PITTSBURGH, PA-The varsity eight and youth four each won its event at the Head of the Ohio to highlight the 2004-05 season opener for the Terrier women's crews.

The varsity crew, made up of cox Cydney Nakama along with Lauren Priest, Amanda Milborne, Caitlin Durkin, Megan Keyes, Stephanie Szabo, Anna Sleator, Emily Brown, and Tess Miller, covered the 2.75-mile course in 16:54.09 to beat a field of nine other boats.

In the meantime, the youth four, which was made up of all freshmen, rowed in 19:33.63 to beat 16 other boats which comprised of rowers under 20 years of age. The Terrier boat included cox Mara Smith, Kari Hill, Maura Kennedy, Emma Arthur, and Rory O'Mara.

In all, B.U. took two crews of eight rowers, a varsity eight and youth eight, and all rowers competed in more than one event.

In two sculling events-the Open Double and Open Single, the Terriers finished first and second, respectively. The double of Milborne and Szabo were timed in 20:16.61, while Lauren Priest finished second in the single with a time of 21:08.81.

In the small boat sweep event-the Open Pair of Keyes and Brown won with a time of 20:39.55, while Durkin and Miller were third. Finally, the Youth Eight was sixth in a field of 24 boats.

"Because of the floods that had hit the area a couple of weeks before the races, the rowers had to race against a very strong head wind," noted head coach Holly Hatton. "So, rowing two races was quite a test of endurance for our athletes.

"The results were awesome," beamed Hatton. "Our crews have set a high standard to shoot for based on how they rowed over the weekend. There are high expectations now not just on the part of the crews but also with the coaches.

"We were very disappointed last spring in not receiving an invitation to the NCAAs," said Hatton. "That showed us that we just have to go out this year and win races if we hope to go to the Nationals. Our athletes have shown a tremendous commitment to rowing well this year.

"One of the things that really helped us was our rowing at Henley," said the coach. "We qualified for the Henley Regatta, and that gave our athletes tremendous confidence that has carried over to this season. There is a whole new approach this year, and you could see it with how we rowed at the Head of the Ohio."