June 20, 2001

North Carolina rowers Erin Neppel and Dana Peirce have been named second-team All-America by the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association. They are the first rowers from the 4-year-old UNC varsity program to earn All-America honors.

Neppel and Peirce put themselves in the running for spots on the All-America team by earning CRCA All-South Region first team honors, Neppel for the second year in a row. In addition, they were named National Rowing Scholar-Athletes of the Year by the CRCA.

The seniors were two of four UNC rowers to earn perfect 4.0 grade point averages during the 2001 spring semester, the main competition season for the team. Both received their undergraduate degrees in May. Neppel, an exercise and sports science major, graduated with a 3.63 GPA. Peirce, a biology major and Morehead Scholar, posted a 3.52 GPA.

CRCA Division I All-America Teams

First Team All-America: Ivelina Boteva (Southern California), Megan Cooke (California-Berkeley), Lucy Doolittle (Clemson), Fiola Foley (Boston University), Rika Geyser (Washington), Kate Johnson (Michigan), Portia Johnson (Brown), Jillian Kott (Syracuse), Erin Kelley (Brown), Bernadette Marten (Michigan), Maxi Meissner (Ohio State), Anna Mickelson (Washington), Rachel Miller (Michigan State), Lia Pernell (Princeton), Marlies Smulders (Virginia), Sasha Suda (Princeton), Christina Tymoszewicz (Northeastern), Maite Urtasun (Rutgers), Coxswain: Mary Whipple (Washington)

Second Team All-America: Krista Buzzel (Michigan State), Alison Cox (San Diego), Katie Garrels (Iowa), Joanna Hingle (Duke ), Allison Horne (Cornell), Molly Hueller (George Washington), Sarah-Jane Irwin (Pennsylvania), Connie Kirsch (Ohio State), Sabrina Kolker (Stanford), Amy Lawless (Boston), Sabrina Linden (St. Mary's College), Risa Mandzuk (Virginia), Megan Martin (Iowa), Melissa Merritt (Yale), Kathryn Modolo (Syracuse), Erin Neppel (North Carolina), Dana Peirce (North Carolina), Sarah Pollman (Massachusetts), Abby Roos (Oregon State), Catherine Westmore (Yale), Coxswain: Maeve Schulz - Boston University