05/24/02

The St. Ignatius crew won its second Midwest Scholastic Rowing Championship in three years recently with a dominant performance against the best 32 high school rowing programs in the Midwest at Stoney Creek Metropark near Detroit.

The Wildcats won five gold medals, one silver and one bronze to defeat defending champion St. Mary's of Orchard Lake, Mich., 168-150. Riverview Rowing Club of Detroit was third with 76 points.

The Shaker Heights women's crew won a bronze in varsity pair.

In the first race of the finals, the Wildcats' lightweight four-man shell set the pace with its first-ever Midwest gold medal. The Wildcats then swept the three novice categories, winning their heats, semifinals and finals by margins of at least a boat length. The second varsity eight contributed to the final gold - a repeat performance for seven of the eight oarsmen who had rowed to gold together as freshmen in 1999. The Wildcats' lightweight eight-man team added a silver, and its junior eight took a bronze.