July 2, 2009

VILLANOVA, Pa. - A pair of former Villanova rowers competed in this past weekend's US Rowing National Championships, with each winning a national title in their respective events. In addition, Walsh was named to the U.S. National Team that will compete in Switzerland in a World Cup event.

In the finals of the women's lightweight singles, Sarbanis outpaced the field by a nearly nine-second margin. Rowing for the Undine Barge Club, she posted a winning time of 7:43.350 in a field of six rowers. Sarah Bates-Johnson (New York Athletic Club) was second in 7:52.126, a margin of 8.776 seconds.

Sarbanis was a four-year letter winner for the Wildcats and graduated in 1999 as a Sociology major. As a junior in 1998, she was part of Villanova's only national championship boat as part of the Lightweight Eight team. She also won gold medals at the Dad Vail Regatta in 1996 and 1997, and is a former U.S. National Team member.

Walsh rowed in the bow seat of the women's quad that won a national title at last weekend's championships. Walsh's boat, affiliated with LTC, recorded a winning time of 6:49.005 that was 2.77 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher, another LTC boat. There were seven entries in the finals of the women's quad competition.

A 2006 graduate of Villanova, Walsh has been selected to represent the United States in Lucerne, Switzerland at the Rowing World Cup III event, which will be held next weekend from July 10-12. Walsh rowed for the Wildcats and was a BIG EAST Academic All-Star, graduating in 2006 with a Nursing degree.