Oct. 8, 2007

STANFORD, Calif. - The Stanford men's, women's, and lightweight crews turned in solid performances this past weekend at the Wine Country Rowing Classic in Petaluma. Each crew captured the races it entered while a pair of men's rowers had a strong showing in the Men's Open single.

"The Petaluma River allows all three Stanford teams to work together and a have a great day of racing, and it's an excellent introduction to rowing for our freshmen," said director of rowing Craig Amerkhanian. "We have tremendous respect for North Bay Rowing, the regatta host, for allowing 1,000 student-athletes the opportunity to row on their body of water and kick-off the Fall head racing season."

Race 1 saw the men's collegiate four boats finish first and second, with the winning lineup set to race in the Head of the Charles in Boston in two weeks. Their goal will be to defend their title as the fastest collegiate men's four in the Championship Fours.

The 11th and 12th races saw the women's and men's eights also take the top two spots, while in Race 21, the women's four boats captured first and second, with the Stanford Lightweights coming in third. The lineups for the two Stanford women's four boats were: Stanford B (Bow 221): Jessi Reel, Cassie Kull, Alex Hasbach, Steph Morrison, cox Lena Wolfe. Stanford A (Bow 220): Lauren Hofmayer, Bea Gordon, Eva Sheridan, Kathy Altman, cox Jen Brown.

"Just like last year, it was a great bonding race for the team on a beautiful fall day in the heart of California's wine country," said women's head coach Yasmin Farooq. "We had some solid intersquad racing as well, and I know that everyone is already learning lessons that will benefit us in the head races to come in the next few weeks."

In Race 16, the men's open single, Stanford alum Donny Simkin finished second, while current Stanford rowers Joseph Brendel and Devin Lee finisehd eighth and ninth, respectively.