University of Victoria Athletics

2003-04 University of Victoria Women’s Rowing
 
Women’s Roster

 
Rick Crawley (Head Coach)
 
 
Biography
For two consecutive years the University of Victoria women’s rowing team has brought home the Canadian University Rowing Championship (CURC) title. Capturing gold in the prestigious women’s eight, the 2003-04 rowing roster aims to defend their status as the best university rowing program in the country.
 
The Vikes enjoyed home course advantage at the 2003 national championships as they played host to 12 events at Elk Lake. Victoria advanced to all six female final events. In the women’s single scull UVic finished fourth at 7:56.54. An hour later, the Vikes took home their first gold medal in the women’s lightweight single scull at a winning time of 8:00.90. Victoria crossed the line five seconds before nearest competitors, University of Western Ontario. Continuing the winning streak, the women’s coxed eight crew nicked the line 0.01 second ahead of UBC to capture the gold. UVic’s time was 6:22.58, UBC at 6:22.59, followed by Queens University, Trent University, McGill Western and Simon Fraser.
 
In the afternoon, Victoria beat out Queens by 0.7.57 seconds in the women’s lightweight double for UVic’s third gold. The women’s crew blasted through the women’s coxless pair at a time of 7:31.51 capturing their fourth gold medal and defeated UBC by a whopping 11.77 seconds. Ending the day, Victoria’s lightweight coxed four earned a silver medal.
 
Head Coach Rick Crawley and the women’s 2003 crew earned their seventh national title for the program and the third consecutive victory.
 
Following the outdoor national championships, UVic hosted the 2003-04 Indoor Monster Erg national championship. A sister event is held in Toronto, ON at the same time. Many UVic rowers dominated individually in their respective events.
 
Amy Herlinveaux, Jo Merson, Gwen McLeannan, Kelsey Hamara and Carla Gould swept the senior B lightweight event from first to fifth. Herlinveaux won the event at 7:42.8, only 2.5 seconds ahead of second place Merson at 7:44.2. In a tough and close senior B heavyweight race, UVic’s Tricia Gill rowed away to victory at 7:12.6. UBC clocked in second at 7:16.0, followed by UVic's Andrea Porritt at 7:18.2. Victoria’s Leah Stone and Leah Volkers placed fourth and fifth, followed by Aly Carter in eighth and Laura Hickman rounding off the top 10.
 
At the annual Brown Cup Challenge between Victoria and UBC, the Vikes swept their mainland rivals in all three events. Under windy conditions, Victoria defeated UBC in the varsity coxed eight at 9:55.59, 0.5.4 seconds ahead of the UBC boat who finished the 2.8km Gorge waterway course at 10:05.04. UVic’s reserved eight-crew also defeated UBC with a victory margin of 0.23.62. Finishing off a clean sweep, UVic’s frosh eight rowed to victory at 10:29.46 over UBC at 11.00.76.
 
 
Season Summary
Canadian University Rowing Championships: GOLD (1^st)

• Women’s Single Scull: Fourth (7:56.54)
• Women’s Lightweight Single Scull: 1^st (8:00.9)
• Women’s Coxed Eight: 1^st (6:22.58)
• Women’s Lightweight Double: 1^st (7:45.76)
• Women’s Lightweight Coxless Double: 1^st (7:31.51)
• Women’s Lightweight Coxed Four: 2^nd (7:18.04)

 
 
Brown Cup Challenge: GOLD (1^st)