Carol Chase Peterson| RESULTS | Coach Doldron Interview | Photo Gallery

West Windsor, N.J. -- Competing at the IRA National Championship Regatta for just the second time, the Boston University women's lightweight rowing team won two bronze medals and saw all three of its boats finish in the top four. Highlighted by a bronze medal performance in the varsity eight grand final, the team's IRA performance cemented the Terriers as an elite women's lightweight rowing program in just its third year of existence.

"This is a great team and I am super proud of every single one of them," said head lightweight rowing coach Malcolm Doldron after the regatta. "I am very excited about our progress to date and I am really happy for the varsity eight to have that medal as a momento."

In its first race of the day, the Terriers' varsity eight boat raced in the grand final with a national championship on the line. The V8, coxed by junior Rachel Cohn and stroked by senior Carol Chase Peterson, fell behind early with Stanford and Radcliffe jumping in front. BU, Princeton and Wisconsin battled for third at the 1,000 meter mark with the Terriers and Princeton then going head-to-head for third over the final 500 meters. BU was able to pull ahead of the Tigers and finished third with a time of 6:36.01 for the bronze, about 4 seats ahead of Princeton (6:38.53). Stanford won the gold (6:32.23) with Radcliffe second (6:35.13).

Later in the morning, the Terriers nearly medaled in the varsity four race but finished fourth in an extremely close race. The V4, coxed by junior Allison Triola and stroked by sophomore Mariah Ippolito, was in second for the first half of the race, trailing leader Stanford. Wisconsin passed BU at the 1,000 meter mark as BU and Princeton became engaged in a fierce battle for third. The two boats appeared to cross the line at the same time but the Tigers took third with a time of 7:25.09 just ahead of BU (7:25.58). Stanford won gold (7:20.40) and Wisconsin took silver (7:24.22).

On Saturday, the lightweights advanced two boats to the grand finals and won a bonze medal. The V8 finished second in its heat race to Radcliffe to advance to the grand finals while the V4 advanced to Sundays final by placing second in the repechage after finishing fourth in its morning heat race. In addition, in an exhibition race on Saturday, the BU women's lightweight double, made up of senior Brittany Murphy and junior Cynthia Herrera, finished third in its race and won a bronze medal.

FULL RESULTS

VARSITY EIGHT GRAND FINAL

1 STANFORD 06:32.2

2 RADCLIFFE 06:35.1

3 BU 06:36.0

4 PRINCETON 06:38.5

5 WISCONSIN 06:44.1

6 GEORGETOWN 06:59.3

VARSITY FOUR GRAND FINAL

1 STANFORD 07:20.4

2 WISCONSIN 07:24.2

3 PRINCETON 07:25.1

4 BU 07:25.6

5 RADCLIFFE 07:26.7

6 MIT 07:54.1

LINEUPS

V8+

Cox: Rachel Cohn

8: Carol Chase Peterson

7: Makayla Karr-Warner

6: Savannah Keller

5: Nicole Love

4: Callie Bouzane

3: Annie Shapiro

2: Ashley Davidson

1: Leigh Shanor

 V4+

Cox: Allie Triola

4: Mariah Ippolito

3: Boone Saunders

2: Sarah Pierluissi

1: Eleanor Rask

V2x

Stroke: Brittany Murphy

Bow: Cynthia Herrera