Friday, March 16, 2012
Clemson Training Men's Team
Spring Breaks almost over and the teams have been working hard, check out these photos of the men's team.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Spring Racing on the Horizon!
Mark your calendars!
The SU men will scrimmage Princeton and Georgetown, at Princeton on March 31, 2012. Racing will be broadcast with a LIVE VIDEO FEED courtesy of Princeton Crew. (THANK YOU PRINCETON!)
Below are race details:
As with the last few years, the 1V at race at 9AM, 1F at 9:10, and 2V at 9:20.
The afternoon session will start at around noon.
The footage will be available through Princeton's website at http://www.princetoncrew.com/
The SU men will scrimmage Princeton and Georgetown, at Princeton on March 31, 2012. Racing will be broadcast with a LIVE VIDEO FEED courtesy of Princeton Crew. (THANK YOU PRINCETON!)
Below are race details:
As with the last few years, the 1V at race at 9AM, 1F at 9:10, and 2V at 9:20.
The afternoon session will start at around noon.
The footage will be available through Princeton's website at http://www.princetoncrew.com/
Sunday, February 19, 2012
1977 - the year that wasn't - Part Five, the Sprints and Packard Cup
Sunday morning, May 15, the other crews took to the water. The morning heats were a success for SU as, for the first time on record, all three eights qualified for the Grand Finals. But qualifying was one thing; defeating crews that had beaten them handily earlier in the season was an entirely different matter. Once again, Harvard won the Varsity event followed by Penn and Cornell with Syracuse just out of the medals in fourth. While SU had indeed gotten faster since the meeting in Boston, Harvard had done that, and more. Notably, the third place medalists were none other than the Big Red, and while they had beaten SU again, this time the margin had shrunk to barely a second. SU had made up a full two lengths on Cornell in three weeks.
The big boat wasn’t the only crew that was faster. The JV eight, stroked by Bob Devlin closed a bit of its gap to Harvard in finishing fifth in the Grands. Even more impressive was the performance of the fourth-place Syracuse freshman eight, which finished just over a length behind first-place Penn while beating Harvard by a second. Princeton and Yale, silver and bronze medalists, both finished within a half-second of Penn. Drew’s crew had gained twelve seconds on the Crimson in a month.
With exams and the Sprints behind them, the crews were looking forward to the camaraderie of IRA camp at the Longbranch Boathouse. This was the time when Syracuse Crew made big improvements – with school over, great weather, and intense but shorter workouts, all focus was on the Regatta.
But before the IRA, SU would take on Dartmouth and MIT at the Packard Cup in Hanover, NH. 1977 wasn’t a great year for the Big Green and MIT’s excellent crews from the early seventies had graduated most of their horses. The result was the SU Varsity taking the Packard Cup, defeating MIT by nine seconds and Dartmouth by over thirteen.
The big boat wasn’t the only crew that was faster. The JV eight, stroked by Bob Devlin closed a bit of its gap to Harvard in finishing fifth in the Grands. Even more impressive was the performance of the fourth-place Syracuse freshman eight, which finished just over a length behind first-place Penn while beating Harvard by a second. Princeton and Yale, silver and bronze medalists, both finished within a half-second of Penn. Drew’s crew had gained twelve seconds on the Crimson in a month.
With exams and the Sprints behind them, the crews were looking forward to the camaraderie of IRA camp at the Longbranch Boathouse. This was the time when Syracuse Crew made big improvements – with school over, great weather, and intense but shorter workouts, all focus was on the Regatta.
But before the IRA, SU would take on Dartmouth and MIT at the Packard Cup in Hanover, NH. 1977 wasn’t a great year for the Big Green and MIT’s excellent crews from the early seventies had graduated most of their horses. The result was the SU Varsity taking the Packard Cup, defeating MIT by nine seconds and Dartmouth by over thirteen.
Monday, February 13, 2012
1977 - the year that wasn't, Part Four - Brown and the Saturday Night Sprints
The week before exams saw SU take to the road to race Brown and what was a very strong crew from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. The Varsity continued to improve, making technical refinements that were beginning to pay off. The Seekonk River, always a tough course with wind, tides, and current all working to confuse and confound coxswains, was solved by SU Varsity cox’n Murray Lukoff, as he brought the Orange across the finish over a length in front of Bruno, with Coast Guard another length back. This was a bit of revenge for the Coasties’ three-second win over SU in the JV eight race, with Brown back by just a bit of open water. The freshman from Onondaga made it down the course in fine fashion, dominating both of their opponents to win by over five seconds over Brown. The third varsity and second frosh stayed home, as there weren’t any Brown or Coast Guard entries for them to race.
Things were coming together. The good weather and lots of miles were beginning to show their effect, as both the Varsity and Freshman crews were picking up more speed every week.
Heading into the Sprints, SU’s Varsity was looking strong. The crew was coming together, steadily making the small technical improvements it needed to win. This “technical deficit” hadn’t prevented Drew Harrison’s freshman crews from ever-increasing levels of success; although according to Lyvers, technique wasn’t “the highest priority in Drew’s mind, but from a physical standpoint he really got the most out of a crew.” That was freshman rowing but for the varsity, pure pulling wasn’t enough. On the varsity level, the oarsmen were rowing against more technically proficient crews. Syracuse had to put out more energy to overcome the other crews’ advantage in efficiency. Good enough technique wasn’t good enough when rowing against the likes of Cornell and Harvard, but over the course of the season things were coming along.
In 1977, the Sprints were again held in Princeton, with the Third Varsity and Second Frosh racing off the night before in what was then an informal event that went by the sobriquet “Saturday Night Sprints.” Not an official part of the EARC Championships, this event was organized and put on primarily by the coaches. SU’s second frosh, rowing under a 30 for most of the 2000 meters, finally raised the rating and came charging up on Northeastern in the last 500, but it was too little too late. NU won by less than a half second. SU’s third varsity, stroked by IRA freshman champion Rick Tremblay, rowed a very aggressive race plan and were rewarded with a Sprints Championship and betting shirts from Penn and Harvard. Years later, Tremblay recalled:
“Neil and coach Sanford played significant roles to enable the SU 3rd varsity boat to be Eastern Sprints Champions (Harvard and UPenn were the other entries.)
We decided to go out strong at the beginning of the race to take a significant lead.
Then Neil took over. He made a sharp turn to starboard to cut off Harvard. Harvard couldn’t figure out how to get around us before the finish line. I’m pretty sure we won the race by open water, at least that’s the way I remember it.
Then the most critical part of the race was Coach Sanford convincing Harry Parker to allow our little lane shifting and consider the race legal. Rumor has it Bill treated Harry to a steak dinner later that weekend.”
With Tremblay in the SU third varsity were cox Neil Prete, Dan Hanavan, fellow IRA frosh champion Pete Gaines, Pete Hausman, Andy Papp, Walter MacVittie, Fred Gliesing, and Bill Samios. Hanavan also has great memories of the win. He remembers: “looking over to the shore after the race at the finish line. The SU crew team cheering, wearing the bright orange SU suit jackets !! What style.”
Things were coming together. The good weather and lots of miles were beginning to show their effect, as both the Varsity and Freshman crews were picking up more speed every week.
Heading into the Sprints, SU’s Varsity was looking strong. The crew was coming together, steadily making the small technical improvements it needed to win. This “technical deficit” hadn’t prevented Drew Harrison’s freshman crews from ever-increasing levels of success; although according to Lyvers, technique wasn’t “the highest priority in Drew’s mind, but from a physical standpoint he really got the most out of a crew.” That was freshman rowing but for the varsity, pure pulling wasn’t enough. On the varsity level, the oarsmen were rowing against more technically proficient crews. Syracuse had to put out more energy to overcome the other crews’ advantage in efficiency. Good enough technique wasn’t good enough when rowing against the likes of Cornell and Harvard, but over the course of the season things were coming along.
In 1977, the Sprints were again held in Princeton, with the Third Varsity and Second Frosh racing off the night before in what was then an informal event that went by the sobriquet “Saturday Night Sprints.” Not an official part of the EARC Championships, this event was organized and put on primarily by the coaches. SU’s second frosh, rowing under a 30 for most of the 2000 meters, finally raised the rating and came charging up on Northeastern in the last 500, but it was too little too late. NU won by less than a half second. SU’s third varsity, stroked by IRA freshman champion Rick Tremblay, rowed a very aggressive race plan and were rewarded with a Sprints Championship and betting shirts from Penn and Harvard. Years later, Tremblay recalled:
“Neil and coach Sanford played significant roles to enable the SU 3rd varsity boat to be Eastern Sprints Champions (Harvard and UPenn were the other entries.)
We decided to go out strong at the beginning of the race to take a significant lead.
Then Neil took over. He made a sharp turn to starboard to cut off Harvard. Harvard couldn’t figure out how to get around us before the finish line. I’m pretty sure we won the race by open water, at least that’s the way I remember it.
Then the most critical part of the race was Coach Sanford convincing Harry Parker to allow our little lane shifting and consider the race legal. Rumor has it Bill treated Harry to a steak dinner later that weekend.”
With Tremblay in the SU third varsity were cox Neil Prete, Dan Hanavan, fellow IRA frosh champion Pete Gaines, Pete Hausman, Andy Papp, Walter MacVittie, Fred Gliesing, and Bill Samios. Hanavan also has great memories of the win. He remembers: “looking over to the shore after the race at the finish line. The SU crew team cheering, wearing the bright orange SU suit jackets !! What style.”
Monday, February 6, 2012
Photos from Winter Training
The fellas are hard at work up here in Syracuse, here's some photos from the past few weeks.
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| Tank Work |
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| Slider Pyramid |
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| Coach Hemmerly |
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| Junior, Mason Leasure |
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| Cross Training |
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| Men at work |
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| Playing Hangman to pass the time |
1977 - the year that wasn't, Part Three
The weather gods were kind to the Orange during the week after the trip to Boston, with unseasonably warm weather and placid conditions on Onondaga. The freshmen began the week with Coach Harrison’s dreaded Tour of the Lake, a circumnavigation of Onondaga that began with Drew loudly encouraging his second boat, proclaiming them Crimson Beaters. Thus began what was to be one of the fastest freshman Tours ever recorded as the first boat sought to erase a bit of the sting from the loss while the now-very-confident second frosh cut every turn and sought every advantage. The Tour ended with the first boat in front, and two very tired crews. Years later, stroke Art Sibley recalled that after the row, Harrison told the first boat they would be fine, they just needed to work every day to close the gap a bit at a time.
The Goes Cup was another disappointing race for the Varsity. Despite the beautiful conditions on the Cayuga Inlet and a fast start by the Orange that saw them with the lead well into the second five hundred meters, Cornell took the Cup with Syracuse nine seconds back in second and Navy trailing. The third varsity managed to take Cornell by just over a second, the freshmen and second freshman eights won convincingly, and the JV also took second, a bit more than a length behind Navy as Cornell finished third. The frosh win and the two varsity eight seconds were enough to give SU the points it needed to win the Norman Stagg Trophy for best overall performance.
Commenting after the race, Coach Sanford said: “We were rowing at altogether too high a rate during the middle of the race (36-36 ½) and it seemed as though we ran into a brick wall during the final 800 meters.”
The Orange’s next competition was Rutgers at home in Syracuse. The Scarlet Knights were going through a low period, with a thin roster and dearth of talent. Without enough athletes to enter a JV, Rutgers was clearly outclassed by the deep Syracuse crew. The Varsity won in a laugher, with Rutgers finishing more than 23 seconds behind the Orange. The first freshman race wasn’t quite as bad, although Harrison’s crew did win by just under ten seconds.
The Goes Cup was another disappointing race for the Varsity. Despite the beautiful conditions on the Cayuga Inlet and a fast start by the Orange that saw them with the lead well into the second five hundred meters, Cornell took the Cup with Syracuse nine seconds back in second and Navy trailing. The third varsity managed to take Cornell by just over a second, the freshmen and second freshman eights won convincingly, and the JV also took second, a bit more than a length behind Navy as Cornell finished third. The frosh win and the two varsity eight seconds were enough to give SU the points it needed to win the Norman Stagg Trophy for best overall performance.
Commenting after the race, Coach Sanford said: “We were rowing at altogether too high a rate during the middle of the race (36-36 ½) and it seemed as though we ran into a brick wall during the final 800 meters.”
The Orange’s next competition was Rutgers at home in Syracuse. The Scarlet Knights were going through a low period, with a thin roster and dearth of talent. Without enough athletes to enter a JV, Rutgers was clearly outclassed by the deep Syracuse crew. The Varsity won in a laugher, with Rutgers finishing more than 23 seconds behind the Orange. The first freshman race wasn’t quite as bad, although Harrison’s crew did win by just under ten seconds.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Women Alums Step Up for the Truck
Following the harrowing brake failure of the SU Women's truck (while pulling a full trailer - thankfully uphill!) the decision was made by Coach Justin Moore that a new towing vehicle just could not be put off any longer. SU Women's Assistant Coaches Alicea Kochis and Andrea Buch were in the vehicle during the time of the failure and were able to maneuver the truck off the road safely.
A call to arms was made to the SU Women Alums to help offset this unexpected cash outflow. The university fronted the money but the expectation is that the truck must be paid for by the alumnae.
A huge shout-out to the following alums who initially stepped up to help out:
Lynne Della Pella Pascale came to the rescue with a multi-year financial commitment. Lynne is pictured in the vintage photo above - far left standing, with the red bandana.
Other contributions were made by
Maura McEnaney, a SU coxswain who wrote in her contributing note, "I once landed a boat on the dock and crushed it, so I am happy to help with the truck"
Bonnie Nault
Diane Kulpinski
Thank you to these four women for leading the charge!
A huge shout-out to the following alums who initially stepped up to help out:
Lynne Della Pella Pascale came to the rescue with a multi-year financial commitment. Lynne is pictured in the vintage photo above - far left standing, with the red bandana.
Other contributions were made by
Maura McEnaney, a SU coxswain who wrote in her contributing note, "I once landed a boat on the dock and crushed it, so I am happy to help with the truck"
Bonnie Nault
Diane Kulpinski
Thank you to these four women for leading the charge!
So the update is $1,125.00 in and $18,875 to go.
Here is a photo of Coach Kochis, safe and sound in the new towing vehicle for SU Women's Crew
Women alums....
We need you.
Please consider a donation to help offset the cost of this non-glamorous, but extremely important equipment purchase. Donations can be made by writing a check to Syracuse Women's Rowing and sent to Coach Justin Moore at:
Manley Field House, 1301 E. Colvin St., Syracuse, NY 13244
Thank you!
Here is a photo of Coach Kochis, safe and sound in the new towing vehicle for SU Women's Crew
Women alums....
We need you.
Please consider a donation to help offset the cost of this non-glamorous, but extremely important equipment purchase. Donations can be made by writing a check to Syracuse Women's Rowing and sent to Coach Justin Moore at:
Manley Field House, 1301 E. Colvin St., Syracuse, NY 13244
Thank you!
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
1977 - the year that wasn't, Part Two
There were six seniors on the squad in 1977, but for whatever reason, Lyvers was the only senior who had come into the program with high school rowing experience who was still on the team in ’77. Recalling the foundation they had built, Mark said “there were six people who went all the way through the four years. Not all were on the varsity, but there was a core group of non-recruited people who did something for the rowing program while they were there, and their passion and love for the sport brought success.” One of those seniors, John Watson, would deliver a remarkable - and very rare - performance at the IRA.
The 1977 varsity eight was a pretty stable boat. The lineup didn’t change after spring camp, the boat made up of medalists - and champions – from frosh crews in previous years. Still, despite the evident talent in the boat, early in the racing season it just didn’t seem to completely gel, to come together and make the leap from freshman to varsity national champion. It wasn’t a personality issue, as Lyvers remembers the crew had “good chemistry”; it certainly wasn’t a lack of power – the crew had that in spades. What was missing, what they needed to make the transition from fast freshman crews to winning at the varsity level was technique. In retrospect Lyvers deemed a lack of finesse, technical proficiency and polish were the limiting factors. Mark recalled the boat had a “tremendous amount of power…We won races by overpowering other crews, but that only got us so far when we got to elite level; we needed a different level of expertise. That was the difference maker in that crew. Physically, [we were] probably more powerful than any other crew in the nation but we lacked on the technical side.”
The team stayed at Longbranch for spring camp, trading the trip south and warmer weather for more water time. While it was typical early March weather for upstate New York (chilly, cloudy, and one day of steady rain), the snow held off and the crews piled up the miles. After breaking camp, SU’s first race was scheduled for early April in Boston, and the competition was none other than the legendary Harry Parker’s Harvard Crimson. Coach Sanford had been talking with Parker for several years about the possibility of an early season race as a way for both crews to test their speed. Things had finally come together in early 1977 with the coaches agreeing to a home-and-home. The 1977 race was held in Boston at the rather unique distance of 2500 meters. The race was lengthened to allow for Syracuse’s lack of water time, with Sanford requesting, and Parker agreeing to the longer course.
While the day started out well enough with the second freshman eight rowing steadily away from Harvard for a close 2 1/2 second win, they were to be the only crew to head home with new shirts in their bags. Harvard managed to sweep the rest of the events, defeating the JV and first freshman by more than ten seconds. Due to an injury, the first frosh had a last minute lineup change that resulted in only one row for the crew before race day. The Varsity event was considerably closer, with SU trailing the Crimson by 3.2 seconds, proving it could compete with the cream of the EARC.
The 1977 varsity eight was a pretty stable boat. The lineup didn’t change after spring camp, the boat made up of medalists - and champions – from frosh crews in previous years. Still, despite the evident talent in the boat, early in the racing season it just didn’t seem to completely gel, to come together and make the leap from freshman to varsity national champion. It wasn’t a personality issue, as Lyvers remembers the crew had “good chemistry”; it certainly wasn’t a lack of power – the crew had that in spades. What was missing, what they needed to make the transition from fast freshman crews to winning at the varsity level was technique. In retrospect Lyvers deemed a lack of finesse, technical proficiency and polish were the limiting factors. Mark recalled the boat had a “tremendous amount of power…We won races by overpowering other crews, but that only got us so far when we got to elite level; we needed a different level of expertise. That was the difference maker in that crew. Physically, [we were] probably more powerful than any other crew in the nation but we lacked on the technical side.”
The team stayed at Longbranch for spring camp, trading the trip south and warmer weather for more water time. While it was typical early March weather for upstate New York (chilly, cloudy, and one day of steady rain), the snow held off and the crews piled up the miles. After breaking camp, SU’s first race was scheduled for early April in Boston, and the competition was none other than the legendary Harry Parker’s Harvard Crimson. Coach Sanford had been talking with Parker for several years about the possibility of an early season race as a way for both crews to test their speed. Things had finally come together in early 1977 with the coaches agreeing to a home-and-home. The 1977 race was held in Boston at the rather unique distance of 2500 meters. The race was lengthened to allow for Syracuse’s lack of water time, with Sanford requesting, and Parker agreeing to the longer course.
While the day started out well enough with the second freshman eight rowing steadily away from Harvard for a close 2 1/2 second win, they were to be the only crew to head home with new shirts in their bags. Harvard managed to sweep the rest of the events, defeating the JV and first freshman by more than ten seconds. Due to an injury, the first frosh had a last minute lineup change that resulted in only one row for the crew before race day. The Varsity event was considerably closer, with SU trailing the Crimson by 3.2 seconds, proving it could compete with the cream of the EARC.
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