SMU Signee Wins USRowing Youth National Championship

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From SMUMustangs.com:

SMU Signee Wins USRowing Youth National Championship
Savannah Moody won; Coxswain Molly O'Connell led crew to fourth-place finish

June 10, 2013

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. (SMU) - SMU signee Savannah Moody won the USRowing Youth National Championship as a member of the Long Beach Junior 4X, posting a time of 6:58.83, nearly five seconds faster than the second place crew. Molly O'Connell, a coxswain for the Long Beach club, led her 8+ crew to a fourth-place finish in the finals.

The duo, along with eight other signees, will begin competition with the Mustangs for the 2013-14 season, joining a team which won the Petite Final in the V4+ at the C-USA Championships. SMU also earned victories over Creighton and Kansas State during the course of the season.

Moody, a 5-11 native of Long Beach, Calif., rows both sides of the shell and can scull, making her a valuable asset to the roster at SMU. She stroked the varsity 8+ that placed 26th out 85 crews at the 2012 Head of the Charles in Boston.

O'Connell is a native of Seal Beach, Calif., and demonstrates a commanding voice and a competitive attitude that helped her men's lightweight 8+ to a first place at the Southwest Junior Regional Championship, which qualified them for the Youth National Championships where her crew took second place in the Lightweight 8+. This fall her crew placed 5th out of 85 teams at the Head of the Charles in Boston.