NSU Women's Rowing Varsity 8+ Claims 2nd Place in NCAA Division II Grand Final|
NSU Rowers Complete Season Ranked #3 in Country

(Photo) Katrina Bonilla

The NSU women's rowing Varsity Eight crew captured 2 nd place in the Division II Varsity 8+ Grand Final at the 2005 NCAA Women's Rowing National Championships held at the CSUS Aquatic Center on Lake Natoma in Rancho Cordova, California.

NSU Varsity 8+ was edged by National Champions Western Washington, while the Knights defeated defending National Champions Mercyhurst College and Sunshine State Conference rivals Barry University on their way to medalist honors.   Western Washington held off a final sprint by NSU to log a winning time of 06:48.72.  Nova Southeastern crossed the finish line with a time of 06:55.91, Mercyhurst College (06:59.92) placed third and Barry University covered the 2000 meter course in 07:07.35.

With the 2 nd place finish by the NSU V8+ and Saturday’s 4 th place finish by the Knights V4+ boat, NSU finished 3 rd overall (11 points) in the national team rankings only one point behind Mercyhurst College (12 points).   Western Washington University won the national team championship with 20 team points while Florida Tech rounded out the regatta as the #4 ranked team in the country with 7 team points.

Seated in the Knights eight were coxswain Cheyenne Poskey (So., San Diego, CA), stroke seat  Katrena Bonilla  (Sr., Hollywood, FL), No.7 Nicole Felluca (So., Canandaigua, N.Y.), No.6 Ashley Amrich (Jr., Cooper City, FL), No.5 Miglena Dzhupanova (Fr., Sofia, Bulgaria), No.4 Lauren Thomas (Jr., Rockford, IL), No.3   (Fr., Monica Henderson, Orlando, FL), No.2 Luciana Bedos (Fr., Fort Lauderdale, FL) and bow Stephanie Blair (So., St. Petersburg, FL).

NSU is the only crew in history to reach the NCAA Women National Rowing Championships in their first two seasons of competition, and the team has a bright future under the direction of Head Coach John Gartin and his coaching staff.

More than 600 student-athletes encompassing 30 teams from NCAA Division I, II and III institutions participated in the 9 th Annual NCAA Women's Rowing National Championships staged at the California State University, Sacramento Aquatic Center.

Below are NSU’s results from the NCAA Division II Varsity 8+ Grand Final:

1. Western Washington University 06:48.72

2. Nova Southeastern University 06:55.91

3. Mercyhurst College 06:59.92

4. Barry University 07:07.35