9:14 a.m., May 14, 2007--The University of Delaware rowing team closed out the spring season on Saturday afternoon, with crews finishing fifth in the semifinals of the second varsity eights race and sixth in the semifinals of the novice eights competition at the annual Dad Vail Regatta on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia.

Both crews advanced to the semifinals by virtue of third place finishes in their heats on Friday.

UD's second varsity eights team of coxswain Cami Off, Katie Broullire, Lana Rivers, Jenn Boutin, Rachel Thomas, Maria Bellumori, Nicolette Lotrionte, Katie Gooding and Lynn Hamski finished fifth in the semifinals with a time of 7:05.62.

The State University of New York at Buffalo won the race with a time of 6:44.46, and was followed by St. Joseph's University (6:51.46), the University of Massachusetts (6:52.83), the University of Alabama, UD and Bryn Mawr College (7:30.30).

UD's novice eights team of coxswain Avery Griffin, Mary Grace Maggiano, Liz Cretekos, Alexx DeLorme, Jess Brooks, Regine Adrien, Brittany Hayes, Arielle Katz and Kialeen Hay rowed to a time of 7:09.44 to finish sixth in the semifinals.

St. Joseph's won the race in 6:53.49, and was followed by Purdue University (6:58.05), Lehigh University (6:59.22), the University of Tulsa (7:07.59), Creighton University (7:09.03) and UD.

In Friday's heat competition, the UD varsity fours team of coxswain Callie Tegan, Betsy Seeger, Emily Canniff, Lily Chavarriaga and Catherine Hansen finished fourth with a time of 8:40.57 but did not advance. Lafayette College won the race with a time of 7:42.8 followed by Mercyhurst College (8:10.3) and Wichita State University (8:22.8).

The novice fours team of coxswain Ashley Pazdalski, Maureen Reardon, Laura Anglim, Hillary Lamdin and Erin Venturato finished fourth in its heat with a time of 9:03.18. Penn State University won the race with a time of 8:10.8 followed by the University of Connecticut (8:14.66), Fordham University (8:16.21) and UD.

The UD varsity eights team of coxswain Kenna Plangemann, Laura Beaufort, Lisa Ferrara, Elizabeth Carey, Melanie Turner, Christina Stanley, Justine Strausser, Nikki Jackowsky and Lisa Medina finished fourth in its heat with a time of 7:19.74 to advance to the repechage round. In the repechage round, UD finished fourth behind Stetson University (6:55.74), Temple University (6:59.2) and Robert Morris University (7:09.02).