2018-19 Newsletter UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA | PHILADELPHIA, PA 19104 December PENN ROWING BOARD OF DIRECTORS Sports boards play a pivotal role in the student-athlete experience at Penn. Comprised of former student-athletes, current and former parents as well as friends of Penn Athletics, sports boards provide Message from the Board stewardship and guidance to each of Penn’s 33 varsity sports. The Friends of Penn Rowing board meets four times a year as a group to discuss the current state of the program and throughout the Dear Penn Rowing Alumni, Parents, and Friends, year. Its members volunteer their resources by focusing on four key areas: student-athlete mentoring, development and alumni We are pleased and excited to introduce the Penn relations, communications and events. Penn Athletics owes a Rowing Newsletter. We hope this newsletter can be a debt of gratitude to those currently serving on the Friends of Penn piece you eagerly anticipate receiving throughout the Rowing board, including: year. Among other things, in this publication you will • Kelly E. Burke, C’12 find a summary of the fall season from our head coaches, a celebration of • Alexandra B. Caffrey, W’10 reunion years, and an alumni spotlight which will be an ongoing feature to • Tom Cassel, ME’68 GME’73 highlight one of our own for their accomplishments both as a Penn student- GR’79 athlete as well as their time after Penn. We hope with this ongoing series you • John A. Chatzky, Esq., C’78 will see familiar faces as well as be introduced to new ones. • Sean Colgan, C’77 This newsletter also contains an update on Game Onward: The Campaign • Eric Hamilton, C’84 for the Future of Penn Athletics. The excitement on campus from alumni, • Sheila Klehm, PAR’19 families and friends is unparalleled as we work towards advancing the • Joanne W. Iverson, WEV’82 bright future of Penn Athletics. For Penn Rowing this means building our • Maggie Kennedy, C’00 annual funds and endowment support as well as addressing a much needed • Daphne Klausner (Co-Chair), renovation of the boathouse. CGS’88 G’93 PAR’18 • Mary V. Konopka, C’88 We also want to thank those for their generous support and enclosed • Bruce D. Konopka, W’78 is our Fiscal Year 2018 Honor Roll, listing all those who supported Penn • Fred Lane, W’56 Rowing last fiscal year. We gratefully acknowledge our alumni, family • Scott S. Meuser, W’84 members and friends for helping to provide support for our coaches and • Christopher Ohl, C’91 current student-athletes. • Gregory W. Patcella, C’06 In this time of celebration as 2018 draws to a close, we offer our best • Nicholas B. Paumgarten wishes to you for a very happy holiday season and look forward to an (Co-Chair), C’67 exciting spring racing season for all three teams. • Terese Friel Portell, C’89 • Gail Reynolds, PAR’17 All of our best and Happy Holidays. • David Schofield Jr., C’81 • John Straus, W’06 Nick Paumgarten Daphne Klausner • Elizabeth Tabas, C’01 Nick Paumgarten, C’67 Daphne Klausner, CGS’88, G’93, PAR‘18 • Mitchell A. Tamkin, C’80 Friends of Penn Rowing Friends of Penn Rowing • William Threadgill, C’84 Co-Chair Co-Chair Heavyweight Rowing Update Geoff Bond Nicholas P. Paumgarten Head Coach of Heavyweight Rowing The Penn Heavies competed at both the Head of the Charles and the Head of the Schuylkill this fall. For the Charles, the line-ups were fairly balanced in terms of manpower between two 8s and a 4+. We finished with the 4+ taking 14th, one 8 taking 27th, and the other 23rd. For the Schuylkill, we boated stacked line-ups and the results were quite exciting. In the 4+, with one man recently switched to the other side, the guys place 4th, only 2.6 seconds behind NYAC, who won. In the Club Champ 8, the B Boat won in a time of 12:07.5, with Navy B (12:16.6), Navy C (12:22.3), and Drexel (12:25.9) following. The A Boat won the Champ 8 (11:56.1) event over some impressive competition, including a Chinese National Team boat (11:58.8), Penn AC (12:00.1), Navy (12:04.7), and Drexel (12:05.6). Lightweight Rowing Update Colin Farrell Fred W. Leonard Head Coach of Lightweight Rowing The fall season was incredibly productive for the Lightweights. We are always looking to compete and perform in the fall, as well as lay the foundation for a successful spring season. Navy Day was highlighted by winning 4 events and finishing 1st and 2nd in the Lightweight 8+. At the Head of the Charles, we were 5th in the Lightweight 8+ and qualified two Lightweight 4+’s for next year, finishing 3rd and 7th in that event. The Princeton Chase saw our Varsity finish 5th, our JV and 3V both finished 2nd, and we were able to win the Lightweight 4+. We finished the fall with the Frostbite Regatta where we won every event we raced in, 5 total. The team is in a strong spot coming out of the fall season, but we know the spring is another notch up in terms of competition and performance, so we’re looking forward to the coming months. Women’s Rowing Update Wesley Ng Head Coach of Women’s Rowing From our training and racing it’s clear that the team has a lot of ambition, solid training habits, and a lot of potential. We had some notably strong performances at the Navy Day Regatta, Head of the Charles, and Head of the Schuylkill highlighted by a medal performance in the Club 4+ at the Charles and winning the Champ 8, Club 8, and Champ 4 events at the Head of the Schuylkill. With increased competition, higher expectations, and a greater training volume come new challenges and I’m pleased with how much the team has demonstrated resiliency and how closely-knit they are as a group. One final note for the fall is that we have a very special recruit who has joined our squad from Team Impact named Keira McGrenehan - Keira is a 10 year old local student who is fighting ulcerative colitis and will be a part of our squad as we head towards spring racing. 2014 Lightweight Rowing 1989 Heavyweight Rowing Reunion Celebrations 2014 Heavyweight Rowing We are thrilled to celebrate our programs’ alumni who are celebrating their reunions this year. We hope you are able to come back to campus this spring and join us in celebrating your milestone reunion years and the notable accomplishments. 50th Reunion Year - 1969 2014 Women’s Rowing 45th Reunion Year - 1974 Notable Accomplishments Include: 40th Reunion Year - 1979 • 1969 HWT - 1st Place (IRA); Adams Cup; Blackwell Cup; Childs Cup; Madeira Cup 35th Reunion Year - 1984 • 1969 LWT - Callow Cup; Dodge Cup; Lev-Brett Bowl; Matthews & Leonard Cups; Wood-Hammond Trophy 30th Reunion Year - 1989 • 1984 HWT - 2nd Place (IRA); 2nd Place (Sprints); Blackwell Cup; Burk Cup; Madeira Cup 25th Reunion Year - 1994 • 1984 LWT - Matthews & Leonard Cups • 1989 HWT - 1st Place (IRA); Blackwell Cup; Burk Cup; 20th Reunion Year - 1999 Childs Cup; Madeira • 1999 HWT - 3rd Place (Sprints); Adams Cup, Blackwell 15th Reunion Year - 2004 Cup; Burk Cup; Madeira • 1999 LWT - Callow Cup 10th Reunion Year - 2009 • 1999 Women - Connell Cup • 2009 Women - Raritan Cup 5th Reunion Year - 2014 2009 Varsity Lightweight Rowing 2009 Women’s Rowing Alumni Spotlight - John Chatzky, C’78 John was a 3-year varsity letterman as a Heavyweight coxswain; captain both 1977 & ’78 seasons; Team MIP oarsman in 1976; Eastern Sprints (Ivy League Champions) in 1976 & ’77; IRA Championship winners in 1976, ’77 & ’78; As an undergrad a member of the U.S. National Rowing team ’77 & ’78 after Penn was on the U.S. National Rowing Team in ’79 winning Gold (8s) at Pan Am Games and in ’80 a member of the U.S. Olympic Eight that due to the boycott didn’t compete. John still continues to be active in the sport at many levels through competition at numerous Nat’l Championship, severing on the Board of Directors of Nat’l Rowing Foundation, serving on the board of the Friends of Penn Rowing and member of U.S. Rowing Hall of Fame. Currently John is Vice President & General Counsel of Property Resources Corporation located in White Plains, NY. This spring John will be part of the Penn Athletics Hall of Fame Class XI. This class will be inducted on Saturday, May 4, 2019 in a ceremony to be held at The Inn at Penn. Q What did rowing at Penn mean to you? A The lessons learned in the boathouse and on the water—commitment, determination, pursuit of excellence, trust, and discipline—were as important as the lessons learned in the classroom. It taught me the Q&A importance of risk taking and going outside of your comfort zone. Questions & Answers ALUMNI Q What is your favorite memory from your time with program as an undergrad? SPOTLIGHT A There are so many memories of great times with teammates that it is hard to pick only one but I think that my favorite memory is the trip we took to the San Diego Crew Classic. We had worked really hard prior to that race, thought we were fast, but uncertain of how we might stack up against all others, particularly the west coast crews. We brought three crews, a 1V eight a JV eight and a 3V coxed four. We swept all three of those events and let everyone know that the Quakers were the kings of the Regatta.