June 21, 2004

BERKELEY - Dave O'Neill, who guided Cal to an undefeated regular season, a national No. 1 ranking for much of the year and the program's first Pac-10 championship, has been named the Pac-10 Women's Rowing Coach of the Year.

In addition, freshman Neela Bushnell was selected the league's Newcomer of the Year, and the Bears placed four rowers on the All-Pac-10 squad - Martha Helgeland, Jessica Patak, Laura Terheyden and Kaylan Vander Schilden.

Under O'Neill, Cal captured the conference's varsity eight title with a time of 6:43.8, finishing 3.8 seconds ahead of second-place Washington. The Bears also won gold medals in the second varsity eight and novice eight races.

At the NCAA championships, O'Neill led the Bears to a fourth-place finish, their best team finish since 2000, when they also placed fourth. Cal's second varsity eight captured the silver medal, while the varsity four placed fifth and the varsity eight finished sixth at NCAAs.

Having just completed his sixth season at the helm of the Cal program, O'Neill has directed the Bears to six consecutive team invitations to the NCAA championships, and his varsity eight has placed among the Top 5 nationally four times.

The Pac-10 Coach of the Year honor is the second of O'Neill's career, as he also earned the distinction in 1999.

2004 All-Pac-10 Team Monica Grova, UCLA
Sanda Hangan, WASH
Martha Helgeland, CAL
Wendy Hoeveler, STAN
Andrea Korom, USC
Jessica Patak, CAL
Erin Patterson, WSU
Mary Reeves, WASH
Yvonneke Stenken, WASH
Andria Shook, USC
Laura Terheyden, CAL
Kaylan Vander Schilden, CAL
Julia White-Hoppe, OSU