Squaring the blade. Director s Message. Summer A Newsletter for MIT Crew Alumni. spring campaigns can be found in this issue.

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1 Summer 2014 Squaring the blade A Newsletter for MIT Crew Alumni Director s Message by Tony Kilbridge Despite a cold and icy start, we had a good spring at Pierce Boathouse. Elements of the program that we have been working on for years started to come together. Most importantly, our crews did well. Coach Will Oliver s lightweight men overcame injuries and weight issues to turn in a strong regular season. They then won gold at the Dad Vail Regatta, and qualified for the Eastern Sprints grand final for the first time in many years. Our open weight women had their own trials with illness, but found speed at the right time, and had their best performance of the year at the Patriot League Championships. Coach Metcalf s varsity 8 won bronze medals, as did her 3V 4. Our lightweight women, led by Claire Martin-Doyle, also won gold at Dad Vail, and finished their season by winning the petite final at IRA. My own crew, the heavyweight men, was much improved from On the clock, they were seconds faster over 2000 meters, and this played out in their race results. At the end of our regular season, the first boat had a winning record, for the first time since Details of each team s spring campaigns can be found in this issue. Our parents group helped us succeed by providing the athletes with food and drinks at all home and away races. For the fourth and final year, the parents were led by the unsinkable Annie Potash, mother of heavyweight rower Ben Potash, 14. Though they receive little official recognition, the parents group provides enormous support to our athletes and coaches; they make race day less stressful and more fun for everyone. Our alumni continued to provide outstanding support to the program in Among other generous donations, the class of 1967 heavy- Director s Message 1 Class of 1967 Dedication 2 Zwart Fund/IRA 3 Henley Spring Recaps 5

2 Shell Dedication Director s Message Continued from pg. 1 weight men bought a new Resolute racing 8 for our lightweight women. Through the tireless work of Bob Vernon ( 63), donations and pledges were secured to complete the Zwart Fund. This major endowment will pay the salary of our head lightweight crew coach. Younger alumni stepped forward as well. The class of 1997 lightweights pooled their resources for a significant donation. Alumni support will be even more crucial to the success of the program moving forward. After interviewing several candidates, we have selected an architecture firm to prepare a feasibility study for expanding or replacing Pierce Boathouse. The MITCAA will be represented on the steering committee working with the architects on the project. We expect this study to be complete in about six months. What happens to the project after that will depend largely on the willingness of crew alumni to support it financially. Expect more news on this front in the coming months. I would like to thank everyone involved in making this season a success. Have a great summer, and Go Tech! Class of 1967 Dedicated by Claire Martin-Doyle On Saturday, May 3rd, MIT Crew christened The Class of 1967 thanks to a generous shell endowment donation from members of the 1967 heavyweight men s crew. The Class of 1967 endowment was used to purchase a new superlight Resolute racing shell to be used by the lightweight women s squad. The shell is the latest design from Resolute Racing Shells and the only shell currently on the market to properly fit lightweight female rowers. Members of the lightweight women s squad gather around the newly dedicated Class of The morning s events began with welcoming remarks from Tony Kilbridge, Director of Rowing, followed by remarks from Claire Martin-Doyle, Lightweight Women s Coach and Dennis Womack- Kalla, representing the Class of Also in attendance were MIT Crew staff, MIT Director of Athletics, Julie Soriero, the lightweight women s team, former MIT Crew coach, Gerrit Zwart and members of the MIT Class of The christening was followed by brunch in the McCurdy Lounge at Pierce Boathouse. To The Class of 1967, Thank you for the exceedingly generous donation of The Class of 1967! To view pictures of the event taken by Igor Belakovskiy 01 visit, Rowing/MIT/Class-of-67-Boat- Dedication/

3 Zwart Fund Completed by Tony Kilbridge At the reunion row on June 8 we celebrated a major achievement in fund raising: the Zwart Endowment Fund, named for former MIT lightweight coach Gary Zwart, has been completed. Through the extraor- Zwart Fund/IRA dinary fund raising efforts of Bob Vernon, 63, gifts and pledges were obtained that will total $2 million, the income from which will pay the salary of our head lightweight crew coach. Bruce Anderson, MITCAA president, orchestrated a short ceremony in which Gary Zwart was recognized for his profound influence on the MIT athletes he coached during the 1960s, and Bob Vernon was lauded for his outstanding work in leading the fund raising effort. Many thanks to Bob and to all who donated for making this endowment fund a reality! Make your plans now to attend MIT Crew Alumni Day 2014! When: October 4, 2014 What: Alumni boat races and brunch at Pierce Boathouse in the morning. Alumni banquet (Details to be determined). More information to follow! The lightweight men race to victory at the 2014 Dad Vail Regatta IRA by Tony Kilbridge MIT crew s campaign, which had begun amid ice, wind and rain in late March, ended on a warm sunny day in New Jersey, with the final day of the IRA National Championship on Sunday, June 1. Conditions were perfect on Lake Mercer as MIT s heavyweight men and lightweight men and women tied in for their final races of the year. (Tech s openweight women had finished their season two weeks earlier at the Patriot League Championships, where their varsity 8 and 4 both won bronze medals.) MIT s heavyweight men entered the varsity 4 event, which required them to race four times over three days (heats, reps, semis and finals), as the field of 18 crews was sorted into grand, petite, and 3rd level finals. Tech s 4, comprised of coxswain Janelle Mansfield, stroke Nate Colgan, 3-man Trevor Day, 2-man Matt Connelly, and bowman Daniel Dalton, finished fourth in their heat, first in their repechage and fourth in the A/B semifinal, to find themselves in the petite final on Sunday. The final was a barnburner, with Tech relinquishing its early lead to Navy, then fighting Northeastern stroke-for-stroke over the last 500 meters. MIT finished second, four seconds behind Navy,.3 seconds ahead of Northeastern, and farther ahead of Temple, Princeton and Colgate. While Tech s lightweight women s 8 struggled to find their fastest rhythm in their heats, finishing last, they rallied in the repechage, finishing third, behind Princeton and Wisconsin. This landed them in the petite final, which they won in convincing fashion, beating Tulsa by five seconds and Georgetown by twelve. The women s lightweight 4 event lacked a petite final, so Tech s 4 was done for the day after failing to advance through the heats and reps. MIT s lightweight men s 8 distinguished themselves by being invited to IRA for the first time since the current selection rules went into effect, based on their excellent showing at Sprints. Under the rather strange IRA schedule, the heats and finals of the men s lightweight events occurred within a few hours of each other on the fi-

4 2014 IRA continued from pg. 3 nal morning of the regatta. Despite showing good speed all spring, Coach Oliver s men came out somewhat flat on Sunday morning, finishing last in their heat. With no time to reset between heats and Henley 2015 finals, the crew finished on a disappointing note, losing to Navy in the petite finals. MIT s lightweight 4 also finished their day in the petite finals, where they finished third, ahead of Georgetown and Drexel. All of Tech s results at IRA were an improvement over recent years, and provided further evidence of the team s upward trajectory. The Mercer County venue provided fair racing conditions in a beautiful setting. IRA will return to Mercer in 2015 and 2016, then move to Sacramento for Most Inspirational 2014! Left to right: Katie Gorick, Francesca Schembri, Connor McMahan, Mike Wu Henley 2015 by Jeff Forrester The sport of rowing is renowned for its traditions and pageantry. Unique traditions include the losing crew giving the winning crew their shirt and the annual battle for historic cups between colleges. The history of American intercollegiate sports begins with rowing. No place in rowing, though, has as much history, tradition, nor pageantry as the Henley Royal Regatta in Henley-on-Thames, England. The Steward s enclosure, booms, and knockout style of racing are all uniquely British and special to rowing. For the first time since 2009, MIT will be sending a crew to embrace that experience as the lightweight men s team is planning a trip there in the summer of This trip is something the team has longed to do but hadn t quite shown the speed to justify. After a successful 2014 campaign, an anonymous donor felt that the team had expressed that speed and has offered to provide the funds necessary to experience the novelty of racing in England. This has added a new level of excitement to the squad and certainly impressed upon the team the importance of working hard over the summer. As the student-athletes were told, the 2015 campaign starts now!

5 Lightweight Men by Will Oliver The 2014 spring season was quite eventful for the lightweight men. With nearly every weekend filled with at least one race, and in many cases two, the team stayed very busy. And for the first time in many seasons, the MIT crews entered nearly every race with a good chance of winning. From starting the season ranked 11th in the country, the Engineers climbed to as high as 6th by the end of the season, staging a number of upsets along the way, taking gold at Dad Vail, and qualifying for the IRA Spring Recaps National Championship for the first time since The transition from the winter into the spring was not seamless. The long winter left the Engineers a bit rusty during their first couple of races. Additionally, weight restrictions caused more problems than usual this season, as the team is larger on the whole. Losing several rowers to injury and weight left the Engineers in a slightly weaker position than they had finished the fall. Nevertheless, the rowers that remained were well trained and hungry for victory. And they didn t have to wait long; the team s first win came in its first race against the Boston College heavyweights, beginning a very strong run against heavyweight schools that would last through the Crew Classic and deep into the season against MIT s final heavyweight opponent, Drexel. All in all, the MIT lightweight s record against heavyweight crews this season came to Within the EARC lightweight ranks, the team also performed well. In most races, MIT was either a strong contender or a winner. Yale, Cornell and Columbia all handed the Engineers tough losses, but the crew, ever resilient, always bounded back. With headto-head wins against Penn, Dartmouth, Navy and Georgetown, and a strong Dad Vail finals rematch against Delaware, in which the varsity engineered a 6 second reversal from earlier in the season, the Engineers positioned themselves at the top of the pack. Going into Sprints, the team had a lot to be confident and excited about, and they capitalized, finishing in the grand final for the first time since The lightweight men s varsity 8 tosses coxswain Yooni Kim into the Schuylkill following their Dad Vail win. While the Sprints final and IRA proved a bit anti-climactic, the successes of the season are still a fresh memory. With only two rowers graduating from the varsity and JV boats this season, the lightweights will return a strong, battle-tested roster for the season. The whole squad is enthusiastic, as we hope our supporters are as well. We look forward to seeing you at all of our races next season, from the Head of the Charles to Henley Royal!

6 Open Women by Holly Metcalf It has been another amazing year for the MIT Openweight women. After a strong dual season that included multiple wins by all boat classes, the crews closed the season with a tremendous effort at the Patriot League Championships. The Varsity 8 closed the season with a stunning upset over defending champions Navy and new league member Georgetown to capture the bronze medal. After regular season wins that included Rutgers, George Washington, and St. Joseph s, the 2V8 advanced to the final to take fifth. Finally, the Varsity Four bumped Bucknell out of the final in the morning and surged ahead of Georgetown for the second time this season to earn the team a second bronze medal. In all, these were exciting results for a young squad that included Spring Recaps sixteen freshman; the 2V8 and Varsity 4+ were composed entirely of underclassmen. In addition to our youth, we have even more reason to be excited about The newest recruiting class has now committed. Its experience and energy will be a perfect complement to the squad: * Emma (Pearl) Wilmer-Shiles, Pacific Rowing Club * Millicent Dethy, Exeter * Rachael Devlin, Conestoga * Ming Wang, Winsor * Jani Adcock, Lakeside * Victoria Longe, Park Tudor * Cynthia Fang, Groton The off-the-water achievements are even more impressive, and can be read about on the MIT Athletics webpage. This is just the beginning. You laid the foundation, and now we are building higher and higher. We look forward to hearing from you and seeing your faces in the near future.

7 Spring Recaps Light Women by Claire Martin-Doyle The 2014 spring season for the lightweight women was very successful. Winning gold in the lightweight eight at The Aberdeen Dad Vail Regatta, and winning the petite final at IRA highlighted the season. Our regular season racing had some ups and downs with our strongest weekend of racing on April 12th-13th at The Knecht Cup Regatta at Mercer Lake. The entire squad had an excellent showing in all events contested - Lightweight Eight, Lightweight Four, Novice Eight, Novice Four. Our top finishes were 5th in the lightweight eight and 4th & 5th in the lightweight fours. Both events had eleven entries each. It was a solid weekend of racing against the top crews in the country. At Dad Vail, for the first time in the three years we ve contested the lightweight four event, our crew made the final, coming in 4th. Just as our four was coming down the course, some epic weather hit blinding wind and rain swept over the Schuylkill, making it impossible to see the crews racing from the banks of the river. Our four finished in these conditions, but the eight was just headed out for the final and ended up having to land at the St. Joe s boathouse to wait out the storm. Almost three hours later, our lightweight eight won The Dad Vail Regatta, ending Bucknell s three-year winning streak. The eight rowed the course in a time of 6:40.5, eight seconds ahead of Bucknell, to win the gold. After capturing bronze in 2012, and silver in 2013, taking the gold in 2014 was a well-deserved accomplishment. The lightweight eight also won the petite final at the IRA on Sunday, June 1st. In the three-boat petite final, Tech took on University of Tulsa and Georgetown University. Tech crossed the line in a time of 6:53.1, five seconds ahead of Tulsa and eight seconds ahead of Georgetown. While the ultimate goal is to win the grand final at IRA, a win is commendable, as winning is a learned skill, just like so many other aspects of rowing and life. The Tech lightweight women had a great 2014 campaign and look to continue the momentum in 2015!

8 Heavy Men by Evan Thews-Wassell The Tech heavyweight men had some good results over the course of the 2014 spring season, and showed considerable improvements along the way. The team boated two 8+ s and a 4+ all season, which were made up of returning varsity athletes, experienced freshmen recruits and inexperienced walk-ons. The heavy men opened the season with solid showings against Boston College and Bates. Both the varsity and second varsity 8+ s won their races while the third varsity 4+ came in second. The following weekend Tech was scheduled to race Holy Cross and Spring Recaps Columbia in Overpeck Park, NJ. The varsity 8+ had a great showing against Holy Cross in the morning, winning in a time of 6:07.2 to Holy Cross s 6:10.0. In the second varsity 8+ race, Tech and Holy Cross were neck and neck with 600 meters to go. Unfortunately, choppy conditions caused the Tech stroke man to catch an over the head crab, and Holy Cross went on to win. As the wind continued to build throughout the morning, the MIT and Columbia coaches agreed that it was too dangerous to row and cancelled all afternoon races. The rest of the regular season had it s ups and downs with wins over WPI, Delaware, Rhode Island, UMass and losses to Williams, Harvard, Princeton, Boston University and Wisconsin. The heavy men raced well at the Eastern Sprints, but ultimately could not crack their way into the petite finals, finishing 5th in the third level final. A recap of the IRA results can be found in the article 2014 IRA written by Director of Rowing Tony Kilbridge. The Tech heavyweight men are looking forward to the fall with major optimism. With the loss of only 3 seniors this year, and the addition of 11 experienced freshmen in the fall, there is palpable excitement in the boathouse about what can be accomplished next season. See you in the fall!

9 Head of the Kevin Oct 11 Head of the Charles Oct Princeton Chase Oct 26 Green Monster Nov 1 Women s Foot Nov 15 Men s Foot Nov 22 Head Coach, Heavyweight Men Assistant Coach, Heavyweight Men Head Coach, Lightweight Men Assistant Coach, Lightweight Men Head Coach, Openweight Women Assistant Coach, Openweight Women Head Coach, Lightweight Women Assistant Coach, Lightweight Women Tony Kilbridge Evan Thews-Wassell Will Oliver Jeff Forrester Holly Metcalf Previn Chandraratna Claire Martin-Doyle Amelia Booth Photos by DSPics, MIT Parents, & Coaching Staff Edited by Will Oliver