Oct. 27, 2004 The University of Dayton women's rowing team is looking to make waves this Saturday at the 29th annual Head of the Tennessee Regatta held at Ft. Loudon Lake in Knoxville, Tenn. The Flyers under the direction of Head Coach Geoff Dillard are coming off an 11th place finish in the collegiate eights at Sunday's Head of the Charles in Boston, Mass. \"We are coming off a nice finish at the Head of the Charles last weekend,\" Dillard said. \"This weekend, I will be looking to see what kind of depth we have as we will have multiple entries in every event.\" UD will sponsor three boats in the Collegiate Novice 8 and Championship 8. There will also be two Flyer shells in the Lightweight 8, Championship 4, Lightweight 4, Novice 4 and Championship 2x. Also Katie Lesko (Dayton, Ohio) will row in the Championship 1x. Dillard hopes that a switch in personnel will help Dayton to improve in multiple events. \"We will be making a switch this weekend as Anson Brennan (Fort Thomas, Ky.) and Marie Doenges (St. Mary's , Ohio) will move into the Lightweight.\" Dillard said. \"They will be replaced in the Varsity 8 by sophomore Allie Bogenschutz (Cincinnati, Ohio) and junior Jess Rasor (West Chester, Ohio).\" The Head of Tennessee will be the first competition of the season for a majority of the Flyers including UD's strongest boat, the Varsity Lightweight 8. \"We will get the first look at our Varsity Lightweight 8, which I expect big things from this year," Dillard said. "They finished last season ranked 15th in the US Rowing Coaches Poll, and I expect them to finish higher this year.\" Dillard will also use this weekend to gauge a talented corps of newcomers to the Dayton roster. \"This will be our first look at our Novice squad to see how they stack up,\" Dillard said. \"We just want to go out, row our own race and see where we finish up. The Fall season is a building tool for us to build team chemistry and to see where we are. I am sure there will be things we will need to improve upon after this weekend, but overall I expect us to be near the top of the results along with Tennessee and Clemson.\" The Head of the Tennessee Regatta was the brainchild of Rodman Townsend Sr., who returned from watching the Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston in 1974 with the idea that such an event should happen in Knoxville. At the time, rowing was a new and undeveloped sport in the Southeast; the University of Tennessee's program had only begun in 1972. As one of the few major regional fall crew competitions, the Head of the Tennessee quickly grew into an important meeting ground for programs from the Southeast and Midwest. Now in its 29th year, The Head of Tennessee Regatta has grown to over 1,800 individual competitors and is one of the largest events of its kind.