Fall 2008 Newsletter

It was a good fall for both the men's and women's crews.  The women's crew recruited a strong freshman class and it looks as if they finished a great fall of racing with three eights and hope to boat a varsity four and two novice eights this spring.  The men's crew was also bolstered by a strong freshmen class, and despite missing key athletes due to injury and projects, had one of the their best falls of racing ever.  The men also announced a trip to The Royal Henley Regatta in England for the summer of 2009.

The women's crew had great showings at the Textile River Regatta and The Quinsigamond Snake Race.  The WV4 placed 7^th of 25 at the Textile, and then won the gold at The Snake.  Brie Ledwith '11, Katie Siering '09, Bridget Stevens'11, Stephanie Kavrakis '09 and Chelsea Brown '11 finished seven seconds in front of second place Conn College and the rest of the field.  The novice eight earned the silver medal at The Textile race.  The fall was capped off by a great row at the Charles by the WV4.  They actually passed NINE boats and finished in a time of 19:36 for a seventh place (of 34 boats) finish.  It was a great row and secured an automatic entry for next year. 

The Men's team had an excellent, but somewhat frustrating fall.  Seb Cohn '10 tore his meniscus just prior to returning to school, and Connor McGrath '09 was away most of the fall at a project.  Both had been key members of last year's varsity eight and we missed them.  Still, the VM8 went in to the Charles undefeated, having won both the Textile River Regatta and The Snake Regatta.  The Charles was not the MV8 greatest race, but they still finished 12^th of 35 entries in the Collegiate Eight event, and had they gone two seconds faster, they would have finished 9^th.  We also earned an automatic entry for next year in the Club eight where the M2V8 finished 21^st of 69.  Our Four did not do so well in the Collegiate Four event with a 27^th place finish of 31 crews, but many of the crews they raced were priority boats so it was not a bad performance.  The fall was capped off the next week when the novices won the Quinsig challenge. 

Both crews have been working hard this winter.  I have seen many athletes in the erg and weight rooms, and the men's team recently rowed a marathon on the erg.  Over 30 athletes each rowed 42,150 meter for a total of just over 1,600,000 meters in one day!  Seb Cohn rowed 100,000 meters at a 2:03 split which is practically world record pace. Even the novice freshmen participated.     The men have extra motivation this year since they will be going to the Henley Royal Regatta in Henley on Thames, England this summer (See Henley Articles).

The Spring Break trip is fast approaching, and then racing season will be upon us.  We expect lots of fast rowing this year, and we hope to see you at the lake supporting the crews.

Larry 
WPI Director of Rowing and Head's Men's Coach