WASHINGTON - The Georgetown University women's rowing team took to the waters on Friday for the first time this spring, racing in the Class of 2006 Cup against the University of North Carolina as well as competing against Old Dominion University. Racing took place on Lake Wheeler in Raleigh, N.C.

GU's varsity 8 opened the day, racing against UNC for the Class of 2006 Cup. The Tar Heels got off to a quick start and, despite closing the gap, the Hoyas ran out of time in their comeback bid, falling by a margin of less than five seconds with a time of 7:05.2.

In the afternoon, the varsity 8 took on ODU and improved its time by nine seconds, crossing the finish line in 6:56.1. However, after the Hoyas got off to an aggressive start, ODU overcame the Blue & Gray in the final 500 meters of the race to defeat the Hoyas by a margin of less than six seconds.

The second varsity 8 raced against UNC in the morning. Unfortunately, a GU rower caught a crab, as her oar was caught in the water and served as a brake to the boat, affecting Georgetown's overall time. The Hoyas crossed the finish line in 7:36.9, 21 seconds behind the Tar Heels.

GU looked for redemption in the afternoon against ODU. However, despite improving its time by nearly 20 seconds from the morning race, the Blue & Gray finished behind the Monarchs by a six-second margin with a time of 7:17.1.

The varsity 4 crew for the Hoyas came in third in its morning race, finishing the 2,000-meter course in 8:03.0 behind two UNC boats. In its afternoon race against ODU, Georgetown finished in 8:13.1, less than 24 seconds behind the Monarchs.

Georgetown's openweight crews will next be in action at the GW Invite, April 8-9, on the Potomac River. The lightweight squad will race next weekend, April 2-3, against Harvard in Boston.

Varsity 8 lineup:
Coxswain: Sabrina Gosman (Newton, Mass./Winsor School)
Savannah Kochinke (San Francisco, Calif./The Lawrenceville School [N.J.])
Christina Johnson (Redding, Conn./Joel Barlow)
Margaret Dunne (Larchmont, N.Y./Convent of the Sacred Heart)
Cate O'Leary
Sarah Varney (Hingham, Mass./Notre Dame Academy)
Monica Firmani (Seattle, Wash./Seattle Prep)
Emily Buongiorno (Newton Square, Pa./Merion Mercy Academy)
Natalie Clark (Wilton, Conn./Wilton)

Second Varsity 8 lineup:
Coxswain: Morgan Zeiss (Washington, D.C./Georgetown Visitation)
Anne Stoessel (Niskayuna, N.Y./Niskayuna)
Abigail Reinhold (Reston, Va./South Lakes)
Jocelyn Hlawaty (Glen Ridge, N.J./Glen Ridge)
Sophie Kershaw (Sacramento, Calif./St. Francis)
Sabine Neschke (Harvard, Mass./Kent)
Emma Thompson (Claremont, Calif./St. Lucy's Priory)
Lily Tyndall (Harrisburg, N.C./Hickory Ridge)
Maddie Vagadori

Varsity 4 lineup:
Coxswain: Brittany Rios
Victoria Carroll (Cranbury, N.J./Princeton HS)
Emily Phelps (Lincolnshire, Ill./Loyola Academy)
Kayla Giger (Lebanon, Ind./Brebeuf Jesuit Prep)
Isabell Hupez