Men’s Rowing – The Stanford Daily https://stanforddaily.com Breaking news from the Farm since 1892 Mon, 16 May 2022 06:15:26 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://stanforddaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/cropped-DailyIcon-CardinalRed.png?w=32 Men’s Rowing – The Stanford Daily https://stanforddaily.com 32 32 204779320 Women’s rowing claims first Pac-12 Championship since 2014, men finish fourth https://stanforddaily.com/2022/05/15/womens-rowing-claims-first-pac-12-championship-since-2014-men-finish-fourth/ https://stanforddaily.com/2022/05/15/womens-rowing-claims-first-pac-12-championship-since-2014-men-finish-fourth/#respond Mon, 16 May 2022 06:14:58 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1203356 No. 2 Stanford women's rowing stood atop the podium on Sunday, outpacing its competitors to claim the Cardinal's first Pac-12 title since 2014. Meanwhile, Stanford men's rowing finished fourth in its conference championship.

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In a series of dominant performances on Sunday, No. 2 Stanford women’s rowing outpaced its competitors on Oregon’s Dexter Lake to claim the Cardinal’s first Pac-12 title since 2014. Their counterparts on the No. 10 men’s rowing team also had a solid day on the water, taking fourth place in the Pac-12 Championships.

Women take Pac-12 title

The women’s team won four of its five races on the day, beating out its conference rival No. 1 University of Washington, by a slim margin of 2.5 points. The Cardinal walked away from the regatta with 43.5 points to the Huskies’ 41. 

Having won the last four Pac-12 titles, Washington came into the meet looking to extend its title streak. The Stanford squad, on the other hand, sought to break from tradition after finishing second in the last seven championships. Both brought this drive to the Pac-12 regatta.

Stanford’s novice eight began their day on the water with a tight victory over the Huskies, overtaking Washington in the last 500 meters to win the race by a mere 0.04 seconds.

Next up was the third varsity boat, which topped Washington by over three seconds and collected 3.5 points towards Stanford’s team total in the process.

Following up their teammates’ strong performances in the first two races, Stanford’s varsity four had an inspired showing. Following a slow start, the boat found its rhythm as the race progressed to storm back and edge out Washington’s boat by more than four seconds. The win gave the Cardinal a small lead in the team standings.

The second varsity eight continued this momentum with its third straight second-place finish, narrowly missing out on victory over the Huskies by a little over a second. 

While the Cardinal had held their own and then some throughout the regatta, they found themselves trailing Washington by half a point going into the varsity eights. This single race would decide the conference championship. 

And Stanford’s varsity eight rose to the occasion, winning the race by over five seconds to end the Huskies’ four-year run as conference champions and claim their first Pac-12 title in eight years. 

Additionally, Stanford’s senior coxswain Nicole Pofcher was recognized as the Pac-12 Women’s Rowing Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Pofcher is just the sixth member of the women’s rowing team in history to receive the honor.

After claiming an automatic NCAA bid through its conference victory, the team will spend the next fortnight preparing for the NCAA Championships. They will take place May 27-29 in Sarasota, Fla. Stanford will look to follow up its strong second-place showing in last year’s championships. 

Fourth place for the men

On the men’s side, Stanford went into the meet with a successful legacy to uphold. The Cardinal’s fourth place finish on Dexter Lake kept alive their decades-long streak of finishing in the top four, something they have not failed to once do since 1984.

Cal dominated the team event, taking the Pac-12 title by seven points on Sunday. Stanford wrapped up the day well behind the lead, with 42 points.  

The Cardinal finished on the podium in both of its races, with third place finishes in the second varsity eight and the varsity eight.

The team now looks ahead to its next event, the IRA Championships. They will be held in West Windsor, N.J. from June 3-5. 

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Men’s rowing wins two of three over the weekend https://stanforddaily.com/2021/04/25/mens-rowing-wins-two-of-three/ https://stanforddaily.com/2021/04/25/mens-rowing-wins-two-of-three/#respond Mon, 26 Apr 2021 03:59:51 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1181588 Men’s rowing swept Oregon State and Santa Clara but lost to Cal in a two-day, three-race meet over the weekend.

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Men’s rowing swept Oregon State and Santa Clara but lost to Cal in a two-day, three-race meet over the weekend. 

On Saturday, the Cardinal varsity eight scored a nearly four-second victory over Oregon State, crossing the finish line in 5:50.95 to Oregon State’s 5:54.33. The second varsity eight widened the margin of victory in its race, winning by just over nine seconds. Stanford finished in 6:00.55 while Oregon State finished 6:09.67.

Stanford also rowed against Santa Clara later in the day on Saturday as the wind picked up at the Redwood Shores. The varsity eight still dominated, winning by 23 seconds in 6:19.40 to Santa Clara’s 6:42.90. The second varsity eight was slightly closer, but the Cardinal still won comfortably in 6:40.70. Santa Clara finished in 6:54.80.

On Sunday, Stanford faced significantly more challenging competition with the Golden Bears. Cal edged out the Cardinal for a seven-second victory in the varsity eight, finishing in 5:44.18 compared to Stanford’s 5:51.05. The margin of victory was wider for Cal in the second varsity eight: Cal finished in 5:53.56 while Stanford crossed the line in 6:07.08.

The next time the Cardinal will compete will be at the Pac-12 Championships on May 16.

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Decorated alums speak out against Stanford’s intention to cut 11 sports https://stanforddaily.com/2020/11/22/36-sports-strong/ https://stanforddaily.com/2020/11/22/36-sports-strong/#respond Mon, 23 Nov 2020 03:20:12 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1175447 Alumni from across sports then joined together to pen a response in Stanford Magazine's December edition, which was published on Friday. The alumni letter — written by the newly formed coalition, 36 Sports Strong — criticized the University's "fundamental shift" and called for "Stanford leaders" to engage "in an effort to remedy this situation."

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“What happens when trees fall,” the Stanford Rowing Association Instagram asked on Friday.

Their answer: The rest of the forest hears it.

More specifically, alums from all 36 varsity athletics teams currently offered by Stanford join together to defend the metaphoric threatened trees.

On July 8, the University announced that it intended to cut 11 sports: men’s and women’s fencing, field hockey, lightweight rowing, men’s rowing, co-ed and women’s sailing, squash, synchronized swimming, men’s volleyball and wrestling.

The University cited a mounting financial deficit exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, among other factors that prompted the cancellations. The University also announced that the 2020-21 season would be the final year for each of the 11 varsity programs before being downgraded to club teams.

About 240 current student-athletes and 22 coaches are a part of the affected sports — but over the last four and a half months, alums, families and the larger Stanford community has shown that a lot more people have a stake in the University’s decision.

They’ve fought back through fundraising, conversations with administration, newspaper publications and social media. Now, alums are adding Stanford Magazine to that list.

In its September issue, the magazine published an article describing Stanford’s planned cuts — primarily reiterating the University’s initial statement.

Alums from across sports then joined together to pen a response in the magazine’s December edition, which was published on Friday. The alums’ letter — written by the newly formed coalition, 36 Sports Strong — criticized the University’s “fundamental shift” and called for “Stanford leaders” to engage “in an effort to remedy this situation.” Their ultimate goal: reinstate all 11 programs.

The signees include, but are not limited to women’s volleyball’s Foluke Akinradewo ’09; women’s soccer’s Julie Foudy ’93; men’s basketball and volleyball’s Adam Keefe ’92; football’s Andrew Luck ’12; softball’s Jessica Mendoza ’02 M.A. ’03; wrestling’s Patricia Miranda ’01 M.A. ’02; women’s soccer’s Kelley O’Hara ’10; men’s volleyball’s Erik ’12 and Kawika Shoji ’10; women’s volleyball’s Kerri Walsh Jennings ’00; and women’s golf’s Michelle Wie ’11.

“The impact of the cuts is being felt not only by the 4,000 alumni of the 11 teams but also by more than 40,000 alumni of the greater Stanford athletic community,” the letter said.

The letter does not specifically address University President Marc Tessier-Lavigne, nor Athletics Director Bernard Muir, although they are the implied addressees.

Stanford Athletics did not respond for comment, nor did it provide further information on the conversations that have taken place between alums and the University.

“It’s such a special and strong coalition, really highlighting what our traditional athletic department has meant to all of us — no matter the sport,” Kawika Shoji said about 36 Sports Strong. “It’s an impressive list, leaders in the world of sport, that have come together to support one another. We get it, we understand what the 36 teams mean to our beloved Stanford and its values, and our hope is that the university now starts to understand that, too.” 

Kawika Shoji is a 2016 Olympic bronze medalist and 2010 NCAA national champion setter. He now plays volleyball professionally in Italy for Pallavolo Padova.

Kawika and many alums have already spoken out against the University’s intended cut, but the 36 Sports Strong letter is particularly impactful because of its cross-team coalition and the fame of the participating alums.

One of the most impactful signees is arguably Luck — who’s been a poster child (quite literally) for Stanford’s student-athlete ideal for the past decade. This is his first major statement since he prematurely retired from the NFL last season. The former Colts and Stanford quarterback is notoriously private, and his former Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh called him the “anti-celebrity” for his humility.

Signees, now scattered across the world, have played professionally in leagues such as the NFL, MLB, NBA, WNBA, MLS, NWSL and LPGA. Many have also appeared in the Olympics and/or are included in Stanford Athletics Hall-of-Fame, and most have not questioned their affiliation with Stanford until now.

“We were stunned by this decision because we love Stanford and this changes how we view Stanford,” 36 Sports Strong wrote in the response. “We are asking the university to reconsider.”

“For me, joining the coalition meant adding my voice to a growing outcry over Stanford’s unfortunate decision to eliminate 11 of our programs,” wrote one signee, Cameron Miller ’16, to The Daily. 

Miller competed for the track and cross country teams, both non-revenue sports, while on The Farm. Leaders of 36 Sports Strong reached out to him about joining the coalition after reading his columns that he had written for The Daily on the future of the NCAA and NCAA policy.

“The Stanford Athletics family is a large but close one, and I have friends whose former teams are now gone — perhaps forever,” Miller wrote. “So even though I’m incredibly thankful that the track and field program still exists, I am crushed that many athletes and alumni no longer have a home here at Stanford. And it’s been really encouraging to see how the athlete community has rallied around each other in this challenging time.”

36 Sports Strong’s letter also argues that Stanford’s decision goes against the University’s fundamental values.

“We all recognize the importance of athletics to our Stanford education and disagree with this decision based on how it was made and communicated,” the letter continues. “This precipitous action was not based on values Stanford Athletics has demonstrated over decades, including our commitment to Title IX and our 25 consecutive Director’s Cup wins — an honor that recognizes the breadth of our athletics programs.”

“One of the reasons that makes Stanford unique is the fact that it had a broad-based athletic program that provided competition opportunities for so many students,” Miller wrote. “And we’ve lost some of that with the University’s decision. And with that, we’ve lost a bit of what makes Stanford unique. It was a point of pride — and inspiration — to see so many athletes and teams competing at a high level. And I think that ethos has been irreparably damaged by the decision the University made.”

Alums were also shocked by the lack of notice from the University preceding the cut. Stanford did not alert alums or solicit additional donations to endow programs in jeopardy before the short Zoom webinar that announced the cancellations to current student athletes.

“Stanford botched this in almost every conceivable way,” Miller wrote, “from the financial mismanagement that led to the supposedly precarious budget situation to the way they informed the athletes their teams would no longer exist.”

“We wish the university had reached out to us in advance of the announcement to discuss its financial challenges and to explore possible solutions,” the coalition’s letter said. “We could have helped. We still can.”

Contact Cybele Zhang at cybelez ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Upstream battle: Rowers stress unique team opportunities, culture https://stanforddaily.com/2020/08/25/upstream-battle-rowers-stress-unique-team-opportunities-culture/ https://stanforddaily.com/2020/08/25/upstream-battle-rowers-stress-unique-team-opportunities-culture/#respond Wed, 26 Aug 2020 04:52:00 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1171567 Men’s rowing at Stanford has always been the sport of opportunity. Any student, even one with no prior rowing experience, has the opportunity to walk onto the team, provided they are willing to wake up before 5:30 a.m.

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“Upstream battle” is a series documenting the reactions of current athletes and alumni to the University’s announcement on July 8 that it would discontinue men’s rowing and 10 other sports. Part one on athlete reactions can be found here.

Men’s rowing at Stanford has always been the sport of opportunity. Any student, even one with no prior rowing experience, has the opportunity to walk onto the team, provided they are willing to wake up before 5:30 a.m. most mornings for practice and embrace the grueling year-round training. While other sports also hold open tryouts to accept walk-ons, rowing is unique in that many former walk-ons, including some who learned to row at Stanford, have excelled throughout their professional careers — even competing in the Olympics.

These unique athletic opportunities made the University’s decision to cut the sport all the more devastating to current athletes and alumni, who fear that the impending discontinuation will deny future student-athletes the chance to learn and excel in the sport.

Martin Amethier ’20, a co-captain during his senior year, walked onto the team as a freshman. He rowed briefly in high school but gave up the sport after a few years to pursue basketball.

He changed his mind, however, when a Stanford dormmate on the rowing team encouraged him to try out because the team was looking for “tall walk-ons.”

“Then I just caught the bug,” Amethier said. 

The success stories of past walk-ons motivated Amethier to continue rowing with the team. As a junior in 2019, he was named to the All-Pac-12 team and was a member of the Varsity Eight that placed 10th at the national championship.

The team is “such an unbelievable group of people … that I wouldn’t have otherwise met and called my closest friends,” he said. “It’s been an unbelievable experience for me, and I really hope that other people can have that same experience.”

Jason Lupatkin ’13 also walked onto the team as a freshman with no rowing experience after playing basketball and baseball in high school. He earned a scholarship by his senior year.

Lupatkin said a rower approached him in a math class, noted that he was tall and asked if he wanted to try out for the team.

Upstream battle: Rowers stress unique team opportunities, culture
(Photo: BOB DREBIN/isiphotos.com)

He first learned to row on the erg, an indoor training machine, then transitioned to learning how to row a boat on the water. He said that as walk-ons improve on the erg, they receive more opportunities to row on the water with the more experienced athletes.

“I found my best friends, my community right at Stanford [rowing],” Lupatkin said. “There’s no difference on the team between the recruits and the walk-ons. It becomes this really close-knit group of guys to the extent where it becomes one family.”

Racial and gender diversity

The University stated that one of the criteria it used to choose the 11 sports cut was “impact on the diversity of our student-athlete population.” Stanford’s tradition of taking walk-ons, however, made the sport accessible to athletes who may not have had the opportunity to row before college.

“Stanford is in this special position where we have the opportunity to be a leader in the sport which has a background of privilege,” said Austin Hack ’14. “I’m optimistic that we can seize that opportunity, and I would be really disappointed if this is something Stanford passed on.”

According to USRowing, only 1.3% of the 75,000 high school and college rowers in 2019 identified as Black or African-American. Of the three Black male rowers who have represented the United States in the Olympics, two rowed for Stanford: David Banks ’05 M.S. ’06 and Alex Osborne ’09, both of whom joined the Cardinal as walk-ons.

Banks, a high school track runner and basketball player, told World Rowing in 2013 that he originally planned to walk on to Stanford’s track team. After attending the first rowing practice with a friend who was a team member, however, Banks was drawn to the passion of former head coach Craig Amerkhanian and assistant coach Jon Allbin. 

In 2008, Banks was selected for his first U.S. Olympic Team and finished ninth in the 4- in Beijing. He also competed in the men’s 8+ in the 2012 Olympics, where the U.S. team finished fourth. 

Osborne, a high school basketball and golf player, followed a path similar to Banks’s at Stanford.

“When I first met Craig Amerkhanian and Jon Allbin I was immediately sold on rowing,” Osborne told row2k in 2012.

Banks was pursuing his master’s degree at Stanford when Osborne joined the team in 2005, and Osborne said “watching how [Banks’s] dedication paid off really served as the model of excellence that I want to follow.” 

Osborne ultimately did follow in Banks’s footsteps and competed in the men’s quadruple sculls at the 2012 Olympics.

Amethier, who now lives in Sweden and whose grandfather is from the Ivory Coast, called the stories of Banks and Osborne “inspiring” to his rowing journey at Stanford.

Upstream battle: Rowers stress unique team opportunities, culture
(Photo: BOB DREBIN/isiphotos.com)

The co-ed nature of the team is also unique among men’s sports at Stanford, and stands out to Trey Holterman ’21. He is working towards a degree in computer science and will co-captain the team next year with Nikita Lilichenko ’21.

The team currently includes female coxswains Paige Warmington ’22 and Valeria Gonzalez ’23. Coxswains ensure that the rowers are working in sync, steer the boat and provide encouragement and motivation to the athletes who are rowing.

The required weight maximum for collegiate men’s rowing coxswains is 125 pounds. While most adult males are not small enough, many young women — who would not have otherwise had the chance to compete in a collegiate men’s sport — are encouraged to try out. It is common among college programs to have multiple females for the coxswain position, and top programs, including Harvard and Washington, also have co-ed rosters. 

“It’s like we have sisters,” Holterman said. “I’m a part of a big family, and all the boys in the family wouldn’t be as good if we didn’t have sisters.”

Effort, not talent, equals success

“There’s a much higher correlation between effort and success than there is between talent and success [in rowing],” said Bart Scherpbier ’19. “At the end of the day, when you look at your results, it’s a really honest reflection of the decisions you’ve made and the actions you’ve taken, and how that has defined results. That was a really vital lesson for me to learn at Stanford.”

Holterman is currently working at Strava, where he was able to speak with two coworkers who are former Harvard rowers. 

“They said that nothing that they learned in school prepared them in the way that rowing did, so you simply can’t make an argument that it’s not worth having,” he said. “The reason it’s so good, the reason it’s so useful and so beneficial, is because rowing, to really extract all that it can, requires the feeling that you can compete at the highest level — the feeling that you can give everything and, in return, get something back on that investment.”

Other rowers also pointed to that process, which Holterman said has been “proven time and time again to produce amazing people.”

“I don’t think there is a better subset of the population that is consistently turning out excellent, hardworking, caring, loving men than the men’s rowing team,” Holterman said.

Lupatkin called rowing “self-empowering” and said that it taught him discipline that has extended to other aspects of his life. By cutting the team, the school “loses an opportunity to develop the next generation of highly intelligent and well-rounded leaders,” he said.

“They lose the opportunity to develop tough, hardened, gritty individuals,” Adam Kreek ’07 said in agreement. “Rowing is a coming-of-age event for many young men and women that have to cross the threshold of pain, self-doubt and exhaustion. And when they get to the other side, they come out stronger, they come out more determined and they come out more able to face the challenges of life.”

At least one athlete has indicated that he intends to transfer to a different university, and another is taking a gap year, forgoing Stanford’s final season, to weigh his options and explore different paths forward. The consensus among the athletes and alumni is that many rowers on the current team may transfer after 2021 if the varsity team is demoted to the club level.

Upstream battle: Rowers stress unique team opportunities, culture
(Photo: BOB DREBIN/isiphotos.com)

Scherpbier said that cutting men’s rowing and 10 other sports could also be detrimental to the remaining 25 sports. Along with working out together in the weight room, Scherpbier said he and his student-athlete friends would discuss leadership approaches by coaches and athletes in their respective sports. They would then bring those unique methods and skills back to their teams.

“The sports at Stanford really feed off each other,” he said.

Academically driven athletes

The rowing team has a tradition of notable academic and athletic achievements. The current team’s average GPA is 3.7, and according to the 2019-2020 roster, and over 50% of declared student-athletes were working toward degrees in computer science, engineering, math or a related field. 

“Our old coach [Craig Amerkhanian] was always screaming at the top of his lungs, ‘6’5” and 35 ACT,’” Holterman said. “There’s nobody that snuck their way into the school.”

Lupatkin said that cutting sports like rowing will create a wider divide between the student-athletes who are working toward professional athletic careers and student-athletes who know there are no high-paying professional athletic opportunities in the future. He said that rowing and most of the other sports that will be cut bridge the gap between the future professional athletes and the general student population.

Many rowers are also involved in the Stanford community as a whole through TA positions, fraternities and other student organizations. 

Although professional opportunities for rowing are few and far between and do not offer multi-million dollar contracts, the Cardinal are well-represented on the Olympic podium. Eight men’s rowing alumni have combined to win 10 gold medals since 1956. Most recently, Kreek won a Gold medal for Canada in 2008.

Despite the lack of financial incentive, many rowers said they continue rowing out of love for the sport. 

“Every rower who does it thinks, why am I doing this? I need to quit,” Kreek said. “There’s something better I should be doing. For some reason [we] stick through and get to the end. That’s the magic that’s created with the sport of rowing.”

“The values, the lessons, the friends that I made in rowing will supersede everything else,” Holterman said.

Amethier and Holterman both plan to continue their rowing journeys after Stanford. Both said that they hope to pursue graduate degrees at universities where they can continue rowing. All members of the 2019-20 roster have received an additional year of eligibility due to COVID-19 spring cancellations.

Despite planning for the future, Holterman and other rowers have not yet given up on the Stanford program.

“The coldest part of the night is right before the sun comes up, right before you’re about to accomplish your biggest goals,” Holterman said. “I think this is just one of our last tests. We’re going to overcome it, and we’re going to win a national championship.”

Contact Sofia Scekic at sscekic ‘at’ stanford.edu and Karlaine Francisco at itskarlaine ‘at’ gmail.com.

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Upstream battle: Men’s rowers, alumni shocked, confused after team is cut https://stanforddaily.com/2020/08/13/sports-upstream-battle-1/ https://stanforddaily.com/2020/08/13/sports-upstream-battle-1/#respond Fri, 14 Aug 2020 00:02:14 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1171132 Only a few men’s rowers made it to the last-minute Zoom webinar with Athletic Director Bernard Muir last month. Some learned of the news through an old GroupMe chat shortly after, and others were in the dark until the University released an official announcement minutes later.

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“Upstream battle” is a series documenting the reactions of current men’s rowing athletes and alumni to the University’s announcement on July 8 that Stanford Athletics would discontinue 11 sports, including men’s rowing.

Only a few men’s rowers made it to the last-minute Zoom webinar with Athletic Director Bernard Muir last month. Some learned of the news through an old GroupMe chat shortly after, and others were in the dark until the University released an official announcement minutes later. 

Trey Holterman ’21 was giving a presentation for his remote job at Strava, sharing his screen, when apology texts started pouring in. 

Martin Amethier ’20 was winding down for the evening in Sweden when rowing group chats began to blow up. 

“At first I almost thought it was a joke, but it seemed pretty serious,” Ametheir, one of the two 2020 co-captains, said. “It’s been a terrible year, and this was another punch in the gut.” 

Despite the different means by which they found out, many alumni and current athletes shared the same shock at  Stanford’s announcement. 

The University offered that 36 varsity sports was not a “financially viable model,” citing past budget deficits along with financial burdens brought on by the pandemic. The University also noted that the rowing team does not have NCAA sponsorship” and less than nine percent of Division I institutions sponsor a varsity men’s rowing team. 

The Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) oversees men’s rowing, and the governing body, founded in 1895, began 11 year prior to the establishment of the NCAA.

Upstream battle: Men’s rowers, alumni shocked, confused after team is cut
Men’s rowing practices and competes out of the Stanford Rowing and Sailing Center in Redwood City. (Photo: DAVI GONZALES/isiphotos.com)

Of the 39 total Division I schools that have rowing teams, nine, including Stanford, are based on the West Coast — including perennial powerhouses like Washington and cross-bay rival, California. 

Regardless of the rationale behind the impending cancellation, many current athletes and alumni shared the sentiment that Stanford has recently lost sight of its values, citing a lack of communication during the decision-making process. 

The University’s announcement stated that it had “explored all possible options” before making their final decision. Current student-athletes and alumni, however, were not contacted before the announcement on Zoom.

“It strikes me as a violation of some of Stanford’s core values in that, when you’re not sure about something, you reach out to external stakeholders for support and for engagement,” said Austin Hack ’14, a 2016 Olympian and a current member of the U.S. National Team. “To come out of nowhere and drop this with no forewarning or, to my knowledge, minimal effort to try and mitigate these problems within the community before the announcement is definitely upsetting to me and other alums.”

Holterman, who will co-captain the team next season with Nikita Lilichenko ’21, expressed disappointment with the lack of communication. He said that the University could not have exhausted all possible options without working with the team. 

“I never saw Bernard in the launch. I never saw Marc Tessier-Lavigne out there,” Holterman said. “I’m sure they work with other student groups. I’m sure they understand how [those groups] impact the community…Why was there no interaction with us? [That’s] a massive failure.”

Jason Lupatkin ’13 described the decision as “uninspiring.” 

“It’s backwards-looking and it’s just driven by a short-term dollars-and-cents view,” he said of the cut. 

When asked for further comment, Stanford Athletics stated that an Associate Athletics Director held a one-hour meeting with the current team a few hours after the University’s announcement was made and made multiple attempts to schedule follow-up meetings with the head coach. A group of three alumni also met with Muir for about an hour last week, and Stanford Athletics plans to schedule a  follow-up meeting. 

None of the alumni interviewed, however, indicated that they were present for any meetings with administrative staff from the athletic department, nor were they aware of invitations to future meetings.

A Stanford Athletics spokesperson also did not offer further comment to directly address criticism from Lupatkin and other alumni. 

Upstream battle: Men’s rowers, alumni shocked, confused after team is cut
Since its inception, men’s rowing has won conference coach of the year four times: Ken Dreyfuss in 1986, Wieslaw Kujda in 1994 and Craig Amerkhanian in both 2006 and 2009. (Image courtesy of isiphotos.com)

The news is especially surprising given the recent success of the team. The Cardinal placed 10th in the IRA championships in 2019, and placed 3rd as a team at the Pac-12 Championships for three out of the last four years of competition. The men were unable to compete last spring because of COVID-19 cancellations.

The hiring of head coach Ted Sobolewski in 2019 seemed like an indication of growth and investment by Stanford in the sport. The University also built a new erg room and locker room for the team in Arrillaga Hall, which was completed in March 2020.

Bart Scherpbier ’19 was a member of the team as they transitioned head coaches, from Craig Amerkhanian to Sobolewski last spring. As he was finishing his senior year, Scherpbier remembered there being discussions about “coaching changes and which coach would be the best to uplift Stanford for years in the future.” 

“It indicated…an expectation that Stanford rowing would last for a long time with varsity status and that it had the full support of the athletic department, ” Scherpbier said.

Despite the University offering club rowing as an alternative beyond 2021, many alumni and athletes were quick to point out that the IRA does not allow varsity teams to compete against club teams. Although there are nearly 150 club teams that are members of the American Collegiate Rowing Association, including teams like the University of Virginia that have sent former rowers to the Olympics, the rule preventing ACRA teams from competing against IRA teams will limit the amount of top-tier competition that Cardinal rowers will be able to row against. That will likely have a direct impact on the number of top recruits who choose Stanford, as well as each athlete’s ability to improve and develop in the sport. 

Although the team has a strong walk-on tradition, with many former walk-on’s going on to succeed on the international stage, Holterman explained that “you can’t have an entire group of walk-ons and achieve the same level of competitiveness and drive.”

“Will all the facilities and resources still be there without the administrative support, and the ability to fly and host different competitions?” asked Adam Kreek ’07, a gold medal winner for Canada at the 2008 Olympics.“I don’t know what the future will look like in a club-based format. There’s a lot of uncertainty.” 

The club sport alternative “is not the school offering a caveat — it’s them abandoning all responsibility, and I don’t even think it’s the least they can do,” Holterman added. “Creating a club is not offering any financial commitment.” 

Rowers also fear that Stanford’s decision will encourage other schools to also cut their net-negative revenue sports like rowing, quickly decreasing the amount of opportunities for young athletes to compete at the next level. 

George Washington University announced last week that it would cut seven sports — including men’s rowing, men’s and women’s squash and sailing — due to financial challenges posed by the pandemic. Schools like Brown University and the University of Connecticut have also discontinued sports since the pandemic started. And at many colleges, men’s rowing is among the first sports to get axed.

In the U.S., collegiate rowing programs are an important part of the development pipeline as athletes transition from high school competition to higher levels. With each university that cuts men’s rowing, the opportunity pool for young rowers to prepare for international competition shrinks. 

Alumni said that Stanford’s cut will impact future performance of U.S. Rowing in the Olympics and World Championships, since the national body will likely no longer draw from Stanford rowers without varsity experience. 

Since 1952, 20 former Cardinal have represented the United States or Canada in the Olympics.  Most recently U.S. Rowing selected three current men’s rowers in April to participate in the 2020 under-23 national team camp.

By contrast, many other countries rely primarily on regional or state-based clubs to develop their young athletes, not college programs. 

Upstream battle: Men’s rowers, alumni shocked, confused after team is cut
Stanford races Cal in the 1968 Big Row. (Photo: REYNOLDS CRUTCHFIELD/isiphotos.com)

In response to Stanford’s decision, a group of over 1000 current athletes, alumni, parents and supporters of the rowing community created Save Stanford Rowing, an initiative with the goal of bringing the men’s and lightweight women’s rowing teams back to a varsity status. The website includes a petition, which has garnered more than 4,000 signatures at the time of publication, and an open call for supporters to offer various forms of assistance. Current and former athletes also shared testimonials explaining what the team means to them and the importance of reinstating the sport on the varsity level.

“What better legacy than to support a sports program at a world renowned university that will train the minds of young [athletes] for generations to come?” Kreek asked. 

Contact Sofia Scekic at sscekic ‘at’ stanford.edu and Karlaine Francisco at itskarlaine ‘at’ gmail.com.

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Bernard Muir defends cancellations in press conference https://stanforddaily.com/2020/07/08/sports-cancellations-muir/ https://stanforddaily.com/2020/07/08/sports-cancellations-muir/#respond Thu, 09 Jul 2020 02:16:08 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1169961 In a follow-up press conference to the sudden news that Stanford Athletics planned to cut 11 of its 36 varsity programs, athletic director Bernard Muir clarified that the decision was not solely based on COVID-19 concerns.

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In a follow-up press conference to the sudden news that Stanford Athletics planned to cut 11 of its 36 varsity programs, Athletic Director Bernard Muir clarified that the decision was not solely based on COVID-19 concerns.

“To blame this all on COVID would be erroneous, and it would not be accurate,” he said. “But it certainly helped contribute to the growing deficit moving forward.” 

The affected sports are men’s and women’s fencing, field hockey, lightweight rowing, men’s rowing, co-ed and women’s sailing, squash, synchronized swimming, men’s volleyball and wrestling. The teams include 240 students and 22 coaches. The decision also included eliminating 20 support staff. 

The athletics department faced a $12 million structural deficit before the pandemic, which caused the deficiency to balloon to $25 million. In the potential and increasingly likely event that football will not be played, Muir said that the deficit would double again to $50 million. Keeping with the university’s wishes for the department to be self-sustainable, Muir said the choice had to be made. 

Stanford athletes were sent an email just after 9 a.m. PT about a  Zoom meeting to be held just 50 minutes later in which Muir delivered the news. During the conference call, Muir expressed regret that the announcement could not be made in person. Coaches were told in an earlier announcement. 

“We did that this morning on relatively short notice, just trying to get that word out,” Muir said. “I have not had the opportunity to interact with our student-athletes to this point since the call this morning, but our sport administrator for each sport is going to be on calls with the teams — just so we can process, help answer questions, and then go from there.”

Teams planned meetings for the afternoon to discuss options. All teams would be allowed to play one more season with full support. Coaches will receive a bonus to incentivize staying on for the year and will have their full contracts honored, while students will be able to stay on scholarship for their entire time at Stanford. 

This scholarship extension includes incoming freshmen that were accepted but have not yet stepped foot on campus as an enrolled student. As equivalency sports, however, most programs were able to offer only partial scholarships to many players instead of full scholarships. This means that while 240 students will lose their sport at Stanford, only up to 35.4 full-ride scholarships will be honored, according to Troy Clardy of the TreeCast

That number comes from 4.5 scholarships from men’s fencing, 5 for women’s fencing, 12 for field hockey, 4.5 for men’s volleyball and 9.9 for wrestling, the five sports that were recognized as NCAA Division I programs and adhered to the governing body’s scholarship limits. The number does not include any scholarships given to athletes in the other six sports. Programs are free to offer fewer than the maximum number of scholarships, and it was known that wrestling was not offering its full complement of scholarships.

“This has been a heartbreaking day for all of us, especially those student-athletes and coaches who are involved,” Muir said. “We made this decision only after exhausting all viable alternatives. It recently became painfully clear that we would not remain financially stable and support 36 varsity sports at a nationally competitive level, which is what we so desire.”

Muir did not know if any of the athletes in the 11 affected sports were on campus currently for voluntary workouts, but some local students told The Daily that they are using Stanford facilities to train.

In order to maintain all 11 teams on a permanent basis, to endow scholarships, coaching positions and “other elements to the department that we would need to do and not take away from the 25 that we’re going to continue,” Muir said, would cost $200 million. On a yearly basis, the 11 teams cost the department a combined $8 million.

On the announcement’s FAQ page, it was stressed that the decision was final. Even if a donor was willing to support the team, the athletic department would direct it toward the club level. If a team wanted to play as a club sport, it would be student driven.

Because none of the affected sports are baseball, men’s or women’s basketball, football or men’s ice hockey, any transfer would be immediately eligible to play at any other school — provided that they are academically and athletically eligible. Stanford has said they will be supportive of an athlete’s decision and would offer a transfer-release agreement.

“We also know that some [athletes] might choose to go elsewhere and want to continue to play their sport at the Division I level, and so we will help, assist in that regard with our compliance staff and make sure that they have the opportunity to transfer,” Muir said.

A recurring theme of the press conference was that Muir wanted the 25 remaining sports to live up to the moniker “Home of Champions.” Stanford has won a national championship for 44 consecutive years, and its 126 total is more than any other college. The 11 sports have accounted for 20 of those championships, but a list of 11 factors —  including NCAA sponsorship, postgraduate participation, fan interest, savings, impact on diversity and history contributed — to the eventual decision to cancel those programs.

Muir said in the press conference that the alternative to cutting certain sports was a “broad and deep reduction in support for all 36 sports, including eliminating scholarships, ceasing to be competitive in our efforts to attract and retain the very best coaches and staff.” This path was simply not followed, he continued, as it “would be antithetical to Stanford’s values and its determination to be excellent in everything that it does.”

Muir stressed the desire to maintain the remaining 25 sports at the highest level. In talks with President Marc Tessier-Lavigne and Provost Persis Drell — both of whom co-signed the letter sent out to the community today — and the Board of Trustees, it was clear to Muir that athletics would be important to this campus moving forward, “making sure that we’re fiscally responsible and sustainable.” 

To stress the existing financial strain, Muir shared past stories in which coaches requested “legitimate things” that the department was forced to say “no” to. Cost-saving measures have included a voluntary pay cut taken by head coach of the football team David Shaw ’94, head coach of the women’s basketball team Tara VanDerveer and Jerod Haase, her counterpart on the men’s side. The department has also reduced sport and administrative operating budgets “to the greatest extent possible” and asked teams to limit their travel plans for the upcoming academic year.

The football team, however, is scheduled to travel to Notre Dame in Indiana and men’s basketball has a trip to Hawaii for the Maui Invitational during the 2020-21 season — assuming COVID-19 restrictions will not pose an impediment.

Prior to the announcement, Stanford had the most NCAA Division I offerings of any FBS school outside of Ohio State, which Muir estimates operates on twice the budget. After years of “punching above our weight,” he said it was time to scale down. Among other factors, Ohio State is generating more in TV revenue, where the Pac-12 conference is notably lackluster, and the Buckeyes have more seats in their football stadium.

At the end of the Zoom call with the media, Muir said that he has had weekly calls at the conference level about the upcoming season. He expects a decision to be made by the end of the month.

Contact Daniel Martinez-Krams at danielmk ‘at’ stanford.edu.

Corrections: The equivalent scholarship numbers were not added correctly. The number is 35.4, not 56 as stated in the original article. The article was also updated to reflect the fact that scholarship limits apply to a maximum, but that not all programs had been able to support this number.

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Stanford to discontinue 11 varsity sports https://stanforddaily.com/2020/07/08/sports-cancellations/ https://stanforddaily.com/2020/07/08/sports-cancellations/#respond Wed, 08 Jul 2020 18:12:05 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1169951 A joint statement released today by University President Marc Tessier-Lavigne, Provost Persis Drell and Director of Athletics Bernard Muir announced that Stanford will discontinue 11 of its 36 varsity sports upon the completion of the 2020-21 academic year. After that, the the affected sports will have the opportunity to transition to club status.

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A joint statement released today by University President Marc Tessier-Lavigne, Provost Persis Drell and Director of Athletics Bernard Muir announced that Stanford will discontinue 11 of its 36 varsity sports upon the completion of the 2020-21 academic year. After that, the the affected sports will have the opportunity to transition to club status.

The sports to be cancelled are men’s and women’s fencing, field hockey, lightweight rowing, men’s rowing, co-ed and women’s sailing, squash, synchronized swimming, men’s volleyball and wrestling.

The teams facing cancellation will be allowed to compete one final year, should the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic allow for the upcoming 2020-21 season. 

Stanford formerly boasted more Division I collegiate sports offered than any other university; the average Division I athletics program sponsors 18 varsity sports.

Teams were notified of the upcoming cancellation via Zoom and were given little prior notice of the restructuring.

“I am just so shocked,” one men’s volleyball player said. “I did not think 2020 could get this bad. My whole life plan has been turned upside down, and I no longer know what I am doing.”

The 11 affected teams have brought the university 20 national championships and 27 olympic medals since their respective inaugurations. Lightweight rowing brought home national honors most recently and has won the IRA championship for the last five consecutive years (2015-19).

“I’m overall just confused and taken back that this is their final decision,” a current synchronized swimmer said. “I definitely didn’t see something of this magnitude coming.”

Currently, more than 240 student athletes and 22 coaches are a part of these sports on the Farm — in addition to committed high school athletes, who may now reevaluate their collegiate plans.

Current athletes will not lose any existing athletic scholarships should they choose to remain at Stanford to complete their undergraduate education, but presumably no future scholarships will be given. The contracts of affected coaches will be honored, and any support staff whose employment is ending will be provided with severance pay.

“I think I’m mainly just disappointed,” a current men’s fencer said. “I had high hopes for the next three years.”

Greatly exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, this decision was largely due to financial strain placed on the university from the cost of maintaining so many teams. 

The statement cited a variety of reasons as to why the university chose these specific sports. These factors included sponsorship at the NCAA Division I level, national youth and postgraduate participation and local and national popularity, among others.

Questions remain if potential donations may save the future of these sports.

Many of the cancelled sports were unable to begin or complete their 2020 seasons due to COVID-19 cancellations. Spring athletes were given an extra year of eligibility by the NCAA to ameliorate the disruption, and it is now likely that many Stanford athletes will transfer to another school that does offer the given sport on the varsity level. 

“We hope they choose to remain on The Farm and earn their Stanford degrees,” the university wrote in its statement.

But for many, the decision is not that easy. One player discussed the dilemma of deciding between a Stanford degree and playing his Division I sport.

“I guess I am going to have to figure out as life goes on,” he said. “But in the meantime, I am truly heartbroken.”

Contact Jeremy Rubin at jjmrubin ‘at’ stanford.edu and Cybele Zhang at cybelez ‘at’ staford.edu.

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Cardinal men earn selections for USRowing team camp https://stanforddaily.com/2020/05/03/cardinal-men-earn-selections-for-usrowing-team-camp/ https://stanforddaily.com/2020/05/03/cardinal-men-earn-selections-for-usrowing-team-camp/#respond Mon, 04 May 2020 05:00:32 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1167225 Three Cardinal men were honored last week with invitations to USRowing’s under-23 national team selection camp. Junior Nikita Lilichenko and sophomores Peter Chatain and James Wright were among the 24 collegiate athletes selected for the men’s openweight camp.

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Three Cardinal men were honored last week with invitations to USRowing’s under-23 (U23) national team selection camp. Junior Nikita Lilichenko and sophomores Peter Chatain and James Wright were among the 24 collegiate athletes selected for the men’s openweight camp. 

The camp was originally slated to take place in Boston and was to be coached by Harvard men’s assistant coach Jesse Foglia, but has now been canceled due to COVID-19. The selections are thus now purely ceremonial. A men’s eight and four boat with coxswains were to be selected from the camp to represent the United States at the 2020 World Rowing U23 Championships. The regatta, which was to take place in August in Bled, Slovenia, was also canceled due to the pandemic. 

Chatain, Lilichenko and Wright, members of Stanford’s Varsity Eight that placed 10th at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championship last year, all have prior experience competing at the World Championship level. 

In 2017, Chatain competed in the Junior World Championships in Trakai, Lithuania. He also joined Lilichenko on the U.S. Team in the A-Final that placed sixth in the men’s four at the 2019 U23 World Championships in Sarasota, Florida. Wright placed 17th overall in the men’s single sculls at the 2019 World Rowing U23 Championships, 10th in the quadruple sculls at the 2018 World Rowing Junior Championships and seventh in the quadruple sculls at the 2017 World Rowing Junior Championships. He was also named PAC-12 Newcomer of the Year as a freshman in 2018-19, becoming only the second Cardinal in school history to receive that honor.

The men’s rowing team is the sole Stanford sports team, out of 36, that did not participate in at least one competition before all spring sports were canceled on March 12. This marks the first year since 1945 that a Stanford sports team did not have an official competition throughout its season. 

The team’s would-be first competition, the Stanford Invitational, was scheduled to take place on April 4 on the Redwood Shores Lagoon, but first-year head coach Ted Sobolowski will now have to wait until at least next October to coach his first official regatta at Stanford.

Contact Sofia Scekic at sscekic ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Rowing collects top-three finishes at Pac-12 Championships https://stanforddaily.com/2019/05/21/rowing-collects-top-three-finishes-at-pac-12-championships/ https://stanforddaily.com/2019/05/21/rowing-collects-top-three-finishes-at-pac-12-championships/#respond Tue, 21 May 2019 08:17:56 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1155221 For the third straight year, neither the Cardinal men nor women could surpass Washington rowing at the Pac-12 championships. Both Stanford teams left with top-three finishes, though, after a rainy day of racing at California’s Lake Natoma.

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For the third straight year, neither the Cardinal men nor women could surpass Washington at the Pac-12 Rowing Championships. Both Stanford teams left with top-three finishes, though, after a rainy day of racing at California’s Lake Natoma.

And the Stanford women came close — pushing Washington to the title’s smallest margin of victory since 2010. At the competition’s halfway point, the Cardinal were tied with both Washington and archrival Cal for first place, but Washington strung together three straight race victories to secure the title.

Stanford’s second-place score of 39 points put the women just a half point ahead of rival Cal and a half point behind the winners. The Cardinal had not placed second in the event since 2016.

Some women’s races were closer than others, as the Cardinal edged Cal (07:18.303) for second in the Second Varsity Eight (07:18.873), and came within a second of topping Cal (6:11.901) for first in the Varsity Eight (6:12.824), the only women’s race that Washington did not win.

Make no mistake, though. Sunday was the Washington Huskies’ show. On the men’s side, UW won all five of its races and left with its 39th conference title. The Cardinal men notched 54 points en route to their second-straight third-place finish. They were outperformed by the second-place Cal squad (63), which fell just as far behind the Huskies (72).

But the differences in score do not reflect performance. Cal finished as a close second to Washington in each men’s race except for the novice eight, in which Stanford did not compete. The Cardinal trailed significantly behind both Cal and Washington, never finishing within 20 seconds of either.

Nonetheless, Stanford made its presence felt, and the Cardinal will look to improve in a big way from May 31 to June 2.

The women are headed to Indianapolis, Indiana for the NCAA Women’s Rowing Championship, while the Cardinal men will cap their season in the 2019 Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championship at the Sacramento State Aquatics Center.

The NCAA Women’s Rowing Selection Show is at 2 p.m. Tuesday and will be broadcast at NCAA.com.

Contact Holden Foreman at hs4man21 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Men’s and women’s rowing compete for Pac-12 title https://stanforddaily.com/2019/05/17/mens-and-womens-rowing-compete-for-pac-12-title/ https://stanforddaily.com/2019/05/17/mens-and-womens-rowing-compete-for-pac-12-title/#respond Fri, 17 May 2019 07:01:54 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1155027 This Sunday, Stanford’s No. 3 women’s crew and men's crew teams will converge at Lake Natoma in Gold River, California for a fighting chance at the PAC-12 Championship title.

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This Sunday, Stanford’s No. 3 women’s crew and men’s crew teams will converge at Lake Natoma in Gold River, California for a fighting chance at the Pac-12 Championship title.

The men’s most recent match at the end of April resulted in a devastating loss against the California Golden Bears at the annual Big Row in Redwood Shores, CA. Repeating their performance from last year, the Bears decisively claimed all three races by an average margin of 22 seconds.

While the men fell to their Bay Area rival, Stanford’s women’s rowing came out on top in the competition. The Cardinal women’s team surpassed their opponents by winning four of their six races: Third Varsity Eight team (6:42.70), Second Varsity Eight (6:30.90), Second Varsity Four (7:32.50) and First Varsity Four (7:06.60).

At the end of March, Stanford women won all of its races at the Pac-12 Invitational and went on to win 10 of their 14 races at the Lake Natoma Invitational a few weeks later, alluding to a successful season that will hopefully continue on Sunday.

Since 2007, the No. 1 University of Washington Huskies have consistently claimed the Pac-12 Men’s Championship, with the only interruptions coming in 2009 and 2016 from Cal. The Cardinal men’s team has been unable to gain a stronghold on the conference crown since 1960. However, they may capture the winds of luck this Sunday and rise from the third-place position they have been grasping onto since last year’s Pac-12 Championships, where they accumulated a total of 54 points and bronze in all three races.

The women’s team had more success in recent years, winning the conference title in 2014. Nonetheless, their main competitors are Cal, who claimed the title in 2015 and 2016, and Washington, who have been holding onto their place atop the conference for the past two years.

The competition on Sunday will have events for the teams within each participating school in the varsity four and novice/freshman eight, as well as first, second and third varsity finals. Stanford’s performance this weekend will determine if they will compete in the Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championships that will take place from May 29 to June 1 at the Sacramento State Aquatics Center.

Contact Leily Rezvani at lrezvani ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Sailing prepares for PCCSC Championship, men’s rowing hosts rival Cal https://stanforddaily.com/2019/04/26/sailing-prepares-for-pccsc-championship-mens-rowing-hosts-rival-cal/ https://stanforddaily.com/2019/04/26/sailing-prepares-for-pccsc-championship-mens-rowing-hosts-rival-cal/#respond Fri, 26 Apr 2019 07:01:28 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1153661 Over this weekend, the Stanford sailing team will tack against the wind at the PCCSC Coed Conference Championship. Meanwhile, the Stanford men's rowing team will find itself at Redwood Shores on Saturday to compete against arch-nemesis Berkeley.

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Over this weekend, the Stanford sailing team will tack against the wind at the PCCSC Coed Conference Championship, an event that the Cardinal has had little trouble with in seasons past. Meanwhile, the Stanford men’s rowing team will find itself at Redwood Shores on Saturday to compete against arch-nemesis Berkeley.

The sailing team ended last weekend with a double whammy, winning the  PCCSC Women’s Conference Championship as the best out of 10 teams and then going on to claim first at the Admirals Cup. The team has won 10 of the past 16 tournaments, but last weekend’s Tale of Two Victories was the first time Stanford has won multiple competitions over a single weekend this season.

Saturday marked Stanford’s 15th straight women’s conference title, secured through the stellar performance of the A Division squad — sophomore skipper Stephanie Houck, with junior crew Taylor Kirkpatrick and freshman crew Ashton Borcherding — as well as the B Division — sophomore skipper Sophia Sole and freshman skipper Camille White, with senior crew Cassie Obel and junior crew Madeline Bubb. The Cardinal won handily with a 14-point margin.

The same day, the Cardinal found themselves in troubled waters at the beginning of the Admirals Cup. But Stanford surged ahead from sixth place to prevail with a 199-point victory over Dartmouth’s 201 — one of the closest wins of the year.

The Cardinal armada hits the waters again tomorrow in the PCCSC Coed Conference Championships on April 27-28 in San Francisco Bay. Stanford won the team race handily last year, not losing to a single competitor. The coed dinghy races also turned to Stanford’s favor. The Cardinal beat out the next-best team, UC Santa Barbara, with an eight-point margin, and the third-best team, Cal, by a whopping 62 points.

After the Pacific Coast Conference Championships, Stanford hits the road once more for a chance at redemption at the ICSA National Tournament in Newport, RI. At last year’s coed tournament, the Cardinal were able to finish in fifth place, behind the MIT Engineers, Charleston Cougars, Georgetown Hoyas and Hobart & William Statesmen. The last time the Cardinal won an ICSA Team Race Championship was back in 1997.

The sailing team will begin competing Saturday morning at San Francisco Bay.

The men’s rowing team prepares for a maritime clash against Bay-rival Cal this Saturday, and the waters are looking warm. Like the sailing team, Stanford’s rowers recently surged out of a deficit to claim first place. On Sunday, April 14, the Varsity Eight of Ryan Buchanan, Martin Amethier, Bart Scherpbier, Peter Chatain, James Wright, Nikita Lilichenko, Nick Mayhew, Drew Taylor and Will Nuelle clocked in a 5:56.6 finish, just barely enough to overcome Wisconsin’s 5:58.3. The Second and Third Varsity Eights weren’t as lucky against the Badgers, taking second place in both events.

The Golden Bears are in the middle of a strong season, having just wrapped up a visit to the Pacific Northwest by beating Oregon State in three of three races — a maritime victory akin to the Portuguese’s 1509 dominance at Diu. And not just complacent with their first varsity eight, Cal’s freshman and third varsity eights took first and second place, respectively. Needless to say, they won’t be a fish out of water at Redwood Shores.

Last time the Cardinal faced their Bay-rival mano-a-mano at the Shores, Cal won all three races of the tournament, all by margins greater than 10 seconds. The Cardinal have a shot at victory, but they will have to fight for it.

Prepare for havoc on the high seas; the meet against Cal begins at 9 a.m. PST on Saturday at Redwood Shores.

Contact Arman Kassam at armank ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Men’s rowing head coach Craig Amerkhanian announces retirement mid-season https://stanforddaily.com/2019/04/18/copy-at-mens-rowing-head-coach-craig-amerkhanian-announces-retirement-mid-season/ https://stanforddaily.com/2019/04/18/copy-at-mens-rowing-head-coach-craig-amerkhanian-announces-retirement-mid-season/#respond Fri, 19 Apr 2019 01:53:45 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1153029 Thursday afternoon, Stanford Athletics announced the retirement of Farwell Family Director of Men’s Rowing Craig Amerkhanian. The announcement comes as the third departure of a member of Stanford Athletics this week alone; Kissick Family Director of Sports Performance Shannon Turley was fired on Monday, and Goldman Family Director of Men’s Swimming Ted Knapp also announced […]

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Thursday afternoon, Stanford Athletics announced the retirement of Farwell Family Director of Men’s Rowing Craig Amerkhanian. The announcement comes as the third departure of a member of Stanford Athletics this week alone; Kissick Family Director of Sports Performance Shannon Turley was fired on Monday, and Goldman Family Director of Men’s Swimming Ted Knapp also announced his retirement on Monday.

Amerkhanian has led Stanford’s program for the last 19 seasons, and his departure mid-season comes as a surprise, according to rowers, especially since the Cardinal will compete in the Pac-12 Championship in exactly a month. Amerkhanian is a two-time Pac-10 Coach of the Year, receiving the honor in both 2006 and 2009.

Rowers were informed of the departure Thursday afternoon during an emergency team meeting with little warning prior to Jaquish & Kenninger Director of Athletics Bernard Muir’s announcement.

“I appreciate Craig’s contributions over the last 19 years and wish him the best,” Muir said in a statement on GoStanford.com. “Craig established a foundation of hard work within his program while also prioritizing success in the classroom.”

The announcement comes following one first place and two second place finishes by Stanford’s Varsity Eights against Wisconsin on Sunday, April 14.

In his career, Amerkhanian has guided the Cardinal Varsity Eight to six top-10 finishes nationally, including third-place in 2009. Four other boats have also captured IRA national titles. Last season, the team won 22 Pac-12 All-Academic selections — the most in the conference for the second straight year.

“I feel extremely fortunate to have worked with so many dedicated student athletes during my tenure,” Amerkhanian said in a statement on GoStanford.com. “I will especially cherish the relationships I have built and the strong culture of alumni support which eventually became synonymous with our program. With that said, at this time I must step away for personal reasons.”

The university has not further explained these “personal reasons.”

Assistant coach Niles Garratt will serve as the interim head coach for the remainder of the season. The team will compete for the first time without Amerkhanian in just over a week on Saturday, April 27 — facing off against California (Amerkhanian’s alma mater) in the Big Row.

This story will be updated as more facts come to light about the situation.

Contact Cybele Zhang at cybelez ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Sailing claims Thompson Trophy, rowing excels at local invitationals https://stanforddaily.com/2019/04/16/sailing-claims-thompson-trophy-rowing-excels-at-local-invitationals/ https://stanforddaily.com/2019/04/16/sailing-claims-thompson-trophy-rowing-excels-at-local-invitationals/#respond Tue, 16 Apr 2019 08:48:17 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1152748 Cardinal boats ranged from ocean to ocean over the weekend, as sailing and rowing won a combined three of four competitions.

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Cardinal boats ranged from ocean to ocean over the weekend, as sailing and rowing won a combined three of four competitions.

Sailing

A foggy weekend at Thames River didn’t keep the Cardinal from taking the Thompson Trophy off a silver platter. Despite competition from runner-up Harvard in the A and B divisions, Stanford’s low of 36 points in the C division was more than enough to secure the victory, as the Cardinal finished with just 200 points overall to Harvard’s 276.

In a 17-team field, sophomore skipper Jack Parkin and junior crew Taylor Kirkpatrick placed third or better in 11 of 13 C division races, winning seven of them. The second-best finisher, Tufts University, was not even close to the Cardinal, netting 82 points. Harvard, meanwhile, recorded the second-worst score in the division, with 135 points.

The Stanford smackdown at Thames was not replicated at the Navy Spring Regatta, though the Cardinal did secure fifth in a competitive field of 18. The Navy Midshipmen and Georgetown Hoyas stole the show, finishing first and second with 124 and 128 points, respectively, as the College of Charleston wrapped up the top three with 135.

With 205 points, Stanford came close to fourth but ultimately fell to George Washington University (198) to close out the top five.

Stanford will be split across the country this weekend, between the Pacific Coast Collegiate Sailing Conference Women’s championships at Los Angeles and the Admirals Cup at Kings Point, N.Y.

No. 3 women’s rowing

Gold River ran red on Saturday, as the Cardinal won each of its first nine races up north at the Lake Natoma Invitational.

In three races against the Gonzaga Bulldogs and host Sacramento State, Stanford never let either opponent finish within 18 seconds. Notre Dame’s Second Varsity Four breached that threshold, albeit barely, in Stanford’s fourth race of the day, as the Fighting Irish’s time of 7:35.5 was well behind the Cardinal’s 7:18.7.

Things were closer against No. 2 Cal, as the Golden Bears’ Third Varsity Eight finished at 6:50.3, less than eight seconds after the Cardinal clocked in at 6:42.6.

USC also challenged the Cardinal, finishing with times of 7:31.5 (Varsity Four), 6:39.5 (Second Varsity Eight) and 6:20.3 (Varsity Eight). But Stanford held strong, winning each race with times of 7:16.3, 6:30.7 and 6:15.9, respectively. Tulsa played the third wheel, finishing last in each race.

The real test for Stanford came on Sunday, as the Cardinal Varsity Eight were edged by Cal in a sinking 6:14.84 to 6:17.84 defeat.

Stanford topped the Golden Bears’ Second Varsity Eight squad 6:26.84 to 6:31.97, and the Cardinal Varsity Four cruised to a 10-second victory over No. 6 Brown, with Cal trailing behind at 7:18.71.

Closing the festivities was the second heat of the Third Varsity Eight, in which Cal came in at 6:38.7 to Stanford’s 6:44.85.

Men’s rowing

Back home at the Stanford Invitational, the Cardinal Varsity Eight won both of its races, defeating Hobart 5:48.1 to 5:51.2 and Santa Clara 5:39.7 to 5:55.8.

The Third Varsity Eight fell to Santa Clara 6:23.6 to 6:20.7, and the Second Varsity Eight fended off the Broncos 5:58.6 to 6:11.7. But a combined team effort from Stanford’s Second Varsity Eight and Third Varsity Eight fared less well against UC Davis, falling 6:25.4 to 6:11.6.

The Second Varsity Eight suffered a 5:48.1 to 5:51.2 loss to Hobart.

Taking on Wisconsin on Sunday, the Varsity Eight edged the Badgers 5:56.6 to 5:58.3. A 6:31.7 to 7:00.8 defeat by the Third Varsity Eight and a 6:16.9 to 6:15.9 loss by the Second Varsity Eight wrapped up the three-race day.

Both rowing teams have time for some rest and rehabilitation before an April 27 showdown against Cal in the Big Row.

Contact Holden Foreman at hs4man21 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Sailing heads to SoCal for PCCSC Championship, rowing teams prepare for separate events https://stanforddaily.com/2019/04/05/sailing-heads-to-socal-for-pccsc-championship-rowing-teams-prepare-for-separate-events/ https://stanforddaily.com/2019/04/05/sailing-heads-to-socal-for-pccsc-championship-rowing-teams-prepare-for-separate-events/#respond Fri, 05 Apr 2019 07:10:01 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1151943 After a first-place showing at the St. Francis Invitational, sailing is gearing up for the Pacific Coast Collegiate Sailing Conference (PCCSC) Team Race Championship in San Diego. Women’s rowing will join sailing in SoCal for the San Diego Crew Classic, while the men’s team will stay close to home, hosting the Pac-12 Challenge at Redwood Shores.

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After a first-place showing at the St. Francis Invitational, sailing is gearing up for the Pacific Coast Collegiate Sailing Conference (PCCSC) Team Race Championship in San Diego. Women’s rowing will join sailing in SoCal for the San Diego Crew Classic, while the men’s team will stay close to home, hosting the Pac-12 Challenge at Redwood Shores.

In 14 races since the start of the spring season on March 9, No. 3 women’s rowing boasts an undefeated record against collegiate foes, and the team looks to keep up that pace this weekend. It will not be a row in the park, as the Cardinal will face a competitive field including the No. 1 Washington Huskies, No. 2 Cal Bear and No. 4 Texas Longhorns.

Men’s rowing, on the other hand, is just getting started, with races against Northeastern and Washington on Saturday, before facing Oregon State on Sunday. The Cardinal will look to settle in on home turf, or surf, this weekend, as the next two men’s rowing competitions — the Stanford Invitational from April 13-14 and a duel against Cal on April 27 — will also take place at Redwood Shores.

At the PCCSC Championship, sailing will face a cast of familiar crews, including the University of Hawaii Rainbows, California Maritime Academy (CMA) Keelhaulers, University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB) Gauchos, University of Southern California (USC) Trojans, Cal Poly University S.L.O. Mustangs and University of California at Berkeley Bears.

After close wins over both UCSB and CMA in recent weeks, watch for the Cardinal to stay on guard against a relatively small field at the Championship.

Contact Holden Foreman at hs4man21 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Jovanni Stefani stroke the U.S. Men’s Eight at World Championship Regatta https://stanforddaily.com/2017/08/19/jovanni-stefani-stroke-the-u-s-mens-eight-at-world-championship-regatta/ https://stanforddaily.com/2017/08/19/jovanni-stefani-stroke-the-u-s-mens-eight-at-world-championship-regatta/#respond Sat, 19 Aug 2017 22:21:26 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1129805 Senior Jovanni Stefani, an engineering major who recently completed his junior year at Stanford, led the United States men's eight at the World Rowing Under 23 Championships July 20-23 in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

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Senior Jovanni Stefani, an engineering major who recently completed his junior year at Stanford, led the United States men’s eight at the World Rowing Under 23 Championships July 20-23 in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

The men’s eight event started off on July 20 with the U.S. facing Italy, Great Britain, Netherlands, Czech Republic and Romania. The heat winner would advance straight into the A Final heat on July 23, while the remaining teams will move on to the repechage.

Jovanni and the U.S. men’s eight had their first race on Thursday, claiming the silver medal by finishing second place (05:26:890), right behind Netherlands (05:23:750) in Heat 1. The Netherlands advanced straight into the A Final, while Stefani and the U.S. men’s eight moved onto the repechage heat to compete against New Zealand, Romania, Italy and Russia.

Following the men’s eight heat 1, the repechage had similar outcomes for Jovanni and the U.S. men’s eight as they finished in second place and claimed another silver medal (05:29.690), while Romania captured the gold medal (05:26.240).

In the A Finals, the U.S. team competed against familiar faces such as the Netherlands and Romania, and faced off against unfamiliar faces such as Germany, Ukraine and Great Britain. However, Jovanni and the U.S. men’s eight struggled to taste silver one more time after losing against Great Britain by a three-second margin. While on the other hand, Netherlands (5:29.550) captured the gold, with Romania (5:31.570) taking the silver and Great Britain (5:32.640) earning the bronze.

Stefani has left built quite a legacy on the Stanford men’s rowing team. Having had competed on the Stanford men’s varsity eight team for three seasons, Stefani impressively served in the Cardinal’s top boat in every regatta for the past two seasons. Stanford’s varsity eight placed eighth overall at the 2016 Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships and finished a strong second in the third-level final at the 2017 IRA Championships.

To add on to his many achievements, Stefani, along with his Cardinal teammate Brennan Wertz, rowed together in the USRowing Men’s Pair and earned a bronze medal for the United States in the 2016 Under 23 World Rowing Championships in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

 

Contact Duc Le at ducletan77 ‘at’ gmail.com.

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Women’s lightweight rowing claims three-peat at IRA National Championships https://stanforddaily.com/2017/06/07/womens-lightweight-rowing-claims-three-peat-at-ira-national-championships/ https://stanforddaily.com/2017/06/07/womens-lightweight-rowing-claims-three-peat-at-ira-national-championships/#respond Wed, 07 Jun 2017 18:57:26 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1128973 In the IRA National Championship Regatta at Lake Natoma, California, over the weekend, the Stanford women’s lightweight rowing team swept all three grand finals—varsity eight, four and doubles—to claim its third consecutive team title, this time under the helm of first-year head coach Kate Bertko.

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In the IRA National Championship Regatta at Lake Natoma, California, over the weekend, the Stanford women’s lightweight rowing team swept all three grand finals — varsity eight, four and doubles — to claim its third consecutive team title, this time under the helm of first-year head coach Kate Bertko.

The lightweight team did not lose a single race, both in Saturday’s preliminary heat qualifiers and Sunday’s title-deciding Grand Finals, marching to total team dominance over competitors such as Princeton, Wisconsin and Boston University.

The team title marks the sixth in program history and fifth for Stanford this year, the most for the university in a single year since 1997-98. The national title streak for the lightweight team, however, is still only the second longest in program history as the team won four straight from 2010 to 2013. Stanford is now tied with Wisconsin for the most women’s lightweight rowing national championships.

“It [Stanford athletics] is a dream place to work. There’s so much success and people really striving to be excellent that it’s inspiring,” Bertko told the Daily about contributing to the championship tally. “Coming off being an athlete myself, it’s such a great environment to work. People were inspired by the teammates racing, and the team itself felt inspired as a result, and we as a whole feed off an environment that pushes you to strive to being your best.”

The lightweight varsity eight raced first over the weekend, winning its heat by open water (6:30:800) after claiming the lead within the first 700 meters and maintaining its advantage for the victory. The Cardinal finished with a five-second gap over second-place Princeton (6:35:597) and set the tone immediately for Stanford.

Following the varsity eight heats, the varsity four team also cruised to victory in open water (7:13:484) by separating from the pack at the 500-meter mark and ultimately beating second-place Wisconsin by a five-second margin (7:18:149).

As the last team to finish their heats, the lightweight doubles, on the other hand, had to battle with Wisconsin early in the race before taking an open-water lead over the rest of the field by the halfway point in the race. The doubles would finish with the largest Cardinal victory (7:35:032) of the heat stages, holding an eight-second advantage over the trailing Badgers (7:43:103).

Stanford’s successful performances in the opening round only continued into the Grand Finals on Sunday as the Cardinal once again displayed all-out dominance to take home the national title.

Sunday started with the doubles championship race at 8:00 a.m., yet the Grand Final brought no surprises as every team placed in the same exact order as the heat qualifiers. The Cardinal, however, did remain dominant over the field, besting their previous score of 7:35:032 by a little less than a second, finishing the race at 7:34:700 to claim their title.

The women’s lightweight four were next to race and once again bested the Wisconsin Badgers, this time with a seven-second gap (Stanford 7:20:916, Wisconsin 7:27:638) that continued to expand in the final lengths, claiming the second national title of the day for the Cardinal.

Finally, in the last women’s race of the regatta, Stanford once again dominated their opponents en route to another national title that ultimately clinched the third straight team title for the program. The Cardinal battled early before grabbing and extending an open-water lead in the dying moments of the race, finishing with an even better result than in the heat qualifier at 6:25:396 and a five-second difference over second place Boston University.

When asked about how the women performed so dominantly over the regatta, Bertko stated, “I think it’s a pretty simple and sort of boring answer. The team practiced consistency, effort, and attention to detail all year long; this know what it means to be successful and hold yourself accountable to high standards. They’ve shown me that teamwork and valuing your teammates is the most important thing at the end of the day. It truly is like a family.”

The Stanford men also competed during last weekend’s regatta yet did not find similar dominant success like the women’s lightweight team. The first, second and third varsity eights competed for the Cardinal with all three teams missing spots in the A/B semifinal with the first varsity eight missing the semifinal by one spot.

In the C/D semifinals, all three boats placed in the top three in their respective races and earned spots in the third-level final on Sunday. The semifinal competition was highlighted by the second varsity eight narrowly edging a victory over Navy by a two-second gap (Stanford 5:54:870, Navy 5:56:851).

Sunday’s action in the third final once again saw the Cardinal struggle as both the second and third varsity eight failed to place in the finals, earning fifth and fourth respectively with times of 5:56:566 and 6:02:806. The first varsity eight, however, finished second after losing a tough race against George Washington University by a three-second margin.

“It has been really great getting to know each of the women on this team throughout the year and having an opportunity to celebrate a national championship with them is awesome,” Bertko said. “These women have worked so hard all season. It was special to see them be rewarded with today’s performances. I appreciate all the support Stanford and each of the coaches have given me throughout the year. I am so happy for these women and this program.”
Contact Lorenzo Rosas at enzor9 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Men’s rowing, lightweight women head to IRAs https://stanforddaily.com/2017/06/01/rowing-enters-into-national-championship-searching-for-titles/ https://stanforddaily.com/2017/06/01/rowing-enters-into-national-championship-searching-for-titles/#respond Fri, 02 Jun 2017 06:34:30 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1128796 Both Stanford men’s and lightweight women’s rowing will head up to Lake Natoma, California, just north of Sacramento, to take part in the Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championships this upcoming weekend. The No. 10 men will field the first, second and third varsity eight while the No. 1 women’s lightweight rowing program searches for their third […]

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Both Stanford men’s and lightweight women’s rowing will head up to Lake Natoma, California, just north of Sacramento, to take part in the Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championships this upcoming weekend. The No. 10 men will field the first, second and third varsity eight while the No. 1 women’s lightweight rowing program searches for their third consecutive national title.

The first-seed lightweight women’s team has remained No. 1 overall all season under first-year head coach Kate Bertko. The Cardinal women will have the varsity eight, four and doubles compete over the weekend, and each team will open by competing in the first of two heats to qualify for the final race.

The doubles will start up Saturday’s second day of tournament competition as well as the Stanford women’s weekend series by racing against Princeton, Boston, Wisconsin, Harvard and MIT at 8:30 a.m.

Immediately following the doubles heat, the Cardinal lightweight varsity eight will take to the water to compete against Princeton, Wisconsin and Georgetown in the first of two qualifying heats at 8:40 a.m. Subsequently, after the second varsity eight heat, Stanford lightweight varsity four will race against Boston and Tulsa at 9 a.m.

Last year at Lake Mercer, New Jersey, the lightweight eight team propelled Stanford to the team title by winning their Grand Final, while the lightweight four and doubles team placed third in their respective final races.

The men’s rowing team also will travel to Lake Natoma to participate in the IRA Championships as part of 24 total universities to participate. However, while 24 crews will vie for the first and second varsity eight titles, only 20 teams will also field a third varsity eight squad.

Stanford also is one of four Pac-12 universities to qualify for the national tournament, showing the immense depth in the conference this season.

The Cardinal first varsity eight will commence the weekend action on Friday as the team will compete in the fourth and final qualifying heat of the day at 9 a.m. against Wisconsin, Princeton, Harvard, Drexel and St. Joseph’s. Following the conclusion of the lightweight action, the second varsity eight will compete at 9:40 a.m. in the second qualifying heat and will square off against California, Northeastern, Cornell, Pennsylvania and Santa Clara.

Last year saw some success for the Cardinal men’s team who had the first varsity eight and varsity four — who aren’t competing in this weekend’s tournament — earn second in both of their respective final races to power Stanford to eighth in the team tournament. In addition, the Cardinal earned the Clayton W. Chapman Trophy, which recognizes the most improved team in the national regatta.

Despite the early start times, updates of the Cardinal action can be found by following Stanford rowing on Twitter at @Stanfordmrowing and @Stanfordwrowing and on gostanford.com.

 

Contact Lorenzo Rosas at enzor9 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Rowing places third, fourth in Pac-12 conference championships https://stanforddaily.com/2017/05/15/rowing-places-third-fourth-in-pac-12-conference-championships/ https://stanforddaily.com/2017/05/15/rowing-places-third-fourth-in-pac-12-conference-championships/#respond Mon, 15 May 2017 07:08:46 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1127463 Sunday brought a whole day’s worth of action for Stanford rowing as both the 10th-ranked men and eighth-ranked women competed in the Pac-12 conference championships. While both varsity eight boats placed third, the women came out of the competition with the bronze and the men with fourth place. On the men’s side, the Cardinal repeated […]

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Sunday brought a whole day’s worth of action for Stanford rowing as both the 10th-ranked men and eighth-ranked women competed in the Pac-12 conference championships. While both varsity eight boats placed third, the women came out of the competition with the bronze and the men with fourth place.

On the men’s side, the Cardinal repeated their performance from last year’s championships by placing third in the men’s varsity eight. The tournament featured four ranked teams, No. 1 Washington, No. 2 Cal, No. 10 Stanford and No. 19 Oregon State, who placed in accordance with their rankings in the final.

Stanford finished the varsity eight final 11 seconds behind second-place Cal, who tested the Huskies early in the meet when it took a lead for the first 500 meters. Washington ultimately hit its stride and regained the lead en route to a four-second victory over UC Berkeley.

The Cardinal’s second and third varsity eights both finished fourth in their respective finals earlier during the day, bringing Stanford to a fourth-place finish overall in the competition.

Stanford women also placed third in a Husky-dominated varsity eight final where Washington led the entirety of the race. The Cardinal were unable to avenge last year’s 0.8-second loss to the Golden Bears, placing third by a margin of four seconds behind second-place Cal and missing the championship by eight seconds.

The women varsity fours also competed on Sunday, coming in fourth, two seconds behind USC. Washington also took the championship in the varsity four races.

The Huskies dominated pretty much all of Sunday’s action and became the first program in a 20-year conference history to win both the men’s and women’s title in the same year. Washington swept all five races of the day, only losing in the freshman eight to Cal, completing the championship regatta with its victory in the men’s varsity eight.

 

Contact Lorenzo Rosas at enzor9 ‘at’ stanford.edu

 

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Rowing prepares for Pac-12 championships https://stanforddaily.com/2017/05/11/rowing-prepares-for-pac-12-championships/ https://stanforddaily.com/2017/05/11/rowing-prepares-for-pac-12-championships/#respond Fri, 12 May 2017 06:31:25 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1127353 The postseason begins this weekend for the Stanford men and women’s rowing teams. The No. 10-ranked men’s team and No. 8-ranked women’s team will travel to Lake Natoma, just outside of Sacramento, to compete in in the Pac-12 Championships. The third varsity eight race will commence at 10:15 a.m., followed by the second varsity eight race […]

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The postseason begins this weekend for the Stanford men and women’s rowing teams. The No. 10-ranked men’s team and No. 8-ranked women’s team will travel to Lake Natoma, just outside of Sacramento, to compete in in the Pac-12 Championships.

The third varsity eight race will commence at 10:15 a.m., followed by the second varsity eight race at 10:45 a.m. and the first varsity eight race at 11:15. The Cardinal will face off against elite competition during the day, including No. 19 Oregon State, No. 2 Washington and No. 1 Cal.

The men’s team has rowed in dual races against Oregon State, Washington and Cal, managing to claim a varsity eight victory against Oregon State in the process. They most recently squared off against Cal at the Big Row but lost all three eight races on the day.

Last year, the men placed third in the Pac-12 Championships behind Cal and Washington, and they will look to improve upon that performance this year.

The Cardinal women begin their races at 9 a.m. with the novice eight grand final. The third varsity eight final is at 9:30 a.m., the second varsity eight races at 10:30 a.m. and the first varsity eight boats square off at 11 a.m. At 10 a.m., the grand finals for the varsity four boats will occur.

The Conference Championships for the women will also feature Oregon State, No. 20 UCLA, No. 15 USC, No. 14 Washington State, No. 2 California and No. 1 ranked Washington. Just like the men’s team, the women recently rowed against Cal and lost all three varsity eight races.

Last year, the women placed second as a team at the Pac-12 Championships. They lost a tight race to Cal that was decided by 0.8 seconds and will thus be looking for revenge this year.

The Pac-12 Network will televise the Pac-12 Championships with the broadcast airing at 10:30 a.m. Pacific time on Sunday, May 21.

 

Contact Bobby Pragada at bpragada ‘at’ stanford.edu. 

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Men’s rowing earns third-best time at Stanford Invitational https://stanforddaily.com/2017/04/17/mens-rowing-earns-third-best-time-at-stanford-invitational/ https://stanforddaily.com/2017/04/17/mens-rowing-earns-third-best-time-at-stanford-invitational/#respond Tue, 18 Apr 2017 04:28:17 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1126042 The Cardinal’s three competing boats on Saturday earned victory in the Invitational with the varsity eight beating the Hobart Statesmen by recording the third-best time (5:43.44) of the weekend in the win.

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No. 11 men’s rowing hosted a variety of different crew teams in the Stanford Invitational at Redwood Shores over the weekend, welcoming No. 20 Oregon State, Wisconsin, No. 2 Washington, Santa Clara, Cal and Hobart in the two-day regatta. The Cardinal’s three competing boats on Saturday earned victory in the Invitational with the varsity eight beating the Hobart Statesmen by recording the third-best time (5:43.44) of the weekend in the win.

Friday’s opening day of action saw the Cardinal boats squared off against Oregon State in which the varsity eight came away with a victory when Stanford cleared the open-water course in 6:01.2, eclipsing the Oregon State boat by three seconds.

The novice eight fell short in their race, however, and fell to the Beavers by three seconds, finishing in 6:15.6.

During the second varsity eight’s race with Oregon State, the wind on the water caused the boats to move out of position, and the oars collided with each other during the final stretch of the race. Officials determined that the boats would replay the race on the second day of the regatta, and during the re-row, Stanford fell to Oregon State by eight seconds, finishing with a time of 6:11.7.

On the second day of the regatta, the team had a difficult challenge ahead of them as the first races of the day were against the No. 2 ranked Washington men’s team. Stanford boats ultimately lost all three of the races against the dominant Huskies with the first varsity eight finishing in 5:53.6 and still losing by 15 seconds.

The final races of the day were against Hobart. The varsity eight came back from the prior defeat with a strong performance and claimed victory with a time of 5:43.44. The freshman eight also came up with a win, finishing in an impressive 5:57.3 and beating Santa Clara by 16 seconds.

According to head coach Craig Amerkhanian, the annual Stanford Invitational is an excellent opportunity for the Stanford boats to get practice against a variety of competitive schools.

“This is always a great event and we thank all the programs for making this special for the student-athletes,” said Amerkhanian. “It was another good performance from the varsity eight and it was nice to see our freshman eight take advantage and finish strong with a sub-six-minute race to close the regatta.”

Following this regatta, the men’s rowing team will look to finish strong as it reaches the end of the spring season. The Cardinal will compete next in the Big Row against Cal on April 29 once again at Redwood Shores.

 

Contact Bobby Pragada at bpragada ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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West Coast regattas bring success for Stanford rowing https://stanforddaily.com/2017/04/05/west-coast-regattas-bring-success-for-stanford-rowing/ https://stanforddaily.com/2017/04/05/west-coast-regattas-bring-success-for-stanford-rowing/#respond Wed, 05 Apr 2017 07:14:15 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1125316 Stanford rowing had a jam-packed weekend of competitions – both men's and women's – as the Cardinal competed in regattas along the West Coast, posting strong performances all around. The men’s and women's lightweight teams traveled south to compete in the San Diego Crew Classic, where Stanford's varsity eight placed third in Sunday's Grand Final of the Copely Cup. The No. 10 women’s varsity eight (4-1) stayed in the Bay Area and ultimately defeated No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes at the Pac-12 Challenge at Redwood Shores.

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Stanford rowing had a jam-packed weekend of competitions – both men’s and women’s – as the Cardinal competed in regattas along the West Coast, posting strong performances all around. The men’s and women’s lightweight teams traveled south to compete in the San Diego Crew Classic, where Stanford’s varsity eight placed third in Sunday’s Grand Final of the Copely Cup. The No. 10 women’s varsity eight (4-1) stayed in the Bay Area and ultimately defeated No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes at the Pac-12 Challenge at Redwood Shores.

The Stanford men qualified all three of their boats for the grand finals during heat races on Saturday. The second varsity eight (6:02.84) and the all-freshman novice eight (6:16.33) each placed first in their respective heats, and the first varsity eight (5:46.489) qualified with a second-place finish fewer than four seconds behind first-place No. 2 Yale.

After advancing in all races to earn a sport in Sunday’s six-lane grand finals, the Cardinal continued their successes going into the second day in southern California. The first varsity eight placed third with a time of (5:50.02), finishing behind the first-placed Cal (5:35.50) and subsequent Yale (5:39.01). The novice eight placed second in their race (6:12.71), also just behind Cal (5:54.35). The second varsity eight (6:13.58) did not place in the finals, finishing fifth in their race overall.

At the end of the day, men’s head coach Craig Amerkhanian was optimistic about the day’s results. “Our freshman eight were outstanding today,” he said. “Our varsity eight knew we were facing tremendous crews in Cal and Yale, and our third-place finish is a good starting point for our season’s goals. Our second varsity eight were a bit disjointed today and will improve.”

At the same event, the women’s lightweight team posted a dominant performance, breezing through the qualifying heats and sending their two boats to the collegiate eight grand final and the open eight grand final. The lightweight women then went on to win both of the final races, with the collegiate eight boat finishing in 6:35.82 and the open eight boat claiming first in 6:54.18. These victories mark the first official regatta for new lightweight coach Kate Bertko.

Up north, the women’s team competed in two full days of head-to-head races versus a litany of other schools. Over the two-day regatta, Stanford’s six boats faced off against No. 3 ranked Michigan, No. 2 ranked Ohio State, No. 7 ranked Virginia, Washington and Cal. The first varsity eight claimed victories over Virginia and Ohio State with times of 6:20.26 and 6:26.43, later falling to Michigan by just three seconds. These upsets by the No. 10 nationally ranked Cardinal eight showcased the true strength of the women’s team.

The other first varsity boat scored victories throughout the weekend as well. The Stanford varsity four won their race versus Michigan by only 1.2 seconds (7:23.3). The varsity four then went on to win versus Virginia (7:21.83) before falling to Ohio State on Sunday (7:27.24).

The rest of the Stanford boats struggled, with the second and third eights and fours losing every race throughout the weekend. Despite the losses, the strong competition in this Pac-12 Championship regatta will serve as useful experience for the women’s team.

The women’s team competes once again this weekend at the Lake Natoma Invitational in Gold River, California. The women’s lightweight team will also return to action this weekend at the Knecht cup on Mercer Lake in New Jersey. The men’s team takes a break this weekend, but will take to the water once more on April 14-15 for the Stanford Invitational at Redwood Shores.

 

Contact Bobby Pragada at bpragada ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Erging for a cause https://stanforddaily.com/2017/03/10/erging-for-a-cause/ https://stanforddaily.com/2017/03/10/erging-for-a-cause/#respond Fri, 10 Mar 2017 09:20:46 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1124684 In the Ford Center at 4 p.m. on March 9, there are no basketball players in the basketball gym. Instead there are 30 to 40 erg machines scattered on the court, and a litany of men’s and women’s rowers warming up on the sidelines. All of them are wearing gray tank tops emblazoned with the Latin […]

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In the Ford Center at 4 p.m. on March 9, there are no basketball players in the basketball gym. Instead there are 30 to 40 erg machines scattered on the court, and a litany of men’s and women’s rowers warming up on the sidelines. All of them are wearing gray tank tops emblazoned with the Latin words aeternum fortis: “forever strong.” In part, these athletes are here for their regular training. But today’s usual practice on the rowing machines carries a special weight.

The men’s rowing team is here to compete in Connor’s Erg Challenge for the second straight year. Connor Dawes was a young man from Wisconsin who spent most of his childhood in Australia. He became a talented rower in high school, and dreamed of rowing for Stanford during college. Unfortunately, Connor was diagnosed with brain cancer and passed away in 2013 after a surgery, just as he was being recruited by both Stanford and Wisconsin.

In his memory, the Robert Connor Dawes foundation holds a competition between the Stanford and Wisconsin men’s rowing teams to raise money for brain cancer research. The money raised goes directly to the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital right here on campus to support Dr. Michelle Monje’s research into DIPG (Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma), the type of cancer from which Connor suffered.

The format of the erg challenge is simple: Stanford vs. Wisconsin, and the first team to 100 kilometers wins. A team of five rowers takes to five ergs to quickly row 20 kilometers, and then switches with a second team of five. Stanford and Wisconsin are in their respective home gyms, but connected via video feed in real time. The coaches call each other on the phone and deliver friendly jabs. The women’s team, who have a race on Saturday, cheer on the men as they go through their own workouts. The prize for the winner? Bragging rights and the Connor Cup. The real prize? Over $13,000 raised for cancer research.

The coach of the men’s team, Craig Amerkhanian, was enthusiastic about the event, but realistic about the expected outcome: “We’re gonna lose, because Wisconsin is all ice, all they do is the machines. Last year, they beat us by 4,000 meters. But when we race them on the water … ”

Regardless of the winner, he loves helping out such a great cause. Coach Amerkhanian knew Connor before his passing and supported him in his illness. As he put it, “We would train anyway. This is just spirited training between student athletes for a good cause.”

The rowers were equally enthusiastic about the competition, working their hardest on the machines and giving 110-percent effort. Teammates cheered each other on as they muscled their way to 100 kilometers. And in the end, it accomplished both a solid workout and a great deal of support for cancer research.

As freshman lightweight rower Sarah Taylor put it, “It’s nice to see everyone band together and work towards bringing awareness to pediatric brain cancer.” In the spirit of the event, Sarah and several other members of various athletic teams baked cookies in a residence hall and sold them in White Plaza over the course of the last week, raising $500 for the erg challenge.

In the end, Wisconsin came out on top and claimed the Connor Cup. The Cardinal finished just under one minute behind the the Badgers in an incredible effort. After the competition was over, the looks of exhaustion and camaraderie on the faces of the Cardinal rowers was enough to confirm that the day was a success.
To find out more about the Robert Connor Dawes Foundation or to make a donation, please visit http://rcdfoundation.org/erg-challenge/.

 

Contact Bobby Pragada at bpragada ‘at’ stanford.edu. 

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Lightweight rowing wins national title, women and men finish top 10 https://stanforddaily.com/2015/06/02/lightweight-rowing-wins-national-title-women-and-men-finish-top-10/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/06/02/lightweight-rowing-wins-national-title-women-and-men-finish-top-10/#respond Wed, 03 Jun 2015 06:23:26 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1101828 The No. 1 lightweight rowing team won the program’s fifth IRA national title in six years over the weekend, with victories in both the varsity eight and varsity four Grand Finals. The varsity eight got revenge over rival Harvard-Radcliffe with its three-second victory — last year, Harvard-Radcliffe overcame the Cardinal by 0.5 seconds at the finish […]

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The No. 1 lightweight rowing team won the program’s fifth IRA national title in six years over the weekend, with victories in both the varsity eight and varsity four Grand Finals. The varsity eight got revenge over rival Harvard-Radcliffe with its three-second victory — last year, Harvard-Radcliffe overcame the Cardinal by 0.5 seconds at the finish line to snap the team’s four-year title streak.

“We knew how well we could do coming into the weekend,” said first-year head coach Derek Byrnes. “Seeing this good, hardworking group race within themselves and stay confident and composed, I don’t know how to put it. It was awesome.”

The championship race was never in doubt, as the Cardinal took a two-seat lead on Harvard early and opened up a 6-7 seat margin by the 750-meter mark. Princeton and Harvard gained about two seats in the final 750-meter push, but Stanford rowed with the same smooth intensity it had displayed all season and crossed the finish line a near-boat length ahead of the next boat. 

Stanford is the first school ever to sweep the lightweight women’s varsity eight and varsity four events at the IRAs, and the win in the varsity four is the first in program history. The varsity eight boat did not lose a race this season, finishing with a perfect 11-0 record.

“It is surreal,” said senior Mackenzie Crist, one of four seniors to have won three national titles in their four years on the Farm. “It was so exciting and a testament to all the hard work we have put in this year. It was exciting not just to win our race, but to see the four win and have it be a complete team national championship. There is nobody else I would ever want to row with. It has been a pleasure and honor to row with my teammates the last four years.”

The varsity four, which beat runner-up Wisconsin by four seconds, had only raced one time prior to the IRA National Championships, placing fourth at the Pacific Coast Rowing Championships two weeks previously.

“The four hasn’t raced much,” Byrnes said. “They were composed and never pressed, rowing their race right from the gate.”

The lightweight rowing team becomes the third Stanford team to win a national championship this season, joining women’s water polo and women’s golf.

***

Women’s rowing finished sixth at the NCAA Championships, one spot higher than its ranking to end the season.

The last day of racing saw the varsity eight compete in the Grand Final, placing fifth, and the varsity four and 2V8 in the Petite Final, finishing first and third, respectively. The Cardinal ended the season with their best racing of the year. It was also a great showing for the Pac-12, with three boats in the varsity eight Grand Final — two more than from any other conference.    

“At the NCAAs you know you have to bring your best,” said head coach Yasmin Farooq. “I am really proud of the work our team did in the week leading up to the championship and also the improvements they made from the heat to the semifinal to the final.”

***

The Stanford men’s rowing varsity four got on the podium at the IRA National Championships, capturing the bronze medal. The boat had won both the heat and semifinal race prior to the Grand Final, but storied programs Washington and Cal overcame the Cardinal in the final 250 meters. 

The third-place finish marks the third time in Stanford history the team has medaled in the varsity four event at the IRA National Championships. Stanford has also placed in the top 20 of the varsity eight every year since 1999 (as far back as the records go).

“Our varsity eight just never found rhythm or speed,” said head coach Craig Amerkhanian. “It was a rough regatta for those guys, but we are young and the future is bright looking at what our four was able to do this weekend.”

Contact Ashley Westhem at awesthem ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Trio of rowing programs gears up for national tournaments https://stanforddaily.com/2015/05/26/trio-of-rowing-programs-gears-up-for-national-tournaments/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/05/26/trio-of-rowing-programs-gears-up-for-national-tournaments/#respond Wed, 27 May 2015 05:50:55 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1101530 Members of the three Stanford rowing teams, like many Stanford students, left campus at the start of the Memorial Day weekend. However, they didn’t return in time for Tuesday classes, and instead remained at their respective training sites to prepare for and compete at nationals — they will come back to the Farm just in […]

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Members of the three Stanford rowing teams, like many Stanford students, left campus at the start of the Memorial Day weekend. However, they didn’t return in time for Tuesday classes, and instead remained at their respective training sites to prepare for and compete at nationals — they will come back to the Farm just in time for finals.

***

The women’s rowing team arrived at its “secret location” and began practice for the NCAA Championships on Sunday. The No. 6 Cardinal received an at-large bid to compete, making this the seventh straight year Stanford has qualified for the championships and 10th time overall. The varsity eight boat, the Cardinal’s top boat, after earning the silver medal at the Pac-12 Championships a week and a half ago, received the No. 3 seed overall.

“We’re glad to be going back to Lake Natoma,” said head coach Yasmin Farooq. “We’ve seen a lot of these teams throughout the season, but we all start with a clean slate next Friday. We’re looking forward to showing what we can do over the three-day Championship weekend.”

Last season, the women finished fourth overall in Indianapolis, with all three boats advancing to the Grand Finals and the varsity four earning its best finish in school history with second place. The last, and only, team national championship came in 2009. However, more recently, the varsity eight won the title in 2009 and the 2V8 took the crown in 2011.

***

Led by first-year head coach Derek Byrnes, the No. 1 Stanford lightweight rowing team, undefeated this spring season, will continue its journey in Princeton, New Jersey towards earning its fifth program national title at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) National Championships.

Last season was the first in four years that Stanford did not end the championship weekend standing atop the podium. Cross-country rivals Harvard-Radcliffe took the title with more than a second margin to cushion the win. The Cardinal had led for the entirety of the race before fatigue overcame one of the rowers and the Cardinal fell behind by a fraction of a seat in the final strokes of the Grand Finals.

This year, the lightweight team will look to redeem itself by starting a new national title win streak and bringing another trophy back to the Farm. The lineup of the variety eight boat this season has the luxury of seven returning rowers from their effort last year, spelling potential success for Stanford. Experience, poise and a fire for redemption fuel the team as it heads into IRAs this weekend.

***

In addition to the No. 6 women’s rowing team competing at NCAAs and the No. 2 lightweight team at IRAs, the No. 13 men’s rowing team will compete in the IRA Championships this weekend in West Windsor, New Jersey. Last season, the Cardinal’s varsity eight boat finished first in the C Final on the last day of racing and earned a 16th-place overall finish.

At the end of last season, head coach Craig Amerkhanian commented, “Our men know what they have to do to improve for next year. Through racing this weekend they developed learning techniques. They are leaving with a backpack full of knowledge.”

This upcoming weekend will be the test to determine just how much the men learned.

Contact Ashley Westhem at awesthem ‘at’ stanford.edu. 

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Rowing teams all medal on championship weekend https://stanforddaily.com/2015/05/19/rowing-teams-all-medal-on-championship-weekend/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/05/19/rowing-teams-all-medal-on-championship-weekend/#respond Tue, 19 May 2015 07:20:36 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1101166 Last weekend, all three Stanford rowing teams came home with hardware to show for their hard work. The No. 1 lightweight varsity eight remains undefeated in spring competitions with its narrow victory in the Pacific Coast Rowing Championships. At the Pac-12 championships, No. 6 women’s rowing brought home the silver medal in the varsity eight, […]

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Last weekend, all three Stanford rowing teams came home with hardware to show for their hard work. The No. 1 lightweight varsity eight remains undefeated in spring competitions with its narrow victory in the Pacific Coast Rowing Championships. At the Pac-12 championships, No. 6 women’s rowing brought home the silver medal in the varsity eight, while the No. 13 men’s rowing varsity eight earned a third-place finish.

***

(DAVID BERNAL/isiphotos.com)
The men’s varsity eight put in a tremendous effort down the stretch to come in third at the Pac-12 Championships, medaling in the event for its eleventh consecutive year.(DAVID BERNAL/isiphotos.com)

Despite shooting off the starting line and opening up a near-boat length over Washington in the final 500 meters, the Cardinal lightweight team was caught off guard near the finish line, pulling out a 0.30-second victory over the Huskies. For a team that sends an A boat and B boat to the varsity eight competition and is accustomed to essentially racing against each other in the finals, the race got the hearts of the Stanford A boat pumping.

“PCRCs are always close,” said junior Brittany Presten. “But the lightweight crews are getting more and more competitive.”

At this point last season, the varsity eight had already weathered a few losses and didn’t have the pressure of dealing with this year’s undefeated status. However, the team’s mentality and confidence is not affected in the least.

“PCRCs are a trial run for IRAs. Each race is practice for the next race. You see what you can do and then build off of that,” Presten said.

***

Two weeks after falling to Cal in the Big Row, the Cardinal women again met their foes from across the Bay at the Pac-12 championships, solidifying their position at one of the top teams in the conference with their strong finish in the varsity eight race but failing again to top their rival.

“Cal has historically been a fierce competitor of ours, and we wouldn’t want it any other way,” said junior Katie Toothman. “Racing them requires the highest level of performance, and although it would have been ideal to come out with the win, our recent results show us how much more work we have to do before NCAAs.”

The Cardinal will find out later next week if they will get the chance to compete at the NCAAs on an at-large berth. The greatest challenge for the Cardinal moving forward will be consistency and putting together all the positive parts of this season into a complete performance.

After taking home the program’s first Pac-12 title last season, the Card were happy with their third-place team finish after losing six instrumental and influential seniors last year.

“We are leaving this weekend a huge sense of accomplishment, however these next two weeks are crucial for our very best performance at the National Championship in two weeks,” Toothman said.

The Cardinal had an extra spark in their performance on Sunday due to the return of varsity four coxswain junior Liza Gurtin, which allowed the team enough experienced coxswains to race in every Pac-12 lineup.

“Liza is an incredibly skilled and confident coxswain on the water; she can race seven boats across with ease. Her sense of competition is easily heard in her calls and much appreciated by all of the rowers,” Toothman said.

In addition to the second-place varsity eight finish and third-place team finish, senior coxswain Naomi Cornman was presented with the Pac-12 Scholar Athlete of the Year award. She is the fourth Cardinal women’s rower to earn the honor.

“These next two weeks are going to require absolute focus both on the water and in our academics,” Toothman said. “We know that and are headed into NCAAs with a mentality that requires us to integrate all that we have learned throughout our season thus far in order to put our best on the line for all three days of the competition.”

***

The men’s rowing team finished fourth as a team, but the real story of the day for the Cardinal was their third-place finish in the varsity eight race. They beat the fourth-place finishers, Oregon State, by seven seconds in an incredible comeback effort.

Halfway through the race, Stanford trailed Oregon State by seven seats, with the Beavers leading by open water at one point in the race. The Cardinal would not let up, however, and powered through to finish behind two of the nations top teams in Cal and Washington State.

“In 15 years, I don’t think I have seen one of our boats come from down over a boat length in the final 1,000 meters to finish ahead of somebody,” said head coach Craig Amerkhanian. “It was a courageous effort and I am proud of our guys.”

As former teammate and fellow captain Austin Hack did last year, senior Kaess Smit earned the Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year award this season, keeping the honor on the Farm.

The Cardinal will have a two-week break from competition as they prepare for IRAs.

Contact Ashley Westhem at awesthem ‘at’ stanford.edu.

 

 

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Stanford rowing teams prepare for Pac-12 championships https://stanforddaily.com/2015/05/15/stanford-rowing-teams-prepare-for-pac-12-championships/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/05/15/stanford-rowing-teams-prepare-for-pac-12-championships/#respond Fri, 15 May 2015 07:01:11 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1100999 After putting on a dominant performance in 2014 at the annual Big Row, in which all three top women’s rowing boats sealed the deal over Cal, the Cardinal headed into that season’s Pac-12 Championships on a high. This year, however, the team enters the Pac-12s on the tail of narrow losses to the No. 2 Golden […]

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After putting on a dominant performance in 2014 at the annual Big Row, in which all three top women’s rowing boats sealed the deal over Cal, the Cardinal headed into that season’s Pac-12 Championships on a high.

Despite the losses at Big Row, the No. 6 Stanford women's rowing team has accumulated great results this season, with the varsity  eight winning five races on the year and the 2V8 and varsity four earning a pair of victories. The team is enters Pac-12 championships this weekend coming off of a tough loss to Cal.
Despite the losses at Big Row, the No. 6 Stanford women’s rowing team has accumulated great results this season, with the varsity eight winning five races on the year and the 2V8 and varsity four earning a pair of victories. The team is enters Pac-12 championships this weekend coming off of a tough loss to Cal.

This year, however, the team enters the Pac-12s on the tail of narrow losses to the No. 2 Golden Bears at Redwood Shores last weekend; however, the team is proud of its competitive showing over one of the top-ranked teams in the nation.

“The racing was fast today. We gave it our all and Cal was the better team. We’ll look forward to seeing them again in two weeks,” said Stanford’s head coach Yasmin Farooq.

Those two weeks have passed, and the time to race them again is on the horizon as No. 6 Stanford gears up for the conference championships on Sunday.

In addition, they have captured impressive wins over No. 2 Virginia and No. 8 Washington.

Last year the Cardinal surprised the field by capturing their first ever Pac-12 Championship, winning the varsity four, 2V8 and varsity eight races to run away with the title.

***

The No. 1 Stanford lightweight team is expected to continue another successful season this weekend at the PCRC Championships on the heels of a victory over Cal’s 3V8 openweight team at Big Row — setting a new course record in the process — and a scorching showing at the WIRA Championships two and half weeks ago, taking home trophies in the variety eight, 2V8 and novice races. The Cardinal lightweights are 8-0 in their races in 2015.

The Big Row is supposed to bridge the competitive gap between the two rival schools as it honors former Cal coxswain Jill Costello, who lost her battle with cancer. This year the competition further emphasized the melding of the two schools, as Cal’s head coach is former Stanford lightweight head coach Al Acosta. The first-year head coach for the Golden Bears led the Cardinal lightweight program to four IRA National Championships in his last five years on the Farm.

The Cardinal beat the Cal openweights by two boat lengths, scorching the Bears by nearly 13 seconds and setting a team course record with a time of 6:37.4. It was the team’s second-fastest time of the year.

The Cardinal gear up for the PCRC Championships with three WIRA honors among their boats. Katherine Christel, Jackie Huddle and Blaire Hunter were each named to All-WIRA teams after their dominant performances at the WIRA Championships. This weekend will be the final tune-up for the Cardinal before competing in the pinnacle rowing event of the season, the IRA National Championships.

***

No. 1 Cal was too much for then-No. 12 Stanford men’s rowing team at the 82nd Big Row as the Bears won by open water in all three races.

“Cal clearly proved why they are ranked No. 1,” said Stanford head coach Craig Amerkhanian. “They raced at the highest level we have seen here in years. We knew they would be tough going in and we could have raced better, but credit to them for having a great day.”

The varsity eight had competed in four straight races prior to taking on the nation’s top team but have had two weeks to prepare for their next meeting with the Bears at this weekend’s Pac-12 Championships.

The Cardinal will aim to at least match their fourth-place performance at last year’s conference championships, with the varsity eight earning a bronze medal and the 2V8 and frosh eight placing fourth, while the varsity four took fifth.

After competing in the U-23 World Championships each of the last two years, senior captain Kaess Smit was again chosen for the U.S. Men’s Under-23 National Team Selection Camp.  Sophomores Ryan Hails and Ryan O’Rourke are among the eight men announced to the waitlist for the selection camp.

All three Stanford rowing teams compete in their respective championships this Sunday.

Contact Ashley Westhem at awesthem ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Video: Craig Amerkhanian: The Mayor of Saw Wood City https://stanforddaily.com/2015/04/01/craig-amerkhanian-the-mayor-of-saw-wood-city-2/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/04/01/craig-amerkhanian-the-mayor-of-saw-wood-city-2/#respond Thu, 02 Apr 2015 00:55:24 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1098127 The head coach of Stanford's men's rowing team shares his wisdom with his squad on the open water.

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Contact Jordan Wallach at jwallach ‘at’ stanford.edu and Alexa Philippou at aphil723 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Craig Amerkhanian: The mayor of Saw Wood City https://stanforddaily.com/2015/03/06/craig-amerkhanian-the-mayor-of-saw-wood-city/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/03/06/craig-amerkhanian-the-mayor-of-saw-wood-city/#respond Fri, 06 Mar 2015 11:13:34 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1097223 Craig Amerkhanian has transformed Stanford’s rowing program from an underdeveloped work-in-progress to one of the nation’s elite teams. Since his arrival to the Farm in 2000, he has coached nine Olympians, 16 competitors at the World Championships and 17 rowers at the Under-23 World Championships.

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Men’s rowing displays depth in fall racing https://stanforddaily.com/2014/10/28/mens-rowing-displays-depth-in-fall-racing/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/10/28/mens-rowing-displays-depth-in-fall-racing/#respond Wed, 29 Oct 2014 05:55:25 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1090846 The Stanford men’s rowing team demonstrated it has a bright future as it concluded its fall season last Sunday. Racing in the Head of the American regatta outside of Sacramento, Stanford performed strongly with victories in open two-, four- and eight-person races.  Many of its other entries also placed highly, with its alternate four and […]

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The Stanford men’s rowing team demonstrated it has a bright future as it concluded its fall season last Sunday.

Racing in the Head of the American regatta outside of Sacramento, Stanford performed strongly with victories in open two-, four- and eight-person races.  Many of its other entries also placed highly, with its alternate four and eight both placing second, and two Stanford singles landing in the top seven in the most competitive open divisions.

Men's rowing (above)
Men’s rowing (above) won three races in the Head of the American regatta to close out the team’s fall schedule. For the Card, the wins will help the squad gain confidence heading into winter training. (ASHLEY WESTHEM/The Stanford Daily)

“[Our performance] definitely helped build morale for the team,” said sophomore Ryan Hails, who rowed on the winning eight.  “It’s tough to go until the spring and not have something tangible to grab onto. We’ve changed around our training a little bit, and this gives us something in the fall to say ‘what we’re doing is working.’  I think everybody is really happy with it.”

These strong finishes came after a somewhat disappointing performance at the Head of the Charles on Oct. 19, where the men came in ninth in the open fours. The team got off to a quick start, but gradually lost steam as an abnormally strong Massachusetts headwind dragged the race out. Stanford had been the top collegiate team in the highly competitive race both of the last two seasons (wining it outright in 2012), but now faces the daunting task of replacing recent star graduates Austin Hack and Will Robins.

So far, Stanford has been counting on its younger recruits to fill in some of the gaps left by these departures. Sophomore Charlie Walker and freshman Allen Reitz both made their varsity debuts for the team in Cambridge, and countless other underclassmen were given the nod last weekend in various different races.

“We have a really [strong] freshman class that just came in,” said sophomore coxswain Ardsley Sanders, another member of the top-placing eight in the American.

“They’ve been having their struggles like any other class but they’re pushing through it pretty well,” Hails added.

Stanford crew will need these younger members to pay dividends quickly if it wishes to achieve its goal of finishing in the top six boats in the Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championship this spring. Stanford finished just 11th in the regatta last year, and will need to perform at its best to move into the top flight. Local rivals Cal and Washington will also be vying for these spots, so Stanford should be able to work on their times against them.

In the meantime, the team hopes to focus on conditioning and building strength this winter to prepare for its upcoming competitions. With racing mostly suspended due to colder temperatures back east, Stanford hopes to hone in on these areas so that it can be fully prepared for the eventful spring season.

“Winter is definitely the toughest…because it’s just us working out on land [in a limited amount of time],” said Hails. “It’s really a lot of training so that we’re able to go into the spring and be fit enough and strong enough to work on our technique and boat speed when we have more time in the water.”

Contact Andrew Mather at amather ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Stanford rowers to compete in U-23 World Championships in Italy https://stanforddaily.com/2014/07/18/stanford-rowers-to-compete-in-u-23-world-championships-in-italy/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/07/18/stanford-rowers-to-compete-in-u-23-world-championships-in-italy/#respond Sat, 19 Jul 2014 05:21:32 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1086863 Stanford rowing will be well-represented at the 2014 World Rowing Under-23 Championships in Varese, Italy this month, with seven rowers representing three countries. For the second straight year, rising senior Kaess Smit has been named to the USA U-23 team. After training in Oakland at the national training camp for the month of June, Smit […]

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Stanford rowing will be well-represented at the 2014 World Rowing Under-23 Championships in Varese, Italy this month, with seven rowers representing three countries.

(RICHARD C. ERSTED/isiphotos.com)
Rising senior Kaess Smit (above) has made the US National team for the second straight year, competing last year in the bronze medal winning four boat at the U-23 World Championships in Austria. (RICHARD C. ERSTED/isiphotos.com)

For the second straight year, rising senior Kaess Smit has been named to the USA U-23 team. After training in Oakland at the national training camp for the month of June, Smit was chosen as the bow seat of the men’s coxed eight boat. With the loss of his co-team captain and team leader, Austin Hack, to graduation, the senior will be the remaining veteran who will be expected to carry the varsity eight boat and drive the Stanford team. At the U-23 World Championships in Austria last summer, Smit earned bronze with the U.S. four boat.

Hack has spent the summer thus far training with the national team in the hopes of making the U.S. roster for the 2014 World Rowing Championships. Last summer, he was the only collegiate rower in the senior national team’s eight boat that took bronze at the World Rowing Championships in Chungju, South Korea.

Two Stanford women’s rowers were also named to the U.S. U-23 team. Daphne Martschenko ’14 made the team and will row the bow seat of the 4x after competing at the national team selection training camp in Berkeley this summer, while signee and rising freshman Devin Norder automatically made the USA roster by winning the lightweight women’s double skulls at the U.S. Under-23 World Championship trials. Sophomore Ruth Narode also competed as a signee for Stanford last summer, winning gold with the women’s eight.

Also representing Stanford rowing, but competing for other national teams, include sophomore Lilly Tinnaple for the Australian coxed eight boat, and junior Filippa Karrfelt in double skulls for Sweden.

Finally, junior Brittany Presten and Christine Cavallo of the women’s lightweight rowing team were named to the U.S. U-23 National Team after winning the final of the Ltwt B 4x at the U-23 Trials. They will be joining two rowers who attend Brown University in the 4x boat.

The U-23 World Championships will take place July 21-27.

Contact Ashley Westhem at awesthem ‘at’ stanford.edu. 

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Rowing teams conclude season at NCAAs, IRAs https://stanforddaily.com/2014/06/03/rowing-teams-conclude-season-at-ncaas-iras/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/06/03/rowing-teams-conclude-season-at-ncaas-iras/#respond Tue, 03 Jun 2014 09:01:27 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1086288 Women’s rowing capped of an impressive season with an dominant showing at NCAAs, reaching the podium with a fourth place overall finish and having all three boats compete in the Grand Finals on Sunday. The lightweight team and men’s rowing also finished off their respective seasons at the IRA Championship Regatta. After winning the national title for the past four years straight, the lightweights came in a close second this year. The men’s varsity eight boat finished 13th overall, with their varsity eight boat winning the C Final.

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Women’s rowing capped of an impressive season with an dominant showing at NCAAs, reaching the podium with a fourth place overall finish and having all three boats compete in the Grand Finals on Sunday. The lightweight team and men’s rowing also finished off their respective seasons at the IRA Championship Regatta. After winning the national title for the past four years straight, the lightweights came in a close second this year. The men’s varsity eight boat finished 13th overall, with their varsity eight boat winning the C Final.

(RICHARD C. ERSTED/isiphotos)
Stanford women’s rowing finished fourth overall at the NCAA rowing championships. The varsity four boat (above) had the highest finish of the three Stanford boats competing in the Grand Finals, earning a silver medal. (RICHARD C. ERSTED/isiphotos)

The Cardinal women headed into Friday’s heats after receiving top honors throughout the boat. Head coach Yazmin Farooq was inducted into the National Rowing Foundation Hall of Fame in addition to winning CRCA (Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association) West Regional Coach of the Year and Pac-12 Coach of the Year. Four rowers also received All-Region honors in the West and seven were named CRCA Scholar Athletes. Senior Anna Dawson was also named Pac-12 Athlete of the Year.

After only making it into the C Finals last year in each boat after the first two days and having to watch the Grand Finals from the shore, the Card went into the final day of racing just one point shy of the leader, Ohio State, with the chance to claim the NCAA title. In the 1V8 race, the Card suffered from a poor start and weren’t able to muster enough to get a top finish and came in sixth. The 2V8, similarly, was not able to gain enough momentum to carry it through the rest of the compettion and ended with a fourth place finish.

The varsity four boat, however, turned out to be the secret weapon of the Cardinal and placed second in the Grand Finals with a quick start guaranteeing a top finish. The silver finish secured Stanford the final spot on the podium behind repeat national champions Ohio State, Cal and Brown. It was the highest NCAA finish for the varsity four in school history.

“To get all three boats back in action for trophies and in contention for a national title in one short year is a testament to the commitment these women made to being a better team,” said Farooq to GoStanford.com. “It’s been a privilege to coach them and I’m confident they left it all out there today.”

After starting the season ranked just 13th in the preseason coaches’ poll, the Card exceeded all expectations by contending for the national title at the end of the year, sweeping Cal in the Big Row for the first time since 2009 and winning the program’s first ever Pac-12 title.

Although the lightweights failed to bring home a fifth consecutive IRA national title, the team’s accomplishments throughout the year cannot be overlooked. The team had five first-place finishes heading into IRAs, including a conference win at the PCRC championships, the WIRA Championship Regatta and wins over the Cal openweights at Big Row.

The varsity eight fell to Harvard-Radcliffe in the Grand Finals by less than a second. Stanford led for most of the race but it was the Crimson that pulled out the victory over the Cardinal by a margin of 0.68 seconds. Stanford’s varsity four also placed second in the Grand Finals.

Men’s rowing competed right after the lightweights at Lake Mercer. The 13th overall finish for the varsity eight held true to its No. 13 seed heading into the weekend. The 2V8 also had a top finish in the C Final, coming in third behind Dartmouth and Syracuse to finish 17th overall.

The program will see the departure of senior captain Austin Hack and senior Will Robins, but will otherwise see the return of the bulk of the team, including a group of promising freshmen. Hack will continue rowing for the U.S. national team.

“Our men know what they have to do to improve for next year,” head coach Craig Amerkhanian told GoStanford.com. “Through racing this weekend they developed learning techniques. They are leaving with a backpack full of knowledge.”

Contact Ashley Westhem at awesthem@stanford.edu.

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Men’s, women’s rowing begin national title competition this weekend https://stanforddaily.com/2014/05/30/mens-womens-rowing-begins-national-title-competition-this-weekend/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/05/30/mens-womens-rowing-begins-national-title-competition-this-weekend/#respond Fri, 30 May 2014 08:55:57 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1086198 No. 2 Stanford women’s rowing and Stanford men’s rowing begin their respective national championship regattas today, as the women are set to row at the Indianapolis Rowing Center in Indianapolis, Indiana, and the men will take the water at Lake Mercer in West Windsor, New Jersey.

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No. 2 Stanford women’s rowing and Stanford men’s rowing begin their respective national championship regattas today, as the women are set to row at the Indianapolis Rowing Center in Indianapolis, Indiana, and the men will take the water at Lake Mercer in West Windsor, New Jersey.

(ASHLEY WESTHEM/The Stanford Daily)
Stanford women’s rowing’s 1V8 boat and 2V8 boat (above) will be competing for the NCAA title this weekend in the hopes of bringing back to the Farm the program’s second NCAA title. (ASHLEY WESTHEM/The Stanford Daily)

The women seek to win their second NCAA title in program history. The Card won the program’s first team and varsity eight titles in 2009, edging out Virginia by 0.37 of a second in the varsity eight Grand Final to claim both titles.

“The whole team is really excited about the position that we’re in, but we’re not underestimating the fact that in rowing, rankings really don’t matter until the end,” said sophomore Katie Toothman. “It all comes down to the grand finals in the NCAAs, so hopefully we make it.”

This year, after upsetting Cal at the annual Big Row, sweeping the Golden Bears in all three varsity events and winning the program’s first Pac-12 conference title two weeks ago, the Card have high hopes heading into this weekend.

“You have to know what it feels like to leave everything on the water because otherwise you get to NCAAs and it’s a shock, so that’s a big thing that we’ve been focusing on this year,” said senior Christina Bax. “We can’t just wait until the NCAAs to finally discover what it is to go all out. This season, we are learning what it means to not hold anything back and just be relentless.”

With the NCAA switching to the automatic bid system, Stanford was able to automatically qualify for the regatta with its conference title. Last year, the women received an at-large berth and finished 10th in the team standings. Toothman pointed out, though, that the automatic bid system keeps top leagues, like the Ivy League, from sending as many top teams to nationals. In this way, the change allows smaller conferences to send their conference champions.

“I’d say in 20 years, this is a good system but right now we’re in the transition period where it’s really hard,” Toothman said. “When I was getting recruited in talking to coaches I heard them say that this new automatic bid system was stupid, because what if they don’t get a bid to NCAAs when they are faster than 10 other teams there.”

Stanford enters today’s races with the second seed behind defending champion Ohio State. The Card will be competing in the 1V8, 2V8, and varsity four races. If the boats win their first heat today, then they will automatically advance to the semis on Saturday. In turn, a top two finish in the semifinals would land them a spot in the Grand Finals on Sunday; otherwise, a boat would advance to the B Finals, a race that the Card competed in last year. A loss in the preliminary heats would not remove the Card from semifinal consideration. Rather, Stanford would have to compete in a second “rep” or heat this afternoon, with the top two teams from that second heat advancing to the semifinals.

“We’re ranked second right now and Ohio State is first. That being said, Ohio State hasn’t raced a lot of people, but they are the defending national champions,” Toothman said. “I’d say between Cal, Ohio State, Brown, Princeton, those will all be in the Grand Final and honestly it could go any way.”

The men will have to undergo a similar process in order to advance through the IRA Championship Regatta, with their first heats beginning this morning. The 1V8 and 2V8 boats both qualified for the championship regatta, and will be competing after the team’s most recent fourth-place finish in the Pac-12 championships.

“We started off this season with three weeks in a row of racing and that equates to three weeks of taper and we had our good pieces and we had our bad pieces and then [at the San Diego Crew Classic in April], when we should’ve performed in the final we didn’t and I think that started to lead to a lot of lineup switches and personnel switches,” said junior Kaess Smit.

All spring, the team has been in a constant state of flux with regards to the lineup. However, head coach Craig Amerkhanian is confident that the fastest rowers have been placed in their correct boats.

“The easy part of Craig’s job is figuring out who the best guys are, but 90 percent of the work is how they are going to line up behind each other,” said senior Austin Hack, who will be rowing in his last regatta as a Cardinal this weekend but will continue rowing for the national team after graduation.

For much of the season, the Cardinal could only gauge themselves against Washington and Cal, the number one and two teams in the nation, so the team is eager to test itself against other colleges that are similar in speed to the Card.

Competition begins early this morning for both the men’s and women’s teams, with action continuing until Sunday.

Contact Ashley Westhem at awesthem ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Men’s rowing earns fourth-place finish at Pac-12s https://stanforddaily.com/2014/05/20/mens-rowing-earns-fourth-place-finish-at-pac-12s/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/05/20/mens-rowing-earns-fourth-place-finish-at-pac-12s/#respond Wed, 21 May 2014 06:18:54 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1085784 The No. 12 Stanford men’s rowing team just barely missed the third-place finish that it had strived for at the Pac-12 Rowing Championships last weekend at Lake Natoma, California, getting edged out by two points by the third-place team, No. 14 Oregon State. The Cardinal ended up finishing in fourth.

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The No. 12 Stanford men’s rowing team just barely missed the third-place finish that it had strived for at the Pac-12 Rowing Championships last weekend at Lake Natoma, California, getting edged out by two points by the third-place team, No. 14 Oregon State. The Cardinal ended up finishing in fourth.

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Stanford’s 1V8 boat (above) captured a third-place finish in the Pac-12 Rowing Championships on Sunday, qualifying it for the IRA National Championship. The boat got off to a quick start in the first 500 meters and were able to hold off Oregon State for the remainder of the race. (ASHLEY WESTHEM/The Stanford Daily)

“The goal was to get third place,” said head coach Craig Amerkhanian. “Every member of our program raced today so that was great. Unfortunately, we had two boats get outsprinted and that was tough. We have a lot of work to do to get ready for nationals.”

Heavy favorites and the traditional rowing powerhouses of the West Coast, No. 1 Washington and No. 2 California took first and second overall.

Stanford, however, did medal in the 1V8 event, bringing home a bronze and qualifying the team for the Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) National Championship. The Cardinal got out to a quick start with a 1:24.42 split in the first 500 meters, as they jumped to third behind Cal and Washington and were able to hold off Oregon State for the remainder of the race.

“We were pretty serious underdogs coming in to the race,” said senior Austin Hack. “We wanted to come out and go as hard as we could and stick with it. We had a really good first 500 meters and then it was just staying in third to lock up a qualify spot for IRAs.”

The 2V8 and frosh eight narrowly missed out on third place finishes themselves, instead each placing fourth after allowing Oregon State to sprint past them in both races in the final 500 meters despite sitting in third for the majority of the race.

On the upside, head coach Craig Amerkhanian was able to give more rowers competition time on the water by fielding a varsity four boat for the first time this spring. The varsity four finished fifth in the event.

“The varsity four was just put together so great racing by those guys,” Amerkhanian said. “I am really proud of those guys.”

The men will continue to work on different lineups and improve on last weekend’s performances in preparations for the IRA National Championships. Both the 1V8 and 2V8 boats qualified for the championships. The regatta begins Friday, May 30 in West Windsor, New Jersey.

Contact Ashley Westhem at awesthem ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Hack, Fauci earn Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors https://stanforddaily.com/2014/05/20/hack-fauci-earn-scholar-athlete-of-the-year-honors/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/05/20/hack-fauci-earn-scholar-athlete-of-the-year-honors/#respond Wed, 21 May 2014 06:15:31 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1085785 Seniors Austin Hack of the men’s rowing team and Ali Fauci of the women’s rowing team became Stanford’s fifth and sixth athletes this academic year to earn Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors, the conference announced on Sunday.

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Seniors Austin Hack of the men’s rowing team and Ali Fauci of the women’s rowing team became Stanford’s fifth and sixth athletes this academic year to earn Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors, the conference announced on Sunday.

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Senior Ali Fauci (center) was named the Pac-12 Women’s Rowing Scholar-Athlete of the Year on Sunday. The Washington D.C. native, who has a 4.053 GPA and is a computer science major, walked on to the team as a freshman and worked her way up to the 1V8 boat. (ASHLEY WESTHEM/The Stanford Daily)

Hack, majoring in political science and minoring in modern language with a 3.766 GPA, has been renowned for his leadership and contributions to his team throughout his career at Stanford, as he was named the Pac-12 Men’s Rowing Athlete of the Year in 2013 and his sport’s conference Newcomer of the Year in 2012. He earned All-Pac-12 honors in both seasons.

“It is definitely a huge honor,” Hack said. “I have been recognized for my rowing accomplishments, but it feels good to be recognized academically. I know there are a lot of smart guys on our team and other teams as well so it is an honor to receive this award.”

Hack has also earned two Pac-12 All-Academic selections prior to this year. He is the third Stanford men’s rower to be granted the sport’s Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year award.

“He is the top collegiate rower in America this year,” said Stanford head coach Craig Amerkhanian. “He came to us as a brilliant and focused scholar. He would have gotten into Stanford with or without rowing. He is special and is what our program has always been about.”

Fauci also became the third Stanford student-athlete to be awarded Pac-12 Women’s Rowing Scholar-Athlete of the Year. The computer science major ended the winter quarter with a 4.053 GPA and will work at Twitter next year. She is also a two-time Pac-12 All-Academic honoree and two-time recipient of the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association (CRCA) Scholar-Athlete Award.

“It is an incredible honor just to be a student-athlete at Stanford,” Fauci said. “It is exciting to be recognized by the Pac-12, but we have an incredible team of scholar-athletes who all deserve the honor as much as I do.”

During her freshman year, Fauci walked on to the women’s rowing team and worked her way up to becoming a member of the 1V8 boat that took home first in the Pac-12 Championships last weekend.

“She got into Stanford on her own. She had experience but she is only 5-foot-8. She went from not rowing fast to being very fast and she did that on her own,” said head coach Yasmin Farooq. “Rowing at this level is a major time commitment. She is a role model for every person on the team, the way she works hard at practice and in the classroom. She does it all right and we are really going to miss her.”

The other Cardinal athletes who have been named Pac-12 Scholar-Athletes of the Year for the 2013-2014 season are seniors Chiney Ogwumike of women’s basketball, Dwight Powell of men’s basketball, Ben Rhyne of football and Tyler Stutzman of men’s cross country.

Contact Ashley Westhem at awesthem ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Crew takes aim at conference championships on Lake Natoma https://stanforddaily.com/2014/05/16/crew-takes-aim-at-conference-championships-on-lake-natoma/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/05/16/crew-takes-aim-at-conference-championships-on-lake-natoma/#respond Fri, 16 May 2014 10:29:43 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1085658 It is conference championship weekend for Stanford rowing as the men’s, women’s and women’s lightweight teams are set to compete in their respective conference championships. All three teams will travel to Lake Natoma in Gold River, California, for their championships — the Pac-12 Championships will take place on Sunday for the men’s and women’s teams, […]

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It is conference championship weekend for Stanford rowing as the men’s, women’s and women’s lightweight teams are set to compete in their respective conference championships. All three teams will travel to Lake Natoma in Gold River, California, for their championships — the Pac-12 Championships will take place on Sunday for the men’s and women’s teams, while the PCRC Championships will be held on Saturday for women’s lightweight team.

Senior Austin Hack (above) will look to help lead the men's crew team to its first ever conference championship at Lake Natoma. (RICHARD C. ERSTED/The Stanford Daily)
Senior Austin Hack (above) will look to help lead the men’s crew team to its first ever conference championship at Lake Natoma. (RICHARD C. ERSTED/The Stanford Daily)

After winning the Big Row in convincing fashion for only the third time since 1997, No. 3 Stanford women’s rowing will look to cap off one of the most successful seasons in recent memory with a conference championship. The Cardinal enter as the top-ranked team in the competition with No. 4 Cal, No. 7 Washington, No. 8 USC, No. 12 UCLA, No. 15 Washington State and No. 19 Oregon State as the other ranked PAC-12 competitors.

Stanford is no stranger to tough competition, however, having also faced off against No. 1 Brown, No. 2 Ohio State, No. 5 Virginia and No. 9 Michigan this season in addition to its tough Pac-12 matchups. At the time, the Cardinal’s varsity four handed Virginia its first defeat of the season. With a victory at the conference championship, Stanford could end Cal’s streak of six consecutive Pac-12 championships; the Bears have also won nine of the last 10 Pac-12 titles.

After four consecutive runner-up finishes from 2008-2011, women’s rowing has finished fourth and fifth in the past two years, respectively. By beating Cal and securing the Lambert Cup for the first time since 2009, Stanford might be poised to make a run at its first Pac-12 title in history.

No. 12 Stanford men’s rowing will be hoping to win its first conference title in history and make its first top-two finish since 1993, as the Cardinal have finished either third or fourth at every conference championship since then. In all but one of those years, Washington and Cal have taken the top-two spots in the conference, and it will take the Cardinal’s best performance to take them down—Washington is ranked first in the country while Cal is ranked second.

The Cardinal varsity eight boat has recorded three first-place finishes this year at the Davis Invitational, the San Diego Crew Classic and the Stanford Invitational, including a win against then-No. 12 Wisconsin. In their last contest, men’s rowing was forced to surrender the Schwabacher Cup in the Big Row when Cal’s varsity eight boat finished just under 10 seconds ahead of the Cardinal’s. Led by last year’s Pac-12 Athlete of the Year, senior Austin Hack, the Cardinal will attempt to take revenge against Washington, Cal and other Pac-12 schools on Sunday.

The women’s lightweight rowing team, currently ranked second in the nation, will enter two races in the PCRC championships. Two boats will compete in the Women’s Open 8+ race and three boats will compete in the Women’s Collegiate 4+ race. Stanford should be favored to win, as the varsity eight boat has won seven of its nine races this year, including a win in the Big Row against Cal in its last competition. Following the PCRC championships, women’s lightweight rowing will row in the IRA Championships, looking for its fifth straight national title.

Stanford rowing will start off the weekend Saturday morning when the women’s lightweight rowing team begins its competition at 10:10 a.m. Subsequently on Sunday, the men’s and women’s rowing teams will begin their days at 9 a.m. The men’s and women’s Pac-12 Championships can be seen on the Pac-12 Networks.

Contact Michael Peterson at mrpeters@stanford.edu.

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Women’s Big Row goes Cardinal’s way for first time since 2009 https://stanforddaily.com/2014/05/06/womens-big-row-goes-cardinals-way-for-first-time-since-2009/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/05/06/womens-big-row-goes-cardinals-way-for-first-time-since-2009/#respond Tue, 06 May 2014 07:04:16 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1085289 In the 81st annual Big Row against No. 2 California at Redwood Shores, three of No. 4 Stanford’s four women’s rowing boats toppled the higher ranked Bears to take home the Lambert Cup for the first time since 2009. The women’s lightweight team swept Cal’s 3V8 and 4V8 boats, while the Stanford men’s team was swept in all three events.

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In the 81st annual Big Row against No. 2 California at Redwood Shores, three of No. 4 Stanford’s four women’s rowing boats toppled the higher ranked Bears to take home the Lambert Cup for the first time since 2009. The women’s lightweight team swept Cal’s 3V8 and 4V8 boats, while the Stanford men’s team was swept in all three events.

The last time that the women’s varsity boats swept Cal was at the 2009 Big Row — the same year that the Card went on to win its first and only NCAA Team Championship.

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Stanford women’s rowing engineered the upset of No. 2 Cal as three of the four Cardinal boats defeated the Bears to win the Lambert Cup. (ASHLEY WESTHEM/The Stanford Daily)

“I’m so proud of the depth of this team this year,” said senior Kristy Wentzel of the women’s openweights. “This year across the board, there is so much strong competition between the boats and everybody is in it.”

The 2V8 boat was the last Stanford boat to beat Cal, in 2011. This year, it captured its sixth win of the season, beating Cal by a narrow margin of 2.7 seconds. The varsity four boat started the three-boat win streak for the women after the 2V4 dropped the first race for the openweight women. Following the 1V4, the 2V8 took the race from No. 2 Cal.

The final race for the women was the 1V8, which was coming off of a narrow loss to USC over the previous weekend. Despite Cal having a much stronger base rate than the Card, Stanford was able to push ahead from the start and take the lead early on, ultimately winning the race by three seconds.

“I didn’t allow myself to think that we [the 1V8] were going to win the race until about the last 200 meters and it was just this surreal moment of winning and it was just awesome to pass that finish line together,” Wentzel said.

The women’s lightweight teams started off on the right stroke as the No. 2 Cardinal swept both the Bears’ 4V8 and 3V8 boats. The two teams last met for the Card’s first regatta of the season at the Pac-12 Challenge. In that race, the 2V8 fell to Cal’s 4V8 by 12 seconds with the 1V8 losing to Cal’s 3V8 by just over four seconds.

“One of our goals today was to make this race something that we could be excited to take to our nationals,” said junior 1V8 coxswain Jordan Duval-Smith. “We wanted this race to be something we felt comfortable with and confident in and I think we did that.”

This time around, the Cardinal were much better prepared after almost a full season of competition under their belt. Despite an early headwind, the 2V8 and 1V8 cruised to victory, winning by 16.1 and 16.8 seconds, respectively. It was the first victory for the 2V8 since the San Diego Classic in early April.

“We [the 2V8] took the lead right from the start,” said senior Molly Hayes. “We had 15 high strokes [opening sprint] after our first five strokes and…we decided to keep inside our boat and not look out of our boat until about 500 meters and saw that we were ahead.”

Unfortunately, after holding on to the Schwabacher Cup for the past year, the No. 11 Stanford men’s team was unable to put together a second consecutive underdog win over the Bears and was swept in the frosh eight, 2V8 and 1V8 races by No. 2 Cal.

The Cardinal have been struggling all season to find their fastest lineup. The lineup for Big Row was set at practice the night before racing, so the eight men didn’t quite have enough time to gel as a group.

“These were the top eight guys for our team,” said sophomore 1V8 coxswain Nathalie Weiss. “And we felt really good going into this race; it’s definitely the strongest lineup that we have on our team. We were definitely the underdogs going in but we definitely got some confidence in this lineup even though it was just pulled together yesterday.”

The four freshmen that had been in contention for the 1V8 lineup were moved to the frosh boat and the upperclassmen who were “up in the air,” as assistant coach Jake Cornelius put it, were given a chance to move up from the 2V8.

“We’ve been trying to make the varsity boat faster and simultaneously have the frosh coalesce as a group so this was actually the first race that all the [top] frosh have been in the same boat,” Cornelius said.

Because of this lineup change, the frosh eight had a much more competitive race than it had all season long, falling to Cal by nine seconds. The 2V8 race was not nearly as close, however; the Bears left the Card in their wake by nearly 31 seconds.

Although the 1V8 lost by 10 seconds, the Cardinal used the race as an opportunity to test out a faster lineup and prepare for Pac-12s and the Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships. The team as a whole, however, felt good about the finish and will continue to make lineup and seat switches through the end of the season. The race marked the last time that three seniors would race at Redwood Shores, including Austin Hack, a member of the U.S. National Rowing team.

“We know [Cal is] a really fast crew this year, really strong, so we had a good race for our boat and in the end that’s what you’ve got to walk away with: just being proud in what you’ve accomplished,” Weiss said.

“We are closer [to where the teams want to be] than we were in San Diego so that’s good,” Cornelius said. “We just keep pushing and we’ll continue to make switches and try to make the fastest boat and see who rows particularly well together, what guys fit in what seat best and just take it from there. It’s a work in progress.”

The men’s and women’s teams have two weeks off from competition before Pac-12s, followed by IRAs and NCAAs, while the lightweights will have PCRC Championships followed by their own IRAs.

Contact Ashley Westhem at awesthem ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Cardinal prepare for Big Row https://stanforddaily.com/2014/05/02/cardinal-prepare-for-big-row/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/05/02/cardinal-prepare-for-big-row/#respond Fri, 02 May 2014 07:31:09 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1085211 This Saturday, all three Stanford rowing teams, each ranked in the top 15 in the nation, will face Cal in the annual Big Row at Redwood Shores.

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This Saturday, all three Stanford rowing teams, each ranked in the top 15 in the nation, will face Cal in the annual Big Row at Redwood Shores.

All three Stanford rowing teams will face Cal in the Big Row this weekend. While the men's crew will be looking for speed from its cast of freshmen, the veteran women will hope to erase four straight losses to Cal. (RICHARD C. ERSTED/StanfordPhoto.com)
All three Stanford rowing teams will face Cal in the Big Row this weekend. While the men’s crew will be looking for speed from its cast of freshmen, the veteran women will hope to erase four straight losses to Cal. (RICHARD C. ERSTED/StanfordPhoto.com)

The No. 11 men’s team is coming off of a weeklong hiatus from competition after three consecutive weekends of racing, the last of which was a sweep at home in the Stanford Invitational.

In preparation for No. 2 Cal, the men spent the week after the Invite doing more work on the erg (indoor rowing machine) and split the varsity into two four-boats to keep the team in a competitive mindset. This past week, however, was a transition back onto the water with the emphasis placed on speed work at race pace.

“With the races every week, we really were on the water all the time, which is great,” said senior Austin Hack. “But it’s nice to kind of taste your own blood a little bit and just hit it hard on the erg to just remember what it feels like.”

In last year’s regatta, the Cardinal were successful against Cal, upsetting the clear favorites by 1.5 seconds and winning the Schwabacher Cup for the first time since 2008. This year, the Card head into Saturday’s regatta with more uncertainty as the final varsity boat (1V8) lineups have been in constant flux this season and four freshmen are vying for positions, as opposed to the four veteran seniors that held those spots last year.

“It’s different than last year for sure. We had the eight guys who had been rowing all season and then maybe one guy would have a chance [of getting in the 1V8 boat],” Hack said. “Against Cal, we might switch out but in reality the lineup would be consistent, but this year we are just looking for something that looks better than what we have.”

“It’s four seniors [last year] versus four freshmen,” said junior Kaess Smit. “If you look at the raw power of the boat and talent, empirically we have the faster boat [this year].”

Cal heads into Saturday’s regatta coming off of a narrow loss to then-No. 2 Washington at Redwood Shores last weekend. Cal and Washington are projected to finish in the top two spots in the nation at the IRA Championships in May, so Saturday will be a good barometer for the men’s team moving forward before Pac-12 Championships and IRAs.

“We’re always going to be the underdogs, that’s always how it’s been [against Cal]. But if we can figure it out and put forth a lot of good spirit it might turn out [well],” Hack said. “No matter what you feel about the race, when you reach the starting line, even if you think you’re going to lose, if you’re even 500 meters in, then all that is behind and it’s just racing from there.”

The women’s races will be a top-five showdown as No. 4 Stanford takes on No. 2 Cal. Cal has beaten the Card and taken home the Lambert Cup for the past four years. With none of the current rowers on the Stanford team having beaten Cal during their times on the Farm and after being swept in all four races last year, the extra incentive and motivation to succeed this Saturday is great.

“It should be a good race, we’re feeling pretty good,” said senior Christina Bax. “We’ve never beaten Cal during my time at Stanford and I’m a senior so this is my last chance. So it is exciting that this could be the year, and I hope it is.”

Last weekend, the Card competed against USC, with the 2V8 winning its second straight race against the Trojans and the 1V8 falling just short.

“Coming off a loss for the 1V [against USC], we’re really fired up to figure out how we can go faster and win this weekend,” Bax said. “It’s hard to lose, but at the same time, it’s good to lose because it motivates you even more because you don’t want that feeling of losing anymore.”

Finally, the No. 2 Stanford women’s lightweight team will go up against the Cal 3V8 and 4V8 boats, as Cal does not have a lightweight team. The Card, however, already gained experience against Cal’s openweight boats at the Pac-12 Challenge in early April. The 1V8 loss to Cal’s 3V8 was one of their only defeats of the season and the Card are ready for a second shot at the Bears.

“We’ve really been working over the past couple of weeks at fine-tuning our race plan and seeing how we can get off the start faster,” said sophomore Katherine Christel. “So I’m really excited to start practicing that before IRAs because we really only have this regatta and then one more after that before we go to nationals.”

Stanford’s lightweight team will start competition for the day at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, with the rest of the races alternating between the men’s and women’s teams until 11 a.m.

Contact Ashley Westhem at awesthem ‘at’ stanford.edu. 

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Men’s rowing sweeps first home regatta of the year https://stanforddaily.com/2014/04/21/mens-rowing-sweeps-first-home-regatta-of-the-year/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/04/21/mens-rowing-sweeps-first-home-regatta-of-the-year/#respond Tue, 22 Apr 2014 05:25:19 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1084697 No. 13 Stanford men’s rowing hosted its first regatta of the year last weekend at Redwood Shores and had a successful Stanford Invitational after two consecutive weekends on the road. Races started Friday night under unfavorable conditions for the Cardinal; although Stanford had the luxury of not having to travel for a third straight weekend, […]

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No. 13 Stanford men’s rowing hosted its first regatta of the year last weekend at Redwood Shores and had a successful Stanford Invitational after two consecutive weekends on the road.

Races started Friday night under unfavorable conditions for the Cardinal; although Stanford had the luxury of not having to travel for a third straight weekend, rowers still had to attend classes in the morning before preparing for their races.

“Our guys went to class today; everybody else was here and focused on the racing,” said head coach Craig Amerkhanian. “Because we’re the home team, our guys go to school, so we were disadvantaged tonight in that regard.”

(Michael Pimentel / stanfordphoto.com)
Junior Kaess Smitt (fourth from left) helped guide No. 13 Stanford to a sweep of UCSD, USD and No. 12 Wisconsin in the Card’s first home regatta of the year. (MICHAEL PIMENTEL/stanfordphoto.com)

“It’s kind of hard [racing] here because you get up and go to class and you have your social life too and then you have to come here and switch and go into rowing mode,” said freshman Ryan O’Rourke. “But I think we did well.”

Additionally, water conditions were not ideal. Despite regularly practicing Tuesday and Thursday evenings under similar water conditions, no Cardinal rowers on the roster had competed in a night regatta. In addition, all teams had to compete not only with each other but also with 20 mile-per-hour headwinds.

However, all Cardinal boats — the number one varsity eight boat (1V8), the number two varsity eight boat and the freshman eight boat — swept UC-San Diego, with the varsity boats winning by significant margins. It was the second win in a row for the 1V8, besting the Tritons by just over 20 seconds with a time of 6:23.7.

On Saturday, the Cardinal took on No. 12 Wisconsin in the morning session and the University of San Diego in the afternoon. The Cardinal ultimately finished the weekend by sweeping its home regatta after a tight race with Wisconsin and a more definitive win over USD.

“It’s good to cap off three weeks straight of racing with some wins,” said junior Kaess Smit. “We were up against some good crews and it’s nice to get some wins at home and be able to go back now and have the weekend off from racing to really make the changes we need to figure out more speed.”

The Cardinal finished ahead of Wisconsin by three seconds in a race that was determined in the first 1,000 meters of the course as the Cardinal jumped out to a lead and were able to maintain it through the remainder of the race. In the second race against USD, Stanford 1V8 again came out with a strong start, pushing into open water and taking the race by 29.5 seconds.

“We had Wisconsin in the morning and they’re always a really strong crew,” said sophomore coxswain Nathalie Weiss. “They came out to a good start, just constantly crept up in the first half of the race and then once we got the solid lead we really held that in the second half and we had the strong finish, so that was an exciting race. Then the second race of the day against USD, we had a strong start again and then we were able to weigh them down and find a base and go at a little bit of a lower rate.”

After this weekend, Stanford 1V8 has won four consecutive races. However, the team realizes that it still has work to do in setting the boat line-ups and improving its consistency.

“We know that it’s a turning point in the season and we know we have a lot of work to do and we don’t have a race next weekend, so we’re going to use this time just looking forward and getting better,” Weiss said.

“I think we’ve still got a lot of work to do,” Smit said. “There’s been a lot of figuring out lineups and bringing new guys in and it takes time to figure out, so these next two weeks we’ve definitely got our work cut out.”

The Cardinal men got their first full day off on Sunday to recuperate before preparing to face California in the Big Row at Redwood Shores on May 3rd.

Contact Ashley Westhem at awesthem ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Rowing teams take strides in weekend regattas https://stanforddaily.com/2014/04/09/rowing-teams-take-strides-in-weekend-regattas/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/04/09/rowing-teams-take-strides-in-weekend-regattas/#respond Wed, 09 Apr 2014 09:26:13 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1084254 All three Stanford rowing teams competed last weekend, making big strides in their respective regattas to gain momentum heading into the main part of the season.

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All three Stanford rowing teams competed last weekend, making big strides in their respective regattas to gain momentum heading into the main part of the season.

(MICHAEL PIMENTEL/stanfordphoto.com)
Senior Austin Hack (right) led the No. 8 Stanford men’s rowing team to a berth in the finals of the Men’s Collegiate Invitational at the San Diego Crew Classic. The team finished third in the final heat, but has room for improvement with the final varsity boat combination still to be determined. (MICHAEL PIMENTEL/stanfordphoto.com)

Lightweight women’s, in its first regatta of the season against other lightweight teams specifically, followed up its 2013 IRA National Championship with a first place finish in the Collegiate Lightweight Grand Final at the San Diego Crew Classic. The varsity eight outpaced its greatest competition in the Classic, Princeton, by a margin of just over five seconds to finish the weekend undefeated. The win extended the varsity eight boat’s winning streak in the Classic to four consecutive years.

“[Princeton] is throughout the season our [greatest] competitor, and so we go in hoping that we’ll come out on top but I wouldn’t say it’s a given; they are a very competitive team and we go into it with a fighting spirit,” said junior Mackenzie Crist.

On Saturday, in the first heat, the Cardinal routed Princeton, winning by a huge margin of nine seconds. Typically a big win is considered to be of a margin at which point the boats don’t overlap and there’s open water — for a men’s race that’s three seconds and for women’s is four to five — so Stanford had a considerable victory over Princeton in both heats. Since the pool of boats is so small (five boats), all boats advance to the final heat; the teams were competing for lane-placement.

The Crew Classic took place at Mission Bay in San Diego, where the course has its lane disadvantages due to the current and the crosswind from the ocean, with lane one being more protected. The Cardinal secured lane one by winning the first heat and put itself in a good position to win the final heat.

This weekend also served as a measure for how the team will fare against Harvard in races to come, since Harvard reigns among the greatest competitors in lightweight. Harvard did not compete in the Classic, but Stanford will go up against the Crimson in two weeks in Boston.

“During the final event, though we knew we were a faster crew than Princeton, we wanted to make sure that we could beat them as much as we possibly could,” said sophomore Brittany Presten. “Based on last year, our biggest competition is Harvard, so it was important to set a tone and get practice being as aggressive as we can for when we meet a crew that is faster and better than us.”

***

No. 8 men’s rowing also competed in the San Diego Crew Classic, with the varsity eight advancing to the finals of the Men’s Collegiate Invitational, which features the best collegiate eights in the field, after edging No. 10 Northeastern in the prelims by 2.7 seconds.

Since it was the same location that the lightweights had to face, the prelims were also especially important in terms of lane placement. Instead of having the top seeds placed in the middle lanes, the winner of the heat was placed in the more-advantageous lane one.

“We’ve been thinking a lot about starting and getting out really fast so we executed and did what we wanted to do…which was winning the heat,” said senior Austin Hack.

The Card wasn’t able to muster the same dominant performance and fell to No. 2 Cal by a margin of just over 15 seconds and Northeastern by 7.74 seconds on Sunday in the final heat to finish in third. The Cardinal, however, have yet to settle on a fixed varsity eight boat. With the lineup changing with each practice and with four freshmen competing in the varsity eight boat on Sunday, Stanford has a lot of room for improvement.

In the final heat on Sunday, the Cardinal started off slow, allowing Cal to take the early lead and eventually allowing Northeastern to overtake them.

“We knew that Cal was the fastest off the starting line and so we were trying to get out with them,” Hack said. “We were already having a shaky race, so as [Cal] moved away we were just thinking about that boat and then they were gone and Northeastern started coming up on us a bit and they gradually overtook us.”

Despite an undesirable finish in the final heat, the Card still gained a moral victory in beating a highly respected Northeastern team by a good margin in the prelims, providing confidence for the team and setting the groundwork for this weekend’s races against Washington, Washington State and Oregon State.

“We’re hoping that we can improve from this race and find out what combinations work best for our varsity boat and move people around so we can keep working towards our fastest line-up,” Hack said. “It wouldn’t be out of the question to be making switches the week before the national championship.”

***

Finally, No. 11 women’s rowing had a great display at the Oregon State Classic, its second regatta of the season, with the 2V8 (second varsity eight boat) halting No. 2 Ohio State’s 19-race winning streak, holding off the Buckeyes’ early surge to come out on top.

“We went out and started ahead and then [Ohio State] took a really great move and ended up walking through [overtaking] us and winning the race. So Ohio State upped the pressure, passed us and ended up winning the race by one-point-four seconds,” said sophomore Emily Grundman. “For us, that served as motivation for in the afternoon, which we ended up winning. The second [race] was really close as well. Ohio State lost by 1.2 seconds so the margins were pretty similar, but it was flipped this time in our favor and everything worked out in a really great way.”

It’s especially important for the 2V8 to do well in addition to the varsity eight boat, as the whole team has to collectively have enough success to qualify for NCAAs, so the depth of the team early on (including the varsity four boat) holds great importance in its qualification at the end of the season. Each of Stanford’s 1V8, 2V8 and varsity four boats finished in the top three in the morning and afternoon sessions of the Classic.

“Ohio State won NCAAs last year, which is great to have such a tough schedule because it motivates you to compete to the best of your capabilities, and the 1V8 boat only got edged out by Ohio State by one second, so the margin was really close,” Grundman said. “That really bodes well for us for the future because this was only our second regatta of the season. So knowing that this is where we are currently and that this is something where we can put in more work and develop as the season continues, is just so intensely gratifying.”

Contact Ashley Westhem at awesthem ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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Men’s Rowing snags third at Head of the Charles Regatta https://stanforddaily.com/2013/10/20/mens-rowing-snags-third-at-head-of-the-charles-regatta/ https://stanforddaily.com/2013/10/20/mens-rowing-snags-third-at-head-of-the-charles-regatta/#respond Mon, 21 Oct 2013 05:27:34 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1079620 The Stanford men’s rowing squad finished third at the Head of the Charles Regatta Sunday in Boston and, for the second consecutive year, was the highest placing collegiate team in the field. In its 2013-14 season debut, the Card used a dramatic, late-race surge to best the Washington Huskies by nearly four seconds. The lineup, […]

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The Stanford men’s rowing squad finished third at the Head of the Charles Regatta Sunday in Boston and, for the second consecutive year, was the highest placing collegiate team in the field.

In its 2013-14 season debut, the Card used a dramatic, late-race surge to best the Washington Huskies by nearly four seconds. The lineup, anchored by one of the nation’s best young rowers, senior Austin Hack, was in seventh after the first of four time splits and in sixth after the third split. Stanford then turned on the jets, recording the second-fastest final split to earn a third-place overall finish behind professional teams Camp Randall Rowing Club and USRowing.“Finishing strong was something we were talking about before the race,” Hack told gostanford.com. “We really wanted to empty our tanks at the end, and being able to do that helped us out for our finish.”

The Card next competes at the Head of the American competition Oct. 28 in Gold River, Calif.

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