April 6, 2010

BOSTON, Mass. - The Georgetown University lightweight rowing team traveled to Boston to race Radcliffe for the Class of 2004 cup on Saturday morning. It was the first race of the spring season for the Hoyas.

"Coming off of a very successful winter, we had very high hopes for the weekend," senior captain Laura Donaldson said. "Unfortunately, we experienced disappointing results in both races."

Georgetown's 2v boat consisting of coxswain Jules McLaughlin, Kate Finnerty, Maggie Girard, Katharine Thompson, Hannah Kittel, Ani Zotti, Maggie Guzikowski, Margi Emhof and Brennen O'Rourke fell behind Radcliffe in the first 500 and continued to push away throughout the race. The Radcliffe crew was able to dictate the pace of the race from the start. The final margin was approximately 11 seconds.

In the 1V race, the Hoyas boat that included, coxswain Juliana Pugliese, Erin Landy, Lili Meyer, Alex Vezina, Kayla McNeill, Morgan McGovern, Emily Fink, Jacqueline Pasulka and Laura Donaldson also fell behind the Radcliffe crew in the first 500. Through the second 500 GU was able to push back into the lead, but Radcliffe would prevail.

"They recognized our move and responded with a move of their own, gaining back all the seats we had taken," Donaldson said. "From there the Radcliffe crew was able to increase their lead a little bit at a time all the way to the finish line."

Radcliffe won the race by close to 5.5 seconds.

"In both races the Georgetown crews raced aggressively and executed their respective race plans very well, Donaldson said. "Despite our efforts, we just came up a little bit short. We are using this loss to fuel us in our training and preparation for the rest of the season. While we are disappointed with the results, we realize that there are things we can fix in each crew and are ready to get back to work and get faster for our next race against Princeton in 2 weeks."