Bowdoin Rowing

Medals

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Guts, Glory, and Gold!

From left to right, Katie Ross ’14, Catherine Yochum, ’15, Bonnie Cao ’13, Mary Bryan Barksdale ’15, Sam Burns ’13

At The Head of The Charles on Oct. 20th 2012, Bowdoin crews made Navy history as both the women and the men earned medals in this classic fall festival of rowing. Racing in the College Fours event, both crews pulled with enormous determination and just plain guts as they attacked the course from beginning to end. When results were posted, the men repeated a medal winning row from 2011, and the women won Bowdoin’s first gold at The Charles. It was glorious.

Starting with bow #4, the men were on track to challenge for the gold themselves. They won the Snake the week before and were the first college crew by over a minute in their silver medal row at the Textile. They took to the Charles rowing really strongly to Cambridge Boat Club but there they snagged a branch on the skeg which caused a brush with Fordham’s stern and forced the Bears to stop briefly and move to the outside of the slower crew. Coxswain Jen Helble ‘14 quickly brought her boat to speed, but the pause cost them valuable time. The University of Virginia repeated as winner, and Bowdoin came 5th with Michigan, Michigan State, and Milwaukee School of Engineering ahead of them. It takes an extraordinary effort to regain racing speed after a stop that late in the race, but these men had a gutsy recovery that earned them a medal for a second consecutive year.

And the women won the Gold for Bowdoin’s first trip to the Awards Ceremony! After winning both the Textile and the Snake earlier in the season, these women were convinced they could take the Charles. Senior coxswain Bonnie Cao called and steered an aggressive race for her ambitious crew. Starting with bow #5, the Bears left #6 Penn State in their wake early while passing Wheaton, U. of Chicago, and Middlebury before rounding through Eliot St. and closing on bow #1 Hamilton. Guts to glory: Bowdoin won by 5 seconds over Grand Valley State with Clemson and Trinity in 3rd and 4th.

Both these men’s and women’s crews set a standard of commitment and determination that carried over to Sunday’s racing. In another milestone for the Navy, Bowdoin entered both men and women in the College Eights on Oct. 21. Racing at the Charles has a way of transforming crews, and both these boats had their best races of the season as they mirrored the spirit and intensity of the fours.

Our alumni men were racing as Polar Rowing in the Club Four on Sat. and were sadly afflicted by The Curse of The Skeg, which seems to have found a home with us! Rowing to the start, they struck something lurking below the surface and sheared off the skeg and rudder, in an uncanny repeat of the 2010 men’s four at the Charles, and the 2012 incident at Dad Vail.  They docked at MIT where a boatman was able to supply a new skeg, but did not have time to replace the rudder, so these guys gamely cast off and rowed the course without steerage beyond what they could provide by pulling. They finished with 4 penalties on the buoys, worth 90 seconds, but still beat one crew!

The Charles offered up its usual surprises, dramas, and this year,  a victory for the Navy. Thanks to all the alums and families and friends who joined the racers for 2 days of historic proportions in the world’s most famous fall regatta. Soon enough it’s into the gym with anticipation of spring’s sprints, but for now, it’s time to enjoy the glories of this fall’s golden season.

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Through The Snake; On To The Charles!

We had a great day of racing at the Quinsigamond Snake Regatta in Worcester on 10/13.

Both men and women repeated last year’s  gold medal sweep in the fours events; the men beat 2nd place Vt. by :32 and the women zoomed to a :52 win over Amherst in 2nd.  The novice men and women came in first among the novice entries, with the Novice Women stealing the show with a 6th place finish among all crews!  In the eights, the men were 20th and the women 23rd. Complete results are at snake.qra.org.

Now it’s on to the Charles on Oct. 20-21.  We’re racing both men and women in the College Fours on Sat. and the College Eights on Sun.

An alumni boat of men will race in the Club Four on Sat as Polar Rowing.  And our own Molly Taft ‘11 is bow seat in the Riverside crew in the Club Eight, and John and Christine Haines have a spot in the Director’s Challenge Mixed Double, all on Sat.

The trailer will most likely be parked at the FALS lot, and we hope you’ll swing by to say hello and greet the team.  Sat. night’s alumni gathering will be at Asgard Pub and Restaurant at 350 Mass Ave in Cambridge starting at 7:15.

Based on our results in the fours this fall we should be competing for top spots in those events, so be sure to come out and holler for the Bears!

Let’s Go Black!

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Fall Opener

The Fall Racing Season opened with The Textile River Regatta on Sunday 9/30, during Bowdoin’s Family Weekend.

On Sat. we welcomed rowing families at the Boathouse where we dedicated the Tafts’ gift of our new Pocock K4, announced a major gift to the endowment, and gave folks a chance to try a hand at the oar in the eights. Then we loaded the trailer to head to Lowell for the annual opener on the Merrimack River.

Many families made their way to the river and the great spirit of Sat.’s fesitivites made its way with them. And the crews were fast!

The Varsity Women won the Open 4 by :29 with an agressive row over the top of the course and impressive finish below the bridge.

The Varsity Men in the Open 4 zoomed to silver with a similar race plan, only :11 behind home course powerhouse Merrimack and :12 ahead of Riverside. WPI was the closest collegiate crew over a minute behind the Bears.

The Novice Men opened the medal run in the morning in the 4 with a silver, and two Novice Women’s 4’s dashed to bronze and a 5th.

Scott Mitchell powered his way to a bronze in the Club 1x, just 2 seconds out of silver.

In the eights, the both WN8 and MN8 were 4th, and the VM8 came 11th while the WV8 was 12th.

And a four full of alumni men prepping for the Charles came 11th in the Open 4!

All around, it was a wonderful fall weekend, and thanks go out to rowing families and the rowers themselves for making it so fun to race boats!

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Dad Vail Icing on The Cake

After sweeping the varsity fours events at New Englands the Bowdoin Navy headed to Philadelphia for the Aberdeen Dad Vail Regatta and iced the season’s  cake with  with three crews advancing to the semis,  a silver medal for the women in the D-2/3 Varsity Four, and lessons learned in Lane 0.

Coxswain Bonnie Cao ’13 drove her crew of stroke Caroline Ciocca ’12, Heather Kinnear ’12, Courtney Payne ’15, and Katie Ross ’14 to a photo finish with Philadelphia University while a strong Nova SE crew won by 4 seconds.  This Bowdoin crew demonstrated the heart  of the whole team with a determined and powerful sprint that just never backed down from the challenge.  This silver extends Bowdoin’s medal winning streak in this event to 4 years, including the gold in 2009, silver in 2010, and bronze in 2011.  Ciocca and Kinnear have been in the medal crews  for the last 3 years!

Both the Novice Men and Varsity Men advanced to the semis showing the depth of the team in national level competition.  Coxswain Bridgett McCoy ’15 had the reins for stroke Jack Wostrel ’15, Brock Cassidy ’15, Nathan Post ’15 and Bryce Ervin ’15.  This crew surprised the field, but not themselves, with its second place finish in the qualifier; they raced with the same confidence and determination that characterizes each of our top boats, and carried those qualities to the semi as well, even though they did not advance.

The Varsity Men get the prize for the highest drama of all our entries. As the saying goes,  “Sometimes you’re the windshield, sometimes you’re the bug.” After winning the gold at New Englands, coxswain Christine Buckland ’12, Dan Polasky ’12, Tucker Colvin ’13, Cal Brooks ’15 and Mark Endrizzi ’15 came to Philadelphia with high hopes for  contesting a medal.  But in the Friday qualifier, they hit a submerged log at 500 meters which sheared off the skeg and rudder, and forced them out of the race.  Fortunately, Cal’s mother, Beth Goodman, is also a lawyer, and her maternal and legal drive quickly called up the USRA Rules of Rowing where she found grounds to appeal the result.  The appeal was succesful and the crew was placed in a semi for Sat. out in Lane 0 next to the wall. Thanks to our friends at Amherst and Gerry Quinlan at St. Joe’s we got the parts needed for John Tytus of Pocock to repair the skeg and rudder.   In the semi the crew staged an all out assault, but from that outside lane couldn’t quite catch the leaders to advance to the finals.

The Head Referee complimented these men by saying that in his years on the river he had never seen such a good result from that lane.  And Anne-Marie Barron, Christine’s mom, wrote the crew a note worthy of gold in itself. A bit of it reads,

“…if the playing field had been level…you would have had incredible results at Dad Vail- your entire season is evidence of that.  Yet in spite of profound disappointment…your grace, dignity, integrity, and courage stand as indicators of the champions you truly are…”

The Novice Women tasted some disappointment as well.  Coxie Alex Lynds ’15, stroke Anna Westervelet ’14, Catherine Yochum ’15, Emily Weinberger ’15, and Mary Bryan Barksdale ’15 were racing as a new line up and rowed their hearts out, but were just not quite fast enough to advance.  Their intensity and desire bode well for seasons to come.

And finally, kudos to our two scullers in the exhibition singles.  Neither Elliott Munn ’12 nor Samantha Burns ’13 advanced from the qualifiers, but both finished with big grins after racing hard on the Schuylkill.  These two embodied what it means to be a part of Bowdoin Navy, and as we close the books on the 25th Anniversary of The Restoration of Rowing at Bowdoin, their effort is captured by another part of Anne-Marie’s note:

“…commitment to one another and common values and shared goals, taking the work seriously but not the self too seriously, always being ready to offer and receive support and compassion during times of challenge, and laughing often- are among the secrets of true success.”

The Dad Vail this year was truly icing on the cake of a great season, full of great results and lessons learned.

 

 

 

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Rowing Alchemey Turns Silver Into Gold!

At the close of its 25th Anniversary Season, The Bowdoin Navy found some racing alchemy that turned the silver commemoration into Gold! On May 5th at the New England Rowing Championships on historic Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, MA, Bowdoin advanced all 6 of its entries to the Grand Finals and once there, took 4 gold medals.

The Novice Men’s Four, with cox Bridgett McCoy ’15, stroke Jack Wostrel ’15, Chris Breen ’15, Nathan Post ’15 and Bryce Ervin ’15 rowed its fastest time of the season in finishing 6th in the Grand.  The Novice Women’s Four beat its 8th place seed by finishing 5th under the helm of Ashley Talbot ’15, and with stroke Julia O’Keefe ’15, Catherine Yochum ’15, Amanda Maisel ’15 and Helen Mohney ’15.

All four of the upper boats moved through the morning heats with confidence and poise, and in the afternoon finals showed determination and patience with big moves in the final stages of the 2000 meter course to claim the gold.

The medal run started with the W2V4 moving through the course ahead of the field in a three way race with Holy Cross and Trinity.  Over the last 300 meters coxswain Alex Lynds ’15 moved her crew of stroke Anna Westervelt ’14, Emily Weinberger ’15, Sam Burns ’13, and Mary Bryan Barksdale ’15 into position for a closing sprint which earned the win in the closest finish of the day, taking the gold with a 2.3 second gap over Holy Cross with Trinity back by 7 seconds in 3rd.

The M2V4 staged a similar finish with a decisive move over the last 200 meters to best rivals Vermont and Amherst by 3 and 4 seconds respectively. Stroke Elliott Munn ’12, Scott Mitchell ’15, Tom Marcello ’12, and Capt. Morgan Andersen ’12 took the calls from coxswain Jen Helble ’14. For the 3 seniors it was an especially satisfying finish to their season and collegiate careers.

The WV4 gave a characteristically dominant performance leading Connecticut College and Amherst over the course and pulling away in the last 500 meters to beat the Camels by 7.6 and the Jeffs by 8.8 seconds.  Bonnie Cao coxed for Capt. and stroke Caroline Ciocca ’12, Heather Kinnear ’12, Courtney Payne ’15, and Katie Ross ’14.  This win extended a 3 year streak of silver medals at NE’s with a 4th year in the Gold!

The last race of the sweep was the MV4.  At the starting line, the gold could have gone to any of the three top seeded crews.  Christine Buckland ’12 had the helm and the calls for stroke Dan Polasky ’12, Tucker Colvin ’13, Cal Brooks ’15, and Mark Endrizzi ’15.  Behind at the start, the crew moved patiently through the fleet to set up the finish.  At 1500 meters Bowdoin put on a perfectly executed drive to the line to beat Wentworth by 3.2 and Vermont by 8.9 seconds.

What better way to finish off the Celebration of The 25th Anniversary of the Restoration of Rowing at Bowdoin! From the modest beginnings of modern rowing in 1986, The Bowdoin Navy has become a dominant force in small boat rowing in New England. In 2012 the hard working athletes of the Bowdoin Crew found the secret of turning silver into gold!

Click here for results!