Summer 2011 Squaring the blade A Newsletter for MIT Crew Alumni Director’s Message coach Jeff Iqbal has completed his Engineering, and Paige Finkel- masters’ degree and is moving on stein, who was the first recipient of by Tony Kilbridge to a job in the aeronautics industry. MIT’s Distinguished Achievement While the 2011 racing season Will Oliver has been promoted in Service Award. provided further proof that the road from interim to permanent head from darkness to light is long and coach. He and I are Of course the vast majority of our difficult (to paraphrase Milton), I interviewing candidates to replace athletes are not singled out for continue to believe that MIT crew Jeff currently, and hope to an- awards. They are, nonetheless, is on that road and moving upward. nounce a hiring in August. hard-working, disciplined, cheer- As the racing season summaries ful, altogether admirable people. It in this issue demonstrate, each of I would also like to note what an is a great pleasure for me to work our four squads made progress this extraordinary group of young men with them, and our alumni and sup- year and enjoyed bright spots along and women make up today’s MIT porters should be extremely proud with disappointments. Looking crew. Our boathouse trophy case of them. forward, we anticipate faster crews contains memorabilia from MIT next year. Along with our returning rowers who have made the national Before we know it, our crews will athletes, there will be 33 recruited team and competed at the Olympic be back on the water, getting ready freshman athletes in the boathouse, Games or world championships. If for our fall head races. I hope to which number we hope to supple- we had a display case for our ath- see you on race day! ment with talented walk-ons. Also letes who have reached a compa- looking forward, we will have one rable level academically or profes- new coach, as freshman lightweight sionally, we would need a second boathouse to hold it. For example, 12 MIT women rowers were named to the Collegiate Coaches Association’s 2011 list of Scholar Director’s Message 1 Athletes, the second-most for any Division I rowing program. In our Season Reviews: women’s second year in the Patriot Men 2 League, openweight rower Tess Lightweight Men 4 Saxton-Fox won the Patriot League 2011 Scholar-Athlete of the Year Openweight Women 6 Award. On our women’s light- Lightweight Women 8 weight crew we have Lauren Ayers, Scholar-Athlete Award 10 who received the Irving Kaplan Award for academic achievement Important Dates 11 by a junior in Nuclear Science and season review twenty-four. Meanwhile, on Lake rematch was incredibly close, with Heavyweight Men Quinsigamond, Tech’s freshmen MIT surging ahead of Colgate at By Tony Kilbridge defeated Williams and Rochester the finish line by less than one foot. The 2011 racing season was an un- by several lengths in the Donahue usual one for Tech’s heavyweight Cup. The following weekend the Tech men. The varsity heavies, lack- freshman 8 entered the Cochrane ing enough athletes to field an 8, On April 11 the varsity 4 took Cup versus Dartmouth and Wiscon- competed in a coxed 4, ending their revenge on Boston College, one sin with high expectations. Unfor- season at the . The of the crews that had beaten them tunately, neither the racing condi- freshman heavies raced their usual at the Knecht Cup. The Engineers tions nor the results were ideal. Eastern Sprints schedule in an 8. beat the Eagles by 40 seconds on The Connecticut River in Hanover, On the first Saturday of racing, the Charles River. The same day, New Hampshire, was running at a

Heavyweight Varsity Four

April 2, Tech’s freshmen raced Tech’s frosh finished well behind historically fast pace. News from in high Harvard and Princeton at the the Hanover area was that the river winds and waves on the Charles, Compton Cup in Princeton. One was in flood stage and had not losing decisively. The Husky frosh week later, on April 23, both the been that high in 64 years. Despite went on to win bronze medals at varsity 4 and the freshman 8 raced this, the Dartmouth coaches de- Sprints. The next weekend, Tech’s Colgate at home. The freshmen cided to run the races as originally varsity 4 traveled to Camden, New won easily, finishing 30 seconds planned. The Wisconsin freshmen Jersey, for their first ever appear- ahead of Colgate. The Colgate were obviously the best crew of the ance at the Knecht Cup. The varsity 4 was another crew that had group as they shot off the line and crew finished 5th out of a field of beaten Tech at the Knecht Cup; the Continued on p.3 2 season review raced well in the third-level final, Tech advanced to the finals by Heavyweight Men finishing third and besting crews placing second to Colgate in their Continued from p.2 from George Washington and heat and second to Georgia Tech never relinquished the lead. The Georgetown. in their semifinal. The grand final Big Green and the Engineers raced pitted Tech against Georgia Tech, hard for the first half of the race, The MIT freshmen raced well this Colgate, Emory, Philadelphia but Dartmouth’s horsepower took season and had promising results University, and Fordham. Tech over in the second thousand and against some of the best crews in raced well in the final, challenging they pulled away, securing second the country. Their improvement Georgia Tech and Colgate right to place. Wisconsin won in a blazing throughout the season was impres- the end. Georgia Tech won, in a current–assisted time of 4:40, while sive and they will be a strong addi- time of 6:32; Colgate was second Dartmouth was three seconds back tion to the varsity squad next fall. in 6:34; and MIT third in 6:37. and Tech another 11. MIT’s bronze medal winning 4 As there is no varsity 4 race at the was: Rishi Dixit (cox), Matt Pegler

Heavyweight Freshman Eight Despite constant drizzle throughout Eastern Sprints, Tech’s 4+ trav- (stroke), Lucas Goodman (3), the day in Worcester for the Eastern eled to Philadelphia to enter one of Andrew Yang (2) and Trevor Zinser Sprints Championships, the wind the largest college regattas in the (bow). The Dad Vail was the final was down and the water was flat. world, the Dad Vail. Sponsorship college race for senior co-captains The Tech freshmen raced well in by Aberdeen Asset Management Goodman and Pegler. Dixit, Yang their heat, but despite closing the allowed the regatta to be broad- and Zinser will return next year and gap to Wisconsin and Dartmouth cast live on ESPN3 and on a huge join a talented class of sophomores to six seconds and besting a strong screen at the race site. The field of in MIT crew’s ongoing effort to Pennsylvania crew, were unable 54 crews was winnowed through build a nationally ranked DI team. to secure a spot in the petite final. heats on Friday and semifinals on Although tired from the morning’s Saturday morning to a six-boat heat, the Engineers once again final on Saturday afternoon. 3 season review less on pulling off miracle upsets days, and achieving the best overall Lightweight Men (though they did hope to win races) fitness in recent years. Ailments By Will Oliver and more on building the team for and sicknesses cropped up, as they The MIT lightweight men complet- the future. Their simple goals of tend to, but rowers and coaches ed a strong season of growth and building team unity and making the dealt with them proactively; not improvement with their fastest race team a great experience for every- one rower went out for the season of the season at the Eastern Sprints one from top to bottom, all while with an injury. this year. While unable to best any working as hard or harder than of their competitors, the Varsity any other crews in the league, set On the water in the spring, races 8 and Frosh 8 posted respectable the tone for the season. The team happened fast. The team had its times in their events. More than put in more hours, did more extra first outing at Princeton, just 10

Lightweight Freshman Eight that, perhaps, they set themselves work, and did more as a group as days after the Charles thawed up for stronger races in the future. a result of their leadership. The and the docks went in. Fielding fall season, documented last issue, a Varsity 8 and two Frosh 8’s, the Beginning the season with less than showed the strength of the team’s squad travelled most weekends; two eights at the varsity level, the focus, as MIT posted solid early the Biglin Bowl against Harvard returning seniors came to school season races at the Charles and the and Dartmouth was the team’s only in the fall with very ambitious, but Princeton Chase. Over the long home race. In the first race against realistic, goals for the season. A winter, the squad took barely a day Princeton and Navy, all of the dedicated group, their focus was off, working out twice a day most Continued on p.5 4 season review of the season. Among those to fall excited to see what they will do. Lightweight Men were Harvard, Penn, Columbia, Continued from p.4 Delaware and Georgetown. The Sadly, Coach Iqbal will not be crews struggled, finishing well be- 2F also rowed close races against remaining at MIT to work with the hind the field, but crews remained Navy and Dartmouth, finishing incoming freshmen. Having com- positive, realizing that water time second in those races by the slim- pleted his Masters in Aeronautics had been limited. Working hard mest of margins. The consistent and Astronautics, he will be mov- over the next two weeks and clos- effort and improvement of the 2F ing to Seattle next year to begin a ing the gap slightly at the Joy Cup, bodes well for the team’s depth in career with Boeing. We would like the team set the tone for the rest of the coming season. to wish him and all of our graduat- the season; improvement week by ing oarsmen and coxswains the best week was the norm. Each week the Another sign of good things yet to of luck in the future. The team is crews focused on a different aspect come is the incoming recruiting stronger for having had them, and of their race, and each week results class. Due in large part to the ex- those of us remaining at MIT to

Lightweight Second Freshman Four improved. The final dual races of tensive efforts of Assistant Coach compete for another year (or more) the season against Penn and Dela- Jeff Iqbal, the MIT lightweight are grateful for their contributions. ware found the MIT boats in close men had their best recruiting year races with both programs, as did to-date. The incoming class in- Now, the team is looking forward their final race at Eastern Sprints. cludes several grand finalists in the to a strong 2012 season. Many of USRowing Youth National Cham- the squad’s rowers are working out Perhaps the highlight of the racing pionships along with many other at the boathouse or at Riverside season was the consistently strong talented oarsmen. In all, 13 oars- over the summer. We hope to hit performance of the MIT 2F. Dem- men and one coxswain will join the the ground running in September onstrating that MIT walk-ons can squad next fall. Coming from all and build on what has been done hold their own against any program over the country, this is the stron- this past season. in the league, the 2F rowers bested gest incoming class ever for the five other crews during the course MIT lightweight men, and we are

5 season review These injuries also meant that At our second regatta of the season, Openweight Women line-ups were ever-changing right the George Washington Invitational By Holly Metcalf up until the Sprints; this affected in Washington, DC, both eights The openweight varsity eight all boats, but hardest hit was the raced in compromised line-ups. opened its spring racing season 2V8. Our squad size has grown, The racing is set up over two days with a 20-second win over Boston but not to the point where we could in a round-robin fashion, allowing College, thereby taking the inaugu- field a 2V8 filled with juniors and teams ample racing and opportu- ral challenge cup. This was a team sophomores. Instead it was led by nity for improvement. goal and a first-ever win as Divi- walk-on freshmen coxswains, and sion I over Boston College. The filled half with freshmen and half The V8 started off looking aggres- tone was set for the season. with upperclassmen rowers. sive and sharp with a win against George Washington and Oxford

Openweight Varsity Eight That is not to say that the spring To sum up the attitude and perfor- (England). The 2V8 struggled to was not full of challenges along the mance of the 2V8 we need look at find their rhythm, but found their way. Both the NCAA and Patriot only two races: our season opener focus for their next race and settled League define a full team as con- with Boston College and our finish- in to achieve it. The second race of sisting of three boats: first eight, ing championship, the Sprints. The the day for both boats was against second eight, and third four. For 2V8 went from a 12-second loss Navy. Since first coming to MIT the first time in years we (barely) the first race against BC to a five- four years ago, I have watched our had the numbers to field all three second win over BC at Sprints. V8 get closer and closer to Navy. boats, though persistent injuries This speaks volumes to the persis- In our first GW Invite and match- kept the four from racing except at tence, leadership, and intensity of up against Navy in 2008 we lost the conference championship. the team as a whole. Continued on p.7 6 season review Holy Cross, as well as Bucknell, ishing less than 19 seconds behind Openweight Women Colgate, Lehigh, and Navy. The that crew. The highlight of the day Continued from p.6 V8 had its worst performance of occurred when the 2V8 avenged by over 11 seconds. Coming into the year and finished a very disap- its earlier loss to BC, defeating the the last 700 meters this time, Navy pointing fifth place, ahead of only Eagles with open water. had a length or more. By the 500 Lehigh and a mere eight seconds the Engineers had pulled back and behind the winner, Bucknell. At the Eastern Sprints in NJ it all were moving. Navy had to fight Overall it was the tightest finish in came together for both boats, even to stay ahead all the way down the the history of the conference. The though each crew was relegated course, but especially in the last 2V8 was out-matched by most of to the third-level final after the 250; Navy won one by only three the field, but continued to improve morning heats. In the afternoon seconds. The 2V8 had a much and dominated Colgate for the the V8 once again finished within stronger first 1000 racing against fifth-place spot, about a length be- contact of BU, but this time came Navy, but fell behind in the second hind fourth-place Lehigh. This was in ahead of Navy by a solid five 1000. also the only race for the varsity seconds to place 14th overall. The four; comprised entirely of fresh- 2V8 repeated its victory over BC Our final day of racing at the GW Invite proved to be frustrating for the V8 and affirming for the 2V8. The V8 lost to a fast St. Joseph squad by four seconds after hav- ing a strong lead for the first half. The 2V8 put together its best race of the weekend, but unfortunately also faced its toughest opponent in Georgetown, so came off the water with a loss but nonetheless an en- couraging performance.

In a local race the next weekend at Worcester the V8 led a five-boat field for two thirds of the race before finally getting edged out Openweight Second Varsity Eight by DIII powerhouse Ithaca Col- men, that boat entered the event to finish 16th. Overall this was the lege. The crew beat conference without expectations and emerged best team finish at Sprints since we rival Holy Cross by two seconds, very happy with a fifth-place finish, became DI, and the first victory and was over 30 seconds ahead of over 30 seconds ahead of Lehigh. over Navy in many, many years. Colby and Connecticut College. The 2V8 used what it learned the The season really picked up mo- Next year we will have a sizable previous weekend to post a solid mentum with the Beanpot Regatta. senior class for the first time in third-place performance, behind The V8 posted another decisive years, as our “rebuilding” finally Ithaca and Holy Cross, but well victory over BC, while also leading concludes. Though still a smaller ahead of the others. for a portion of squad than many of our rivals, we the race; BU pulled ahead by less should finally be able to have some Back at Worcester on April 24 for than a length at the end. This was actual depth on the roster. It will the Patriot League Championship, also the closest our varsity has been be exciting to see what we can do the Engineers once again faced to Radcliffe in recent memory, fin- with a full squad!

7 season review dedication put into balancing row- matching homemade t-shirts, the Lightweight Women ing and academics, the team had rowers geared up and attacked the By Claire Martin-Doyle some exciting highlights along the 2,000-meter erg competition with The end result of spring 2011 rac- way, making for an exhilarating determination and many left the ing is MIT lightweight’s women’s and successful year of commitment race earning new personal records crew sits solidly as the seventh to high-performance both on the for the distance. A few weeks fastest varsity lightweight women’s water and in the classroom. later, all of MIT Crew took part eight in the country. While the in the first annual “Beaver Blitz” field is small, it is growing more At the Head of the Charles, in the – a boathouse-wide 2K test where and more competitive every year open lightweight eight event, our all the squads and rowers in the – to remain ahead of other strong Tech crew finished eighth, ahead of boathouse tested at the same time, Division I programs with scholar- University of , Po- side by side making for an exciting ships is no small feat and every- cock Rowing Center, and George- atmosphere of racing in the boat- day I see the effort, commitment, town University; the crew also fin- house!

Lightweight Varsity Eight and dedication of the rowers and ished with the closest margin ever In early March, led by our co- support from the coaches, staff, to the winner of the event, who captains, the team formed a group alumnae and parents that makes it set a course record. At the Foot of to participate in the Relay for Life possible to achieve this success. I the Charles, our “A” four came in to raise awareness and funds for the am thrilled to be at the helm of our 34th out of 49 in the open four’s American Cancer Society. Team program, leading such a dedicated event, beating fifteen heavyweight members traded off walking around group of people constantly striving schools in the process. the track over a twelve-hour period for success at the highest level in and helped MIT contribute $39,000 our sport. In early February, many mem- to the American Cancer Society. bers of the team raced at Crash- Senior co-captain Clare Flanagan Through the many months of miles B, the World’s Indoor Rowing reflected in her account of the rowed, erg tests completed, and Championship. Complete with Continued on p.9 8 season review week’s narrow loss by finishing earned the freshman award from Lightweight Women seven seconds ahead of the Bulls UAAP for Distinguished Achieve- Continued from p.8 and regaining a seventh place ment in Service. Our graduating experience, “Relay for Life is all national ranking, which remained seniors moved on to such endeav- about staying positive and never through the 2011 season. ors as pursuing a PhD in nuclear giving up which are definitely at- science, attending medical school, titudes that the lightweight women The remainder of the spring season and attending graduate school in work to encourage. I’m glad we had its share of ups and downs with architecture studies at Princeton. were able to represent at the Relay some excellent racing at Sprints for Life as a team.” and our heat at IRA, but a disap- As I reflect on the year and look pointing repechage at IRA, losing toward the future, I couldn’t be Once spring finally came to Bos- out on making the grand final. more proud of what we’ve ac- ton (about 2 weeks late), we were Although there was a lot of disap- complished or more excited about at the start of spring break and pointment with this result, I am where we’re headed. Encouraging set to two-a-day practices and a hopeful it only inspires us all to a supportive environment where quick round of selection as our first race approached in one week’s time. The first few weekends of racing weren’t stellar and as we approached our third weekend of racing at the Knecht Cup on the Cooper River in New Jersey, the speed of the crews began to come together. Four rowers from the second varsity eight competed in both the lightweight eight and the lightweight four events and made it through to the grand final in the four. In the four final, the crew took third, rowing through Wiscon- sin in the final 500 meters to earn the bronze medal. Lightweight Varsity Four Also at Knecht Cup, the first varsity lightweight eight came in work harder. each rower is able to develop her third in the heat to advance to the athletic and personal skills to the grand final. In the final, with an On an academic front, five women highest level and, to create excite- intense race to the line, the crew achieved recognition as CRCA ment in the process of achieving took sixth in a time of 7:15.52, just scholar-athletes (athletes are only success as a team are goals we’re .001 behind Buffalo; the winning eligible if they are in the first constantly striving towards. This time in the event was 6:57.65, set varsity eight), with one first varsity year, the commitment of our team by Wisconsin. eight rower achieving a perfect to invest completely in the process 5.0 in the spring of 2011. Junior of working toward success at the The next weekend the first var- Lauren Ayers was awarded the highest level was second to none sity eight lined up for a re-match Irving Kaplan Award for academic and I could not have been happier against Buffalo on the Charles, achievement in Nuclear Science, with the work ethic, attitude, and this time redeeming the previous and freshman Paige Finkelstein commitment of this year’s squad. 9 Accolades solutions to issues in developing junior also earned CRCA National Scholar-Athlete countries. She has overseen proj- Scholar-Athlete status last season. by Patriot League Staff ects on water accessibility, alterna- The Patriot League Scholar-Athlete A student-athlete from Massachu- tive cooking fuels and individual of the Year for each individual setts Institute of Technology won shower units for slums as well as sport comprises the pool of nomi- a major Patriot League honor for fundraising activities. She was nees for the Patriot League Male the first time as junior Theresa awarded a Public Service Cen- and Female Scholar-Athlete of the Saxton-Fox was named the Rowing ter (PSC) Fellowship to travel to Year awards given out over the Scholar-Athlete of the Year while Uganda as the team’s project man- summer. One male and one female also landing on a list of 11 rowers ager, where she worked with local are selected for this honor. To be that comprised the sport’s inaugu- customs officials to import solar eligible for the Scholar-Athlete of ral Academic All-Patriot League panels into Uganda. Saxton-Fox the Year award and the Academic Team. Joining Saxton-Fox All-Patriot League Team, a stu- on the Academic All-Patriot dent-athlete must have at least League was junior Allison a 3.20 cumulative grade point Simi. average and be a starter or key player in his/her sport. Fresh- The Patriot League Scholar- men or students in their first Athlete of the Year award is academic year at their school the highest honor the League are not eligible for the honor. bestows upon a student-athlete in each sport. Student-athletes The awards were voted on by are nominated by their institu- sports information directors tion and voted upon by the around the League who could media relations staff at all not cast a ballot for their own participating institutions. student-athletes. The Academ- ic All-Patriot League Team has Saxton-Fox has been a mem- been added for all sports be- ber of MIT’s varsity eight boat ginning in the 2010-11 season in each of her three seasons. to honor additional student- She was a Division I CRCA athletes who excel both on and National Scholar-Athlete in off the field. 2010 and becomes MIT’s first Scholar-Athlete of the Year Patriot League champion winner in the school’s second Bucknell led all schools with three student-athletes on the season as an associate Patriot Tess Saxton-Fox (‘12) League member in the sport of Academic All-Patriot League women’s rowing. team, with Jillian O’Mara, is a researcher at the High Power Stephanie Frank and Carol Schoe- Saxton-Fox has a long line of ath- pumped heat exchanger lab at MIT necker making the list. Colgate letic, academic and extracurricular and a team member in the Design (Natalie Bauman and Katherine achievements at MIT. The native and Manufacturing II Lab. Johnescu) and Holy Cross (Kate of Wayland, Mass. has accumulated Broderick and Beth Charron) also a 4.9 grade-point average on a 5.0 Simi carries a 4.8/5.0 (3.84/4.0) had a pair of nominees. Lehigh’s scale (3.92/4.0 GPA). She serves grade-point average to join Saxton- Jackie Ogden and Navy’s Jacque- as President of MIT’s Engineers Fox as an Academic All-Patriot line Penichet round out the Aca- Without Borders, which engineers League honoree from MIT. The demic All-Patriot League team.

10 Head of the Charles October 22-23

Princeton Chase October 30

Dartmouth Green Monster November 5

Foot of the Charles November 12 & 19

Now that the 101st celebration is behind us, we are returning to our tradition of an Alumni Day in early fall. On Saturday, October 1, 2011, MIT crew will host:

Alumni boat races in the morning, followed by...

A boat dedication and brunch, and topped off with...

A banquet in the evening.

More details to follow!

Varsity Heavyweight Men Tony Kilbridge Freshman Heavyweight Men Evan Thews-Wassell

Varsity Lightweight Men Will Oliver Freshman Lightweight Men Jeff Iqbal

Varsity Openweight Women Holly Metcalf Novice Openweight Women Aaron Benson

Varsity Lightweight Women Claire Martin-Doyle Novice Lightweight Women Amelia Booth

Photos by DSPics, Jeff Iqbal, & Claire Martin-Doyle 11 Edited by Aaron Benson