Women’s Crew Captures Varsity 4+ Title at Aberdeen Dad Vail Regatta

RESULTS | DAD VAIL

COVERAGE (scroll to 39:30)

St. Louis, Mo., May 17, 2011 — The Washington University in St. Louis women’s club crew team made history this past weekend as the Bears captured the women’s varsity 4+ championship at the Aberdeen Dad Vail Regatta in Philadelphia, Pa. Washington U. finished in first place out of 27 other Division II and Division III schools.

Established in 1934 and held each year over Mother’s Day weekend, the Aberdeen Dad Vail Regatta is the largest collegiate regatta in the United States. Over 3,000 student-athletes from more than 100 colleges and universities in the United States and Canada competed on Philadelphia’s Schuylkill River. The finals were broadcast live throughout the Philadelphia region on 6abc.com and worldwide on ESPN3.com.

The women’s varsity 4+ team of senior Becky Chanis, junior Gryte Satas, junior Miranda Timonen, sophomore Hana Toribara, and senior coxswain Rui Hu ousted second-place Middlebury College by almost five seconds with a time of 7:48.96. Bowdoin College, Mercyhurst College and Nova Southeastern University rounded out the top five. Washington University qualified with the third fastest time out of the heats and the second fastest time out of the semifinals.

"The women's varsity 4+ has had a tremendous season. They hadn’t really been pushed yet, so we wanted to see how they would respond under pressure,” said first-year head coach Rudy Ryback. “That has been our race strategy at all our regattas in the spring . . . getting faster throughout the weekend and it seems to work for us. We look forward to our final race of the year at the American Collegiate Rowing Association Championships.”

Following the race, Satas was granted an invitation to the United States Rowing under-23 Selection Camp. Satas will be competing for a spot in the under-23 World Rowing Championships, held Thursday-Sunday, July 21-24, in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

The Washington University club crew team was founded in 1985 as a group to provide Washington University students the opportunity to row or learn to row at a competitive collegiate level. The goals of the crew team are to increase the presence of the sport on campus, increase the skill level of all participants, represent Washington U. at the highest level in competition and create a fun and social environment.