APPLETON, Wis. -- The Lawrence University women's varsity lightweight four team placed third at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships on June 1.
The team, made up of senior Kristina Nockleby (Roseville, Minn.), junior Megan Whitmore (West Bend, Wis.), sophomore Stephanie Martin (Palmer Lake, Colo.), freshman Heidi Quist (Brillion, Wis.), and freshman coxswain Rachel Payne (Roseville, Minn.), finished behind squads from Princeton University and the University of Wisconsin.
Lawrence finished with a time of 7 minutes, 39.001, 13 seconds off the winning pace set by Princeton on the Cooper River in Camden, N.J. Lawrence finished ahead of teams from Duquesne University, Georgetown University, and Radcliffe College.
It was a race of firsts for Lawrence and the regatta. It was the first time Lawrence had been invited to compete at the IRA Championships, and it was the first time in the 112-year history of the regatta there had been a lightweight four race. The race was held as an exhibition, with the possibility of the IRA adding the event as a permanent fixture in the future.
Lawrence, which operates as a club team, earned its berth in the IRA Regatta with a second-place finish at the Dad Vail Regatta, the largest collegiate regatta in the country, in Philadelphia, Pa., in mid-May. It marked only the second time and the second consecutive year Lawrence had earned a medal at the Dad Vail Regatta.