Women's Rowing Banquet 2010


Friday, May 14 was the night of the SU Women's Rowing Banquet down in Mount Laurel, NJ and the SU women came dressed to kill.

Coach Kris Sanford served as the MC for a touching night of stories and team appreciation. The graduating Senior class was presented with commemorative plaques and flowers from the Athletic Department and with the ceremonial team mug which is given by the Syracuse Alumni Rowing Association.

Many apologies: my camera completely pooped out but here are a few of the images that DID come out. Parents, friends, anyone that has additional pictures, please send to Kris and we'll get them online.



Deja Vu all over again.


Yogi said it best. We've been here before. This time there were no big waves - just another classic battle between the Orange and the Big Red and again the Big Red took it by less than a second. .947 to be precise. When you think about it that's four times the margin of the Goes Cup win this year. Results here.

So - The sixth seeded Orange finish eighth in the Varsity eights, Cornell wins the petite to finish seventh overall. Dartmouth finishes fifth in the Grand final after stunning SU and #1 Brown by winning the morning heat. SU gets another crack at the Big Green in Hanover next Sunday.

Oh - the Grand Final. Not Bruno. Brown was third. Yes - #2 seed Harvard. You can never count Harry Parker's boys out. They beat Princeton by half a length.

Results here

Powerhouse Timing results courtesy of row2k.com
Photo by Tom Darling
Meanwhile Out on the West Coast
#1 Washington beat #2 Cal by length - again - to win the PAC-10 V8 Title.

Results here.


Jamco results courtesy of row2k.com



JV takes second in a barnburner in petites

Deja vu indeed. For those who recall last year's Sprints and IRA, the petite finals result should not be a surprise.

Our guys took second, beaten by nine one-hundredths of a second by Yale.

The Syracuse JVs hung with BU thru the body of the race, and pulled a bit ahead, and from 300 to go till the line it was back and forth between us and the Bulldogs, with the winner the one to take the last stroke. From the finish it looked like a more complete race for the JVs; more to come from Quinsigamond.

Conditions continue to vary race to race, with the breeze - at this second- a straight cross. Last second it was a straight tail...



Times
Yale 5:44.32
Syracuse 5:44.41
BU 5:46.75

Splitting Seconds and Splitting Hairs

SU Coach Dave Reischman has been quoted a couple of times as saying there were eight or nine crews that could medal in the Varsity Eights at the Eastern Sprints. He might have been two or three short in that estimation.

Here’s what the seeds mean – which heat and lane you get – perhaps more importantly on this breezy Sunday in Worcester – whom you get to race and maybe upset...or be upset by. Just ask Dartmouth and Columbia. Just ask Syracuse and Yale.

#1 Brown, #2 Harvard, #4 Wisconsin and #5 Princeton made it to the Varsity Eight Grand Final as expected. #3 Yale and #6 Syracuse…not so much. Yale was victimized by #9 Columbia’s surge to a photo finish, which saw Wisco hang onto second by an eyelash. SU was stunned by #12 Dartmouth’s best race of the year – a wire-to-wire win over #1 Brown, which hung on for a close win over the late-charging
Orange in third.

Oh - and we all know you can't compare times from heat to heat. So it doesn't matter that SU's time was faster than the winning crew's in the other two heats.

So we have a Petite final that features the three and six seeds along with #7 Northeastern, #8 Cornell #10 BU and #11 Navy.

Imagine the old days of the IRA with all 12 of these crews side by side across a lake. We can dream.

And as I post this - Yale beats the SU JV in the Petite Final by nine-hundreths of a second. Augghhh!!! More from Joe Paduda above.

Tenth-seeded SU Women Finish...Tenth - V4 Wins 3rd level

SU's crews battle on this afternoon at the EAWRC Sprints in Camden.

The Orange Varsity Eight wound up fourth in the Petite Final of the EAWRC Sprints in Camden.
Radcliffe won it with Northeastern second and Columbia third.

Results here

Two-seed Yale regained Eastern supremacy for the moment with a split second win over #1 Princeton in the Grand Final.

Results here


The second varsity held off a challenge by Georgetown in the sprint to take second in the third level final. Navy won it by a length or so. SU's time of 7:10.02 was two-tenths of a second better than the Hoyas. Rutgers, BC and MIT followed.

Results here.

The Orange women took on BC, Georgetown and George Washington in the third level petite and won it wire to wire in 8:07.46. SU led BC by open water and Georgetown and GWU were far behind.

Results here

The third varsity eight finished sixth in the petite final, making the Orange the 12th place team in that division. Penn won it by a length over Penn.

Results here

The V4B also trailed in its petite final. Bucknell won easily over Radcliffe.

Results here

Sprints frosh petites - 'Cuse takes third

Our guys were fourth nearing 500 gone after a good start, well up on Penn and Yale. Wisco at a 36 with Navy a 37 while SU was down around 35. Somehow Wisco took it up to a 40 at 800 gone. They kept it at 38 and held onto Brown thru the 1000; that rating may seem high but the tailwind is growing in strength.

SU pressed hard in the third 500, moving into the leading crews, and challenged the leaders with a tremendous move across the 1500, making up about a length. Wisco won in a time of 5:48.9 Brown second 5:49 SU 5:51.

Remember this crew has race very little this year due to scheduling and weather. The result was a photo finish, and our guys acquitted themselves admirably. The conditions were tough and so was the crew.

The mens V8 heats - inside story

Talking with Coach Reischman a few minutes ago; here's Dave's take on the heat.

We were off the line well, took a bit longer than normal to settle into our rhythm. Stayed well in contact, rowed a strong middle thousand, walked thru Northeastern as we knew we'd have to (they have a very solid first thousand) in the last 400, and finished within a length of Brown. All in all, we knew we'd have to row a very good race to make it thru, and went just about as fast as we could.

Pace was just where we wanted it, we beat the crew we needed to beat, and hats off to a terrific row by the Dartmouth guys. That doesn't make it any easier to be out of the grands.

Next weekend we'll be racing Dartmouth in a dual.

In the meantime, the guys are ready to go out hard in the petites.

Sprints V8 heats see SU finish third, into petites: Dartmouth beats Brown!

In a result no one could have predicted, Dartmouth bested Brown in the first V8 heat where two crews go thru to the finals. SU finished third over Northeastern.

Dartmouth took the lead off the start and kept it all the way down the course, holding off a big Brown push at the thousand and withstanding a furious SU sprint in the final 300 meters that pushed the Orange bow in front of Northeastern, who has led our guys till the SU sprint.

Conditions are a bit more on the breezy side.

Unofficial times.
5:36.7 Dartmouth
5:37.2 Brown
5:39.0 SU

An incredible race.

More Sprints Heartbreak for SU Men

Topher Bordeau gets to celebrate for a few hours anyway and Orange fans get to stew once again. Bordeau's #12 seed Dartmouth blasted off the line this morning and battled #1 Brown all the way in the V8 heat edging Bruno by half a second. While the Orange came on strong at the end, it wasn't strong enough. Sixth-seeded SU rowed through #7 Northeastern and into both Brown and Dartmouth but the finish line came at 2,000 meters as it always does and SU was half a length short, finishing third in 5:39.02.

Results here.

SU against Northeastern, Cornell, Navy, Yale and BU in the Petite Final. Cornell missed a spot in the Grand Final by .7 seconds winding up third behind Princeton. Harvard won the heat. Half the field in the petites is a rematch of the Goes Cup which Cornell won over SU by .2 seconds in miserable conditions at Annapolis.

JV in petites

Northeastern came from the twelve seed to knock off #6 Syracuse and #7 Yale for the second spot in the JV Grand Final in the first morning heat. Brown won it, holding off Northeastern at the end.

The Huskies had trailed early as SU and Yale battled for second but as Yale fell back, Northeastern move up and through the Orange, challenging top-seeded Brown near the finish.

Results here.

SU goes against Yale, BU, Dartmouth, Columbia and Navy in the petite final


Frosh eight to petites.

Princeton blew out to an early lead and ran away with the Freshman eight heat this morning in Worcester with Cornell second. Syracuse battled Wisconsin down the course with the Badgers taking SU by less than a second down the stretch and both moving to the petite final. SU finished in 5:58.29.

Click here for official times.

SU faces Navy, Yale, Wisconsin, Penn and Brown in the petite final.

Men's V4 Victorious

The men's varsity four opened the day's racing for SU in Worcester this morning with a wire to wire win in the second flight fours with cox. The Orange grabbed the lead over Northeastern early, opened to a length with a move at the halfway point and rowed away to win by a couple of lengths open in 6:38.43.

Official results here.


In the boat - Isaac Budman (left) coxing, Matt Hopeck at stroke, Chip Keyes at 3, Superman's friend James Olson at two and Jim Behr in the bow.



Powerhouse timing results courtesy of row2k.com.

Mens frosh eight finishes 4th; into petites

The mens freshman eight heat is off. Conditions still excellent with a bit of a cross tail wind, at 7mph according to Bill Gennaro.

Our guys rowed a competitive race to finish in fourth, as Princeton won followed by Cornell with open water back to Wisco and SU.

Looking at the other eights coming off the water there's no question our guys gave up more than a few pounds to the other crews; not that size matters.

SU wins V4 at men's eastern sprints

The day started out on a winning note for the Orange as the V4 dominated their final with a convincing win. I'm standing at the trailer as the Yale 4 congratulates the guys on their win. The margin was a ten second gap, with the guys sprinting to test their race plan for the upcoming IRAs.

Crews in the race with the Orange included the afore mentioned Yale, Northeastern, MIT, Princeton and Yale lights. There were two 4+ grands, with the other race mostly frosh crews. No medal, but shirts are always awarded at the Sprints.

The guys rowed the start at a 44 before settling to a 37 then to a 33 for the body.

Coach Joe DeLeo was pleased with his guys, saying "they executed the race plan well, there's more speed in the boat that we'll have to get out if we're going to excel at the IRAs."

Conditions are great. Light tail, 65 and sunny in Worcester.

Next up, freshman eights...

Women's V8 to Petites

The Orange women's varsity eight went according to the seeds this morning, with tenth seeded SU finishing fourth and qualifying for the petite final along with Radcliffe, which was third.
Syracuse finished in 6:58.57 a couple of lengths behind Radcliffe.

Brown jumped out to a huge lead and held on to finish first with Dartmouth making a tremendous surge in the second half of the race and winding up second.

Official results here.

In addition to Radcliffe, the Orange will face BU, Northeastern, Columbia and Rutgers in the petite final.

Second Varsity finished fifth in EAWRC Morning Heat

A disappointing morning for the Orange women’s second varsity as they finished fifth in the qualifying heat and wind up in the third level final. George Washington blasted off at the start and got a lead on SU, even competing briefly with Columbia, Yale and Dartmouth. The Colonials eventually fell back into fourth but kept a lead over the Orange could not make a move down the stretch and lost by ¾ of a length. Georgetown trailed.

Yale powered through Columbia to win and Dartmouth was third a couple of lengths back.

Syracuse finished in 7:15.28 and faces Georgetown, Navy, Boston College, Rutgers and MIT in the third level final.

Results here.

Women's 3V8 fourth in morning heat.

First to race for Syracuse today was the women's Third Varsity (Novice) eight, getting off the line at 8:16. The Orange finished fourth in the heat in 7:54.47, with Cornell and Princeton and finishing one-two to qualify for the Grand Final. Columbia was third also qualifying for the petite final. Cornell and Princeton jumped to the early lead and the Big Red held on to finish first. Columbia was third - a length or more behind, with SU well behind the Lions but outrowing Rutgers for the spot in the petites.

Results here.

SU will face Columbia,Penn, BU, Radcliffe and Dartmouth in the petite final.

Women's V4s trail

The women's varsity four crew finished last in its morning heat in a race won by Princeton with Radcliffe second. Results here.

The varsity four B squad also trailed in the Varsity 4 B heat - a race won by Brown with BU second. Results here.

Alumnae Eight battles, trails

SU's alumnae eight got into a split second finish at the Sprints this afternoon but it was a battle for fourth and the Orange Women lost it. Penn edged them out by .3 seconds. Brown won the race with Radcliffe second and Dartmouth third.

Results here.

Powerhouse timing results courtesy of row2k.com.

Women's sprints phone- and webcast info

To listen to EAWRC Championships



Dial (605) 715-4900 and enter passcode 698020 (followed by the # key) at the prompt.



Or via the internet



http://secure.stretchinternet.com/demo/games.php?user=ecacrowing&o=cal_stamp&cat=opponent&cat_val=EAWRC%20Rowing%20Championships





Schedule listed below – finals will be in afternoon (check the link)



http://www.row2k.com/eawrc/2010/EAWRC_Regatta_SCHEDULE.pdf



8:10am 3rd Varsity Eight RUTGERS COLUMBIA CORNELL PRINCETON SYRACUSE

9:00am Varsity Eight BOSTON COLLEGE RADCLIFFE BROWN DARTMOUTH SYRACUSE M.I.T.

9:30am 2nd Varsity Eight G. WASHINGTON DARTMOUTH YALE COLUMBIA SYRACUSE GEORGETOWN
9:45am 3rd Varsity Four SYRACUSE DARTMOUTH PRINCETON RADCLIFFE NAVY

10:15am Varsity B Four NAVY BUCKNELL BROWN BOSTON UNIV. SYRACUSE

1:00am ALUMNAE RACE DARTMOUTH SYRACUSE BROWN RADCLIFFE PENNSYLVANIA

Sprints webcast and live phone coverage

thanks to Tracy, Joe K and a host of others, here's how and where to listen in.

To listen to EARC Championships over the phone,

Dial (605) 715-4900 and enter Passcode 934257 (followed by the # key) at the prompt.

Or listen over the internet -

http://secure.stretchinternet.com/demo/games.php?user=ecacrowing&o=cal_stamp&cat=opponent&cat_val=EARC%20Rowing%20Championships


Here is a link to a schedule:

http://www.row2k.com/earc/features.cfm?ID=263

Schedule for the Heats – afternoon finals (see link)

8:30 4's Flight 2 Grand
Syracuse Northeastern Yale (L) MIT (L) Princeton (LH) Yale (H)

9:48 FR HV #2
Cornell Princeton Syracuse Wisconsin Northeastern George Wash.

10:36 2V HV #1
Brown Syracuse Yale Northeastern Pennsylvania

11:12 Var HV #1
Brown Syracuse Northeastern Dartmouth George Wash. Rutgers

SU Women's Lineups for EAWRC Sprints

The Orange women's varsity eight for the EAWRC Sprints on Sunday remains the same as it was for the Big East championships. Juniors Allison Ehrke (left) and Natalie Mastracci are at stroke-seven. Seniors Sydney Axson and Susan Groff are the power at six-five. Then it's junior Rachael Ogundiran at four, and sophomore Keri Ann Miller at three. Freshman Emily Moomey rows two and soph Ann Couenhoven at bow, with soph Allison Todd (right) coxing. Todd moved up from the 2V before the Big East along with Moomey and Couenhoven who had been stroke-seven in the 2V. Todd's big sister Kate was V8 cox before graduating last year and will cox the alumnae boat on Sunday (see story below).

Coach Kris Sanford's tenth seeded V8 is scheduled to race at 9:00 in the morning heat against #15 BC, #3 Brown, #9 Radcliffe, #4 Dartmouth and #16 MIT.

Click here for lineups for all SU boats courtesy of suathletics.com.

And here for Sprints prevew from suathletics.com.
Check on this blog for regular updates from the EAWRC sprints and the EARC (men's) sprints all day Sunday.
And here is where to listen live.

SU Men's Lineups for Eastern Sprints on Sunday

Coach Dave Reischman is set to send the same nine guys to the starting line for the Eastern Sprints that he has sent all season in the varsity eight.
Junior Mike Gennaro (left) , the U23 team veteran, strokes as usual, with three other juniors (Dan Turner at 6 and the Berry twins, Vince at five Dan in the bow) rowing and junior Kenny Marfilius (right) coxing. Senior Tyson Bry is at four and Ryan Patton at two. Two sophs round out the lineup - big Chris Lutz (6'4" - 220) at seven and Mike Dietrick at three.

Syracuse is seeded sixth in the V8 and takes on #1 Brown, #7 Northeastern, #12 Dartmouth, #13 George Washington and #18 Rutgers in the qualifying heat set at 11:12 Sunday morning.

Click here for lineups for all boats courtesy of suathletics.com

And here is the suathletics story on the SU men at the sprints.
Look on this blog for regular updates on SU's men at the EARC Sprints and SU's women at the EAWRC Sprints throughout the day on Sunday.
And here is where to listen live.

Polls and Speculation as we await the Sprints

Just three varsity eights in the Top Twenty raced last weekend, none of them EARC crews, but USRowing put out a new Collegiate Poll this week anyway and SU’s men's varsity eight held its number six spot. Washington again is the unanimous number one – in fact numbers one through ten stayed the same except that Cornell fell out of a tenth place tie with Columbia and into the eleven spot.

Temple fell from 19th out of the poll after finishing fifth at the Dad Vail Regatta. FIT was third at the Dad Vail and moved into a 19th place tie with Williams, which won the ECAC National Invitation Regatta.

13 coaches voted this week compared to 14 the week before. Brown’s Paul Cooke and Dartmouth’s Topher Bourdeau did not vote this week, but Brown held its #3 spot and Dartmouth stayed at #15. San Diego’s Brooks Dagman was the coach who weighed in this week after not voting last week.


While the Orange (above at Windermere Cup race) ranks ahead of Princeton and Wisconsin in the national poll, SU is the six seed in the Eastern Sprints this weekend behind the #4 Badgers and #5 Tigers. What does that add up to? Probably not a lot. Syracuse is in a morning heat with EARC #1 Brown and #7 Northeastern and the general thought in rowing circles is that the top eight or nine teams are within seconds of each other.

CMax Rankings

Speaking of which, the Orange also stay at number six in this weeks CMax rankings, 9.8 seconds behind #1 Washington. The top nine crews held their spots with Northeastern moving into a tie with Columbia for tenth.

For amusement purposes - CMax has Syracuse two seconds slower than Brown, .8 seconds faster than Wisconsin, .9 faster than Princeton and 3.7 faster than Northeastern.

CMax Women’s Rankings


CMax ranks the SU Women’s V8 (above at Windermere Cup race) at 37th in the nation, 25.9 seconds behind #1 Princeton.

As for the teams SU takes on this Sunday in the EAWRC morning heat, the Orange women are rated 17.7 seconds behind Brown, 13.1 behind Dartmouth and 5.4 seconds behind Radcliffe. SU is rated 12.1 seconds faster than Boston College and 15.2 faster than MIT.


Polls and results courtesy of row2k.com

Alumnae Eight Ready to Race

A boatload of some of SU’s most successful rowers is due at the starting line in Camden this Sunday afternoon at one o’clock. The Orange alumnae eight is set to battle Dartmouth, Brown, Radcliffe and Penn at the Eastern Sprints.

Lane 1: Dartmouth
2: Syracuse
3: Brown
4: Radcliffe
5: Penn

The Syracuse boat boasts an Olympian in SARA President Tracy Rude Smith ’90 and seven rowers with NCAA experience. Libby Graves ‘01, Jillian Kott ‘02, Rachael Kirchhoff ‘02 and Kate Modolo ‘01 were in the boat that finished sixth in 2001.

Graves, who was earning her masters’ degree, Kott and Kirchoff also competed at the NCAA’s in 2002 along with Nicole Garofalo ’02, Jordan Brophy-Hilton ’02 and current SU Assistant Coach Alicea Kochis ‘02.

Kate Todd ’09 will cox, sitting in for the NCAA coxswain Erin Gallagher who is walking at graduation with her Ph. D. this weekend.
In their prime:
Graves and Kott (left)
Kochis and Kirchhoff (right)


Here’s the lineup and, yes, for those familiar with who rows on which side it is a starboard-stroked eight:
C: Kate Todd ‘09
8: Nicole Garofalo ‘02
7: Tracy Rude-Smith ‘90
6: Jillian Kott ‘02
5: Rachael Kirchhoff ‘02
4: Alicea Kochis ‘02
3: Kate Modolo ’01
2: Libby Graves ’01, Master’s ‘02
1: Jordan Brophy-Hilton ‘02

From Atlanta, where she is a spokesperson for Atlantic Southeast Airlines and her husband Ross Beattie coaches the Georgia Tech Women’s Crew, Modolo says she is “looking forward to having a good time with these girls. I haven’t seen them since 2001.”

Nicole Garofalo adds, “We all live in different states now but I try to keep in touch through FaceBook and email. These are the type of girls that you could go years without seeing but when you get together again it's like you begin right where you left off.”

“We’re excited to see Kris again.”

Head Coach Kris Sanford seems to be the major factor in getting these alumnae back into a shell together. “I am very much looking forward to seeing not only my old teammates but Kris as well.” Garofalo (right in her undergrad days) says. “I miss her!"

“We’re all excited to get together and see Kris again,” Modolo says. “We all just love her so much.” Modolo served as a graduate assistant for the women’s team while she was earning her master’s degree at the Newhouse School.

"It will be a lot of fun to race with them again, and also to catch up off the water," Kirchhoff says. "Three of us in the boat have had baby boys in the past year so it will be fun to get them together - and who knows maybe they'll all end up rowing at SU together some day."

Cox Kate sees competition on more than one level.

Kate Todd (left in SU Athletic photo) says she's honored to be coxing this group." As a last minute recruit I have been brushing up on my coxing skills by ordering my boyfriend (Men's Team Coxswain Jamie Hubbell '09) around New York City in a very loud voice, critiquing his posture, strength and stamina during various outings and activities such as running, moving furniture and doing the dishes," she says. "We often debate who is the stronger coxswain and this weekend will surely reinforce my reign."


And the expectations?

On one hand Tracy Smith (left - at Crash B's this year) is keeping her sense of humor about expectations for the race. "Half-slide, high rating and seeing Jesus at the 1500.”

On the other hand, she adds this: “We must win….at all costs.” (It’s hard to tell from an email if she was keyboarding with tongue in cheek.)

Coxswain Kate Todd seems to be on the same page. "I wouldn't bet against the strength of 8 women who love rowing and Kris Sanford so much that they would return to New Jersey long after graduation to once again face the likes of Georgetown and Penn. This loyalty to the Orange, combined with my penchant for strategy and a fierce race plan that may or may not involve a race pace of 42 at half slide for the last 500m will set the stage for quite the showdown."

"I know we are all planning for a win!" Kirchhoff says. Garofalo agrees. “To win! Even though there are lots of new moms in the boat now I know my teammates are amazing athletes!”

Quick Coaches' Comments

Both SU squads - women and men - are hard at work this week getting set for the Sprints coming up on Sunday - the women in Camden and the men in Worcester. It's been a blustery week in Syracuse with some strong winds, chilly temperatures (highs in the 50s) and even some snow flurries this past Sunday.

The women's V8 is the ten seed (see story below) and the men's V8 is seeded sixth.

We asked the coaches for a quick comment on how things are going.


Kris Sanford -

"We’re looking forward to getting to sprints and building off the season's performances thus far. I am very happy with the way that training has been going in the last few days even as we have the distractions of finals and graduation all around us. The team has done a good job of keeping focused and making every practice count – now we have one more chance to put it all together in that perfect race. I am also looking forward to watching the alumni boat row!"





Dave Reischman -

"In the varsity 8 there doesn’t appear to be an easy heat among the three. The challenge for us is to not get caught up in the other crews and focus on creating our own speed. That is how we generate our best speed—put the blinders on and focus on the man in front. We will find out on Sunday if that is good enough."