Ithaca College Crew
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21 ROWING AND SCULLING NEWSLETTER SUMMER 2016 ITHACA COLLEGE CREW Welcome to this edition of the Ithaca Crew ’13, and Madison Keaty M.S.’16. Of course Ward newsletter, recapping the 2015-16 school year Romer is still around to keep us all out of trouble. adventure for Ithaca College Men’s and Women’s Fall highlights included the women’s varsity 8 Rowing and Sculling. A busy fall season saw Ithaca fifth place finish at the Charles, Emily Morley and sweeps compete at the Challenge on the Canal in Jennie Peterson finishing fourth in the 2x at both the Geneva, NY, the Head of the Genesee in Rochester, Schuylkill and the Collegiate Small Boat Challenge, the Head of the Charles in Boston, the Head of the and the men’s crews winning three races during the Schuylkill in Philadelphia, and the Frostbite and Frostbite/Braxton weekend. The women acquired a Braxton regattas in Mercer County, NJ. Scullers new-8-oared shell named the “Spirit of ’76,” meanwhile raced in the home-town Cayuga Sprints, energizing a late spring trip to the Dad Vail regatta. the Seven Sisters in Amherst, MA, the Head of the More on that later! Genesee, the Head of the Schuylkill, and the Small Buoyed by a more active and divergent race Boat Collegiate Championships in Mercer. The schedule, the Ithaca crews of the 2016 spring season men’s roster was smaller than usual with less than delivered many memorable moments and memories. 30 participants, but almost 70 women took the A typically large women’s roster and the smaller than water showing continued popularity on that side of normal men’s roster combined their efforts to win the ledger. The coaching staff is still headed by medals at States, the National Invitational (formerly Dan ‘79 and Becky ‘88 Robinson, with assistance referred to as the ECAC’s), and the Dad Vail, our first from Luke LaPointe ’11, Ethan Freedman ’14, visit there since 1992! Kevin Davie ’15, Beth Greene ’00, Allison Carter MEN’S SPRING RE-CAP A roster of 21 oarsmen and four coxswains navigated a mild March, allowing us on the water immediately after spring break. We even contested the Cayuga Duals for the first time in three years. Unfortunately, April was cold, windy, and generally a nuisance. Regardless, the crews raced more than normal, beginning in Georgia, when spring training concluded with the John Hunter Regatta, a large competition that matched our final day there. Obviously, the athletes were excited to compete in heats and finals on the Lake Lanier course. The result was an The men’s varsity stands proud with their medals after capturing Gold at the John extraordinary outcome by the Hunter Regatta in Georgia; (left-to-right) Coach Dan, Ben Zerivitz, Alex Martin, varsity 8. Having advanced to the Devin Dyson, Drew Erskine, Stephon Cadoux, Max Halliday, Branden George, final, the crew found themselves Will Brown, and Alex Lynn. trailing Minnesota by over a length 423 ROWING AND SCULLING NEWSLETTER SUMMER 2016 less than one second. It was truly a thrilling day of with 500m to go. It didn’t matter. Flashing “May races. The new NYS power, Army, won all three championship” form, the crew surpassed 40 events. The regular season ended at the National strokes-per-minute, and sprinted out a spectacular Invitational Rowing Championship (NIRC), which is come-back win by (not a misprint) 3/1000’s of one now run by USRowing (no longer the ECAC). The second. God bless electronic timing! opponents remained the same however with The rest of the roster found themselves Michigan and Hobart capturing the top two spots in rowing a varsity 4, novice 8, JV 8, and/or novice 4, every 8-oared event. Both Ithaca 8’s finished 11th, throughout the spring, depending on the racing in very competitive petite finals. Race results competition. The twelve upper-classmen are posted further in this newsletter. Here are the combined to win seven races in 4’s against various NYS spring line-ups; opponents. The varsity 8 won five times, while the 1v8, sophomore cox Ben Zerivitz (Altamonte novice 8 and JV 8 each won once. The annual rival Springs, FL), junior stroke Alex Martin (New York), race with RIT needs to be mentioned here. The sophomore 7 Stephen Cadoux (Westport, CT), varsity 8 found themselves trailing by open water freshman 6 Max Halliday (Arlington, MA), senior 5 after 700 meters, but as the crews chugged through Branden George (Seekonk, MA), junior 4 Will the bridge, Ithaca began to creep back. Suddenly, Brown (St Louis, MO), senior 3 Alex Lynn (North a micro-burst storm and down-pour hit, catching Chittenden, VT), senior 2 Drew Erskine (Rosendale, everyone by surprise (including the author trying WI), and senior bow, Devin Dyson (Norwalk, CT). to keep up on a bicycle). Visibility was so bad that 2v8, junior cox Sydney Eckstein (Livingston, referee Annie Bova commented afterward that she NJ), freshman stroke Devin Mott (Holden, MA), could not see the crews! The Ithaca 8 plowed on- freshman 7 Will Van Buren (Redding, CT), ward drawing even with RIT at 1500m then sophomore 6 Alex Reed (Penfield), junior 5 John pulling away for a 4 second victory! Within Posca (Sleepy Hollow), freshman 4 Eric Stamer minutes the rain stopped. Notably, the varsity 8’s, (Tunkhannock, PA), sophomore 3 Nick Cahill had the slowest times of all the men’s 8 races that (Mountainside, NJ), junior 2 Johnston Tucker (New day! Canaan, CT), freshman bow Fedor Efremenko At States, the entries were varsity 8, JV 8, (Kearny, NJ), and sophomore alternate Jackie Squire and novice 4. Peaking at the right time, all three (Hyde Park). crews bronze medaled. Both 8’s missed silvers by Nov4; freshman cox Ambar Herrera-Almestica (Morris Plains, NJ), freshman stroke Josh Mitnick (Brookline, MA), sophomore 3 Forest Ferguson (Redmond, WA), freshman 2 Austin Wolcott (Wyoming, NY), freshman bow Kevin Long (Elmhurst Township, PA), and sophomore alternate Don Hodgkinson (Sharon, MA). Fun Facts: This year’s men’s squad dubbed themselves the Silk Farmers. Junior, Becca Veninsky’s two older sisters (Kaitlin ‘06, Sarah ‘09) both rowed four years at IC. Cox Sydney Eckstein, stroke Devin Mott, and the rest of the men’s JV8 leave the dock at Saratoga Springs on a beautiful day to race the NYS Championships. Photo by Julia Williamson ‘18 2 123 ROWING AND SCULLING NEWSLETTER SUMMER 2016 WOMEN’S SPRING RE-CAP Completing spring training with five 8’s petites and finished 7th. At the NIRC, the varsity 8 and two 4’s, the women’s crews produced some finished 4th, their best finish there since 2010, and eye-opening results right from the beginning. grabbed an at-large entry into the NCAA The varsity captured gold at the John Hunter Championships, their 12th selection to that event. Regatta with a quality win over Trinity, the first The 2v8 and 3v8 both made grand finals and finished time beating that crew since the 2011 NCAA’s. sixth. Both novice 8’s competed in the same event Once back north the varsity 8 remained a finishing second (silver medal behind Wellesley) and juggernaut going undefeated until mid-April. In sixth. Then came the BIG 4, as the lightweights the mean-time, the novice 8’s were unbeatable, marched down the course leading wire-to-wire to and a true lightweight 4 was sneakily winning capture Ithaca’s 7th National Invitational gold medal. matches against anyone they lined up with. Ithaca has competed at this championship since 1993. The mid-season race in Worcester saw the Rowing ended with the varsity 8’s trip to Trinity varsity gain revenge with a narrow 3/10’s California for the NCAA championship race. Ithaca margin win, but other Bomber crews, including raced three times earning a sixth place finish, while the 2v8 and the novice 8, both won. It took bad Wellesley was crowned champion. The women also weather, causing the 4’s competition to be canceled, to keep the Ithaca lightweights from another victory. Prior to championships, overall, the varsity 8 won ten races! The light 4 and novice 8 both won six, the 2v8 won four times, the novice “B” boat won three times, the 3v8 won twice, and Ithaca won The varsity women’s 8 cruises on the “Spirit of ‘76” during a home race in the Spring; The two other times while crew is (cox-to-bow) Mindy Keene, Jackie McDevitt, Libby Burns, Jenny Peterson, Emily Morley, Karina Feitner, Emily Vosburg, Katie Ely, and Krista Syracuse. rowing 4’s. That’s 33 races won by Ithaca women’s crews! The NYS regatta became an instant visited the Golden Gate and Fisherman’s Wharf, had highlight. Now in its second year at Saratoga dinner on a house-boat, and racked up enough Springs, the regatta was greeted by beautiful positive memories to keep athletes looking forward weather. It was truly the only nice weather- to 2017! racing day the crews encountered the entire Here are the season-ending line-ups; spring. The varsity 8 won gold (after three 1v8, senior cox Mindy Keene (Barre, VT), consecutive years with silver) by open water over junior stroke Jackie McDevitt (Mohrsville, PA), Army. It was their 11th NYS gold and their first sophomore 7 Libby Burns (West Hartford, CT), fifth state title since 2010. The 3v8 also triumphed. The year 6 Jennie Peterson (Columbia, NJ), senior 4 2v8 battled to silver behind Marist. The novices Emily Morley (Nassau, Bahamas), junior 4 Emily lost for the first time. In that event, the Ithaca 8’s Vosburg (St.