May 13, 2017
SARASOTA, Fla. - The San Diego State rowing capped its season Saturday morning at the American Athletic Conference Championship at Nathan Benderson Park where the team took home two medals and finished fourth in the conference. Junior Isabelle Paul earned a spot on the first team all-conference, while junior Sara Avery and freshman Bianca van Dyk received second team honors.
"We are happy to have improved one place in the team standings from last year," said head rowing coach Bill Zack. "That reflects a team-wide commitment to learning and improving in all aspects. Special congratulations to both fours on their bronze medals, and thanks to The American and the Nathan Benderson Park staff for putting on a great event."
In the first event, the SDSU second varsity eight got on the water at 11:10 a.m. and raced through light chop to make its way into third place to take the bronze medal. The Aztecs finished with seven points in a time of 7:50.1, just 10.5 seconds behind first-place finisher UCF (7:39.6) and 6.3 seconds behind Tulsa (7:43.8). Those finishing behind the Aztecs were University of Connecticut (7:54.4), Temple (8:09.3), Sacramento State (8:13.9) and Southern Methodist (8:14.9).
The Aztecs also claimed the bronze in the varsity four where the SDSU crew clocked in at 7:28.5 and claimed seven points toward its team total. Leading the pack was UCF (7:22.2), followed by Tulsa (7:27.1), who edged out SDSU by just over a second. Temple (7:34.2), UConn (7:37.1), Sac State (7:39.8) and SMU (7:56.8) all finished behind the Aztec boat.
Immediately following the V4, the second varsity eight got on the water and wrapped its race in fourth place in 6:46.7 behind UCF (6:34.5), Tulsa (6:40.0) and UConn (6:41.1), and were followed by Temple (6:53.0), Sac State (6:59.8) and SMU (7:09.9). The fourth place finish gave the Aztecs 40 points.
In the final race of the day, the SDSU varsity eight boat fell back to fifth place in a tight race, finishing in 6:33.1. The race winner, UCF, clocked in a 6:24.8, while Tulsa (6:27.2) finished just two second behind the champion and mere seconds separated third-place Sac State (6:30.8) and fourth-place SMU (6:31.9) from the Aztec boat. The team's finish ahead of UConn (6:36.9) and Temple (6:44.0) earned the Aztecs 48 points toward their total.
Though SDSU tied in total points with Sac State (119), the Hornets claimed the tie-break with a higher finish in the V8.
Three Aztec rowers earned all-conference nods, tying Sac State with the third-most team members between the two all-AAC squads. Isabelle Paul, the sixth seat in the V8, was named to the first team while V8 seventh seat Sara Avery and fourth seat Bianca van Dyk were selected for the second team.
Results
2V4:
UCF: 7:39.6
Tulsa: 7:43.8
SDSU: 7:50.1
UConn: 7:54.4
Temple: 8:09.3
Sac State: 8:13.9
SMU: 8:14.9
V4:
UCF: 7:22.2
Tulsa: 7:27.1
SDSU: 7:28.5
Temple: 7:34.2
UConn: 7:37.1
Sac State: 7:39.8
SMU: 7:56.8
2V8:
UCF: 6:34.5
Tulsa: 6:40.0
UConn: 6:41.1
SDSU: 6:46.7
Temple: 6:53.0
Sac State: 6:59.8
SMU: 7:09.9
V8:
UCF: 6:24.8
Tulsa: 6:27.2
Sac State: 6:30.8
SMU: 6:31.9
SDSU: 6:33.1
UConn: 6:36.9
Temple: 6:44.0
Lineup: V8: Brynn Danvers (bow), Phoebe Dammersmith (2), Christa Carrillo (3), Bianca van Dyk (4), Hannah Gasser (5), Isabelle Paul (6), Sara Avery (7), Madeline Bernard (stroke), Cassie Houy (coxswain).
2V8: Hannah Norris (bow), Deborah Worthey (2), Brooke Hepner (3), Alana Grollo (4), Tara Montgomery (5), Emaleigh White (6), Gina Bourke (7), Lauren Allen (stroke), Alyssa Lua (coxswain).
V4: Laurie Tenenbaum (bow), Mycayla Smith (2), Daria Peck (3), Laura Keane (stroke), Rachel Gemperle (coxswain).
2V4: Rebecca Sievers (bow), Hannah Carney (2), Brooke Boron (3), Maia Graham (stroke), Nadirah Jamaludin (coxswain).
Final Standings:
UCF: 217
Tulsa: 189
Sacramento State: 119*
San Diego State: 119
UConn: 118
Temple: 90
SMU: 87
*Sacramento State wins tie-breaker with SDSU based on Varsity 8 finish.