2009-10 NEWS RELEASES

UOIT Ridgebacks Media Release
Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Ridgebacks at the Brock Invitational

ST. CATHARINES, Ont. –The UOIT Ridgebacks continued to prepare for the provincial championship as they took part in the Brock Invitational over the weekend. This year, the crew has continued to expand its competitive rowing options by selecting rowers in the sweep category (one oar per rower) as well as scullers, (two oars per rower). The Ridgebacks saw mixed results at Brock, but hope the experience gained will propel them to success at provincials.

Men’s Lightweight 1X
Crew: Colin Jeffrey
Colin Jeffrey started the day off racing in the men’s lightweight singles where he would finish eighth in his heat and 15th overall. His final time was 8:34.7 and the coaching staff was impressed with his effort in his first year sculling.

Women’s Heavyweight 2X
Crew: Ingrid Piat & Gillian Beckette
Racing in their first season in the women’s heavyweight doubles, the crew of Ingrid Piat & Gillian Beckette finished in sixth place with a final time of 9:21.5. “Despite having a little trouble with the current and the close proximity of other boats, the crew turned in solid performance upon which to build for the future,” said head coach Rob Millikin.

Men’s Heavyweight 2X
Crew: Jake Schwass & Justin Vanden Bosch
In a very competitive field, the Ridgebacks finished in eighth position just 45 seconds off the winning time. Jake Schwass & Justin Vanden Bosch were right with the leaders for the majority of the race, but faded in the final 2k.

Women’s Heavyweight 4X
Crew: Allison Ng, Cheryl Walker, Lisa Harrington, Lauren Dares, and Cox’n Shea Brown
The Ridgebacks crew had a solid time of 8:13.3 finishing just four seconds behind Queen’s University and eight seconds behind the University of Toronto. Western won the race with an excellent time of 7:32.8.

Men’s Heavyweight 4X
Crew: Cox’n Monica Mac
Making some adjustments to the crew heading into the race, the men’s heavyweight four finished in sixth place with a final time of 7:54.9 having a little difficulty in establishing their racing stroke. The crew will look to get more comfortable this week in practice before heading to provincials in two weeks.

Women’s Lightweight 2X
Crew: Christie Attwood & Jennifer Oullette
In their first competitive race of 2009, the crew of Christie Attwood & Jennifer Oullette rowed very well, finishing in eighth place with a time of 9:15.8. Their season has not gone according to plan suffering several race cancellations due to inclement weather.

Men’s Lightweight 2X
Crew: Jason Klein-Horsman & Josh Versteeg
The UOIT men’s lightweight double crew of Jason Klein-Horsman and Josh Versteeg are continuing to improve as they gain experience in sculling. At the Brock Invitational, the crew finished in 7th place with a time of 7.46.3,  fifty seconds out of first place.

Women’s Heavyweight 1X
Crew: Elysabeth Reavell-Roy
The UOIT Ridgebacks 2008-09 athlete of the year finished in fifth place in the single sculls with a final time of 9:54.5. Reavell-Roy did well despite not having much practice time due to weather conditions.

Men’s Lightweight 4X
Crew: Josh Versteeg, Jason Klein-Horsman, Ray Mutiger, Colin Jeffrey & cox’n Catharina Cheng
The UOIT crew had high hopes entering the race, but a technical problem with the wheels in the two position caused the boat to fall behind. The Ridgebacks finished in seventh place with a final time of 8:19.0.

Women’s Heavyweight 8
Crew: Melissa McDonald, Allison Ng, Gillian Beckette, Neysa Laszkiewicz, Cheryl Walker, Lauren Dares, Ingrid Piat, Lisa Harrington and Shea Brown
The Ridgebacks finished fourth in their heat with a final time of 8:02.5. The young crew has potential to do well in the future with most of the crew members returning in 2010.

Men’s Novice 8
Crew: John Finnson, Greg Topham, John Rankin, Mark Ironside, Derek Henderson, Steve Fontana, Scott Ryhall, Ray Mutiger and Cox’n Monica Mak
The novice men’s eights was a very competitive race with times very close to one another. UOIT placed ninth out of 12 boats with a time 7.16.4. Western, who raced in the same heat as UOIT won the event with a time of 6.41.9, only 35 seconds ahead of the Ridgebacks.

NEXT EVENT
October 23 - University Development Regatta
October 24 - OUA Championships

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FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Scott Dennis
Sports Information and Marketing Coordinator
Durham College and UOIT Athletics
905.721.2000 Ext. 2784 (P)
905.721.3117 (F)
scott.dennis@dc-uoit.ca