NCAAs and ACRAs: Hoos Who in Rowing

The 2012 NCAA Championships were, as expected, characterized by closely fought heats, semis, and finals, with the depth of the entire field improving from year to year and the top-end continually reaching new heights. Our pick to win the Division I title since January, Virginia, delivered in both the varsity eight and team points, with a solid performances from the varsity four (second) and second varsity eight (fifth) to set up the first eight for success in the grands. The Hoos left no doubt in the 1V, pushing out the margin in the second 1000m enough to hold off a very strong Michigan crew–with a second-place finish in the varsity eight and first place in the 2V, the Wolverines locked up second place in the team points standings, ahead of No. 1 California.

As for our pick of Western Washington, well, the Jacks of Humboldt State showed that a new era may have begun in DII women's rowing. The Jacks were the class of the field in the varsity four, finishing roughly nine seconds ahead of second-place Nova SE to win the event. In the varsity eight, despite the nerves that can come with a restart, and a new attack by Western Washington, the Jacks stayed loose, had confidence in their rhythm, and gradually reeled the Vikings in throughout the race, edging into first place in the final 250m and securing the title in the varsity eight and team points with a sweep. The victory for the Jacks ended a seven-year winning streak for WWU.

In Division III, Williams was as good as advertised, as Kate Maloney's program showed poise and depth, winning the 2V by a considerable margin and taking the varsity eight for the seventh straight time. It speaks highly of the athletes that they were able to adapt to a new coach (albeit a talented and experienced one), and continue to perform at the top of their game through the regime change. Needless to say, they were pretty Ephing excited (I know, I know–it's pronounced 'eephs').

Meanwhile, down in Georgia, the ACRA finals underway, and saw a few surprises in another increasingly deep field. Our pick for first place all year has been Michigan, and the Wolverines delivered at Dad Vails earlier this month, winning both the varsity eight and JV eight events. This time, however, history repeated itself, as Frank Biller's Virginia squad went from fourth place at Dad Vails to a second consecutive championship title at ACRAs in the men's varsity eight, breaking the course record in the process (NB: Lake Lanier hosted the rowing at the 1996 Olympic Games–Biller's crew rowed a 5:40.9 in tailwind conditions, besting the Olympic champion Dutch eight's previous record of 5:42.7 by nearly two seconds). Roughly one length back from UVa was Bucknell–the Bison had a fantastic regatta, also upsetting Michigan, who had to be content with third place in the varsity eight after the closely fought nine-boat final came to an end. Grand Valley State finished fourth, three tenths of a second behind Michigan and four tenths ahead of Notre Dame. The Wolverines pulled off an undefeated season in the JV eight, with a win over Virginia and GVSU in that order. Another of our crews to watch, Orange Coast college, edged UVa to win the frosh eight title, as well as the frosh four event.

On the women's side, our pick to win, Grand Valley State, did just that in convincing fashion, taking the varsity eight by roughly seven seconds over the field. Purdue, our pick for second, took silver in Gainesville, with New Hampshire in third place ahead of UCSB. The Lakers backed up their success at the varsity level with another win, this time in the women's novice eight, with a surprising crew from Middlebury taking second place overall.

Still to come: IRA 2012 picks and predictions–the polls close tomorrow!

-RR

Trending posts this month

"I Row Crew" — Rowing in 'The Social Network'

Image
Like many of the rowing faithful, I've been keeping up with the saga penned by Dan Boyne about the filming of the rowing scenes in David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin's The Social Network , and I must say I had high hopes going into the film. The first problem I encountered: the phrase, "I row crew." It was uttered so many times before anyone "rowed crew" on the water that I had trouble buying any of it later. It's understandable that the character of Mark Zuckerberg makes that mistake, since he has no idea about the sport. But when the Winklevoss twins themselves utter the phrase several times, one begins to wonder where Boyne was when these lines were not being chopped or changed. Seriously, who says that? As far as the actual rowing goes, the first scene, which has the twins out training in a pair along with the rest of the Harvard squad, is not all bad — it just ends that way. The line, "Those guys are freakin' fast" is certainly every b
Read more

Will It Make the Boat Go Faster? At Marin Rowing Association, Culture is Key

Image
Hands in after training  My alarm goes off—it’s 4:22am.  It’s been a while since I did this. Immediately, I think back to a college dorm room, rolling out of bed and running down the steps to carpool caravan to Marina Del Rey.  Not this time, though. It’s a Tuesday in late September, and I’m heading across the Golden Gate Bridge to Greenbrae, California, where I’ll meet with the Marin Rowing Men’s Masters squad. Fortunately, it’s an unusually warm morning—and when I roll in, the boathouse is already buzzing with activity.  Launch time: 5:10. Heading out into the Bay before dawn The Marin Rowing Association program has both men’s and women’s masters boats competing to win at every event they attend. In the fall, that can only mean one thing: The Head Of The Charles .  The boat that Coach Rodrigo Rodrigues and I spend most of our time with is the Grand Masters eight—average age 60+. But that’s just one of five crews that launched with us that morning. Everyone’s up before 4:30am. So, wh
Read more

The 30 Best Rowing Coaches of All Time, Part 3: The Top 10

Image
The top 10 best rowing coaches, including guess who (Photo © Iain Weir / Rowing Photography ) It's time for the third and final part of our 3-part series on the best of the best in the rowing coaching ranks. These coaches not only command respect based on performance, but have also shown the ability to adapt to new circumstances, build dynasties, and ultimately help shape the trajectory of rowing as a sport. Honestly, it would be easy to extend this series into 10 more posts... But we wouldn't do that to you. As we've said before, the hope is that the following may serve to educate and spark discussion, as both an appreciation of history and of the coaching craft. Also note: As we stated in Part 1 and Part 2 of this series, there are few women in this list, but that is a reflection of a general underrepresentation of women in the head coaching ranks in our sport—and indeed (as has been well documented ) a growing number of NCAA sports in the United States.
Read more

So, are Naked Rowing Calendars a Thing Now?

Image
Warwick rowers are all in again this year (Photo courtesy of Warwick Boat Club)  The phenomenon started four years ago with the Warwick Rowing men's squad. Then, the following year, the Warwick women's team joined the fray. Now, Newcastle University's men and women are back on the naked calendar train. So, the question is, have rowing and naked calendars become a thing? The above video features the 2014-2015 Warwick women's squad—the third edition of the calendar , and, from the looks of it, the raciest. However, perhaps not so racy as that of the 2014-2015 Warwick men (see below). But raciness aside, all four of these teams have chosen worthy charities and have gone "the full monty" to make sure that those causes have received considerable contributions. The Warwick women contribute to Macmillan Cancer Support —a cause for which Warwick reports it has donated some £5,000. The Warwick men? Sport Allies —a charity that combats homophobia in spor
Read more

Video Of The Week: Holland Beker 2013

Image
This week's video comes to us from the Bosbaan, where the 2013 Holland Beker saw truly elite, international competition over the weekend. Perhaps the most outstanding racing came in the women's single, where the A Final closely mirrored a world championship or Olympic final in recent years—the lineup included two-time Olympic champ Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus, Kim Crow of Australia, New Zealand's Emma Twigg , reigning Olympic champion Mirka Knapkova of the Czech Republic, another two-time Olympic champion (albeit in the women's eight) in Eleanor Logan , and 2012 Olympic bronze medalist (also in the eight) Chantal Achterberg of Holland.  As it turned out, the final was a wire-to-wire victory for Kim Crow, who looks to be on top form and may be the athlete to beat in this event for the foreseeable future, holding off both Karsten and Twigg in the closing stretch, with Knapkova finishing fourth. Elle Logan had another solid race in a great field, finishing just ove
Read more