AZTEC ROWING CLAIMS FOUR SPOTS ON ALL-WIRA TEAMS

Avery, Danvers named to first team; Hepner, Keane land on second team

Source:  goaztecs.com

Photo courtesy goaztecs.com

May 10, 2017 (San Diego) - Following San Diego State rowing’s excellent finish at the Western intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships on April 30 in Gold River, Calif., four Aztecs were named to the all-WIRA team. Sara Avery and Brynn Danvers both made the women’s first team, while Brooke Hepner and Laura Keane landed on the women’s second team.

Avery, the seven seat, and Danvers, the two, were rewarded for the varsity eight’s second-place showing on Lake Natoma. The 2015 “Newcomer of the Year,” Avery is finishing her junior year and third varsity level season. Danvers, a junior from North Vancouver, B.C., is also a third-year varsity rower and has raced in the V8 with Avery in each spring outing this season.

The V8 took the silver on Lake Natoma with a 6:29.322 finish behind the Stanford lightweight crew (6:18.404). Behind the Aztecs were Loyola Marymount (6:31.132), Sacramento State (6:32.772), Seattle University (6:45.356), Saint Mary's (6:47.042) and Santa Clara (7:12.086).

Hepner was a member of the second varsity eight crew that took first place at the WIRA Championships. A native of Orange, Calif., the sophomore raced in the 2V8’s third seat and has lettered in each of her seasons on the Mesa. Keane, the stroke for the second-place finishing varsity four boat, is concluding her freshman year and first varsity season at SDSU.

The Aztecs edged out the competition to take home the trophy in the 2V8 with a 6:33.831 finish, ahead of LMU (6:39.763), Saint Mary's (6:42.583), Sacramento State (6:45.015) and Santa Clara (6:56.229). The Stanford lightweight crew did not finish the race due to technical issues.

SDSU's V4 time of 7:23.841 was just two seconds shy of winner Sac State's 7:21.701. The Sac State B boat (7:41.369) came in third, ahead of Saint Mary's (7:44.321), Saint Mary's B (8:02.417) and Santa Clara (8:35.415).

The Aztec compete in the final race of the season this weekend at the American Athletic Conference Championships in Sarasota, Fla. Races are set to begin at 11 a.m. ET/8 a.m. PT on Saturday, May 13, at Nathan Benderson Park. A link to live coverage of the championships will be available on GoAztecs.com.