m.)
First varsity four: 1. Virginia, 2. Clemson, 3. Duke, 4. UNC (Trials-9:30 and 9:45 a.m., Petite final-1:15 p.m., Final-2:15 p.m.)
Second varsity four: 1. Virginia, 2. Clemson, 3. Duke, 4. UNC (Trials-9:00 and 9:15 a.m., Petite final-1:00 p.m., Final-2:00 p.m.)

Probable UNC lineups:
First varsity eight: Robin Yamakawa (coxswain), Erin Neppel (stroke), Dana Peirce, Danae Ringelmann, Heather Higgins, Layne Carey, Holly Jones, Laura Fogt, Rachel Kolbinsky (bow)
Second varsity eight: Kristin Miller (coxswain), Kimberlee Dilda (stroke), Meredith Acly, Stephanie Novak, Lindsey Rewerts, Jeanette Crets, Ann Crawford, Meredith Krull, Rachel Daniels (bow)
Varsity four: Sarah Ketchie (coxswain), Kara Kerscher (stroke), Molly Benner, Allison Wheaton and Lauren Yoder (bow)
Second varsity four: Erin Harkins (coxswain), Lily Russell (stroke), Amy Noon, Lindsay Pichaske and Winter Keeler (bow)