May 7, 2006
Notre Dame, Ind. – Sophomore rower Amanda Polk (Pittsburgh, Pa.) was one of 23 collegiate rowers invited to the Under-23 National Team Selection Camp. The three-week camp, which begins on June 5, will be held at the University of California at Berkeley.
This will mark the second time Polk has been part of the National Team program. Prior to her freshman season in 2004, she competed at the Junior World Rowing Championships in Banyoles, Spain as a member of the’04 Junior Women’s Rowing National Team.
Since her freshman season, Polk has rowed as a member of Notre Dame’s varsity eight boat. In 2005, she became the first freshman to earn All-America honors when she was named to the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association (CRCA) second team. In addition, Polk garnered first-team All-Central Region honors. In the 2005 spring season, she helped guide the varsity eight boat to a second-place finish in the Petite Final of the varsity eight race in the prestigious Jessop Whittier Cup at the San Diego Crew Classic. Polk and the varsity eight crew took second at the ’05 BIG EAST Championships en route to earning the team title for the second consecutive year. The boat also finished third in the Petite Final at the South/Central Regional Championships.
Polk and the Irish are enjoying a record-setting campaign in 2006 with its varsity eight boat currently ranked 13th in the country in the CRCA/US Rowing Poll, after reaching an all-time high of 11th earlier in the season. Notre Dame’s varsity eight crew recorded a program-best fourth-place finish in the Grand Finals of the Jessop Whittier Cup at the San Diego Crew Classic and copped the gold medal at the BIG EAST Championships as the Irish captured their third straight team title.
Also invited to attend the camp were: Heather Gardner (Virginia), Esther Lofgren (Radcliffe), Andrea Sooter (Washington), Kerry Birk (Stanford), Gevvie Stone (Princeton), Alexa Olson (Cornell), Kelly Tice (Mary Washington), Kim Kraemer (Cornell), Laura Lazaridis (Indiana), Hayley Robinson (Barry), Alexis Peterson (Stanford), Devan Darby (Princeton), Stesha Carle (Michigan), Anne Kennedy (Dartmouth), Katie Glessner (Northeastern), Liz Stewart (Loyola Marymount), Ellen Tomek (Michigan), Krystina Sarff (Central Florida), Megan Smith (California-Berkeley), Mira Mehta (Brown), Katelyn Snyder (Washington) and Lizzy Agnew (Princeton).