Jul 3, 2008

Freshman 8 advances at Royal Regatta

From Daily News Dispatches

HENLEY-ON-THAMES, England - The Stanford men's rowing freshman eight enjoyed a successful first day in its pursuit of the Temple Challenge Cup at the Henley Royal Regatta Wednesday, advancing to the second round of the draw with a victory over South Africa's University of Stellenbosch. The Cardinal will now take on Fitzwilliam College (Cambridge) in second-round action today at 10:35 a.m. from Henley-on-Thames.

The Cardinal completed the course on the Thames River in a winning time of 6:51, good for a four-length victory over the South African boat. Stanford's performance also tied for fourth-fastest among the 16 victorious finishing times, and the four-length victory was the second best of the day.

"Today's race was a solid beginning for the team," said frosh coach Pete Giese. "Henley Royal Regatta is set up like the NCAA tournament, so advancing is the key. We saw a solid team today in the University of Stellenbosch, and hopefully we can carry this momentum forward through the regatta.

"Henley truly is a one of a kind experience in rowing," Giese added. "Nowhere else in the world do rowers have the chance to perform in front of such large and knowledgeable crowds. Seeing the race course lined with 20,000 people has been exhilarating for our team."

"Anytime you win an international race, that's something to be excited about," said Stanford director of rowing and men's head coach Craig Amerkhanian. "It's one day, one race at a time in an event like this, and I'm very proud of the guys for their performance today."

Fitzwilliam College, Stanford's second-round opponent, defeated Bath University in Wednesday's first round by three lengths, clocking in with a winning time of 7:12.

The winner of today's Stanford-Fitzwilliam College race will advance to Friday's quarterfinal round to battle the winner of Cornell and Imperial College of London.



Women's volleyball

Stanford rising seniors Foluke Akinradewo and Cynthia Barboza, along with alumni Logan Tom and Kristin Richards, have been named to the U.S. women's national team roster for the last preliminary weekend of the FIVB World Grand Prix. The U.S. has won five straight matches and takes a 5-1 record into the final set of pool play matches in Taipei this weekend.

Akinradewo, Barboza and Richards have been on the U.S. roster since the beginning of the tournament, while Tom saw her first action last weekend. The event is being used to narrow the 19-player preliminary roster to 12 for the Olympic Games next month. Along with the four Stanford players competing this weekend, Ogonna Nnamani is also among the contenders for an Olympic roster spot.

The FIVB World Grand Prix finals, a round-robin format of the top five teams from the preliminary round plus host Japan, will be played July 9-13 in Yokohama, Japan. The overall ranking in the preliminary rounds is decided by the total number of World Grand Prix Points gained by the teams in the preliminary matches.

The U.S. is in a three-way tie for second place in the 12-team tournament with Italy and Brazil, one loss behind undefeated tournament leader China. Based on the tiebreaker of points won ratio, the Americans (1.203 points ratio) hold a slim advantage over Brazil (1.191) and Italy (1.117).