Photos From Packard Cup

Thanks to Peter Kruse's mom Carol for sending over these images from the racing against Dartmouth in Hanover, NH last weekend.

CMax Still Rates SU High

The only way you row a 2k race in 5:34.5 and lose is when the other crew goes even faster - and that's what happened to the Orange men's V8 last Sunday in Hanover. Dartmouth flew downstream in 5:31.3 and that performance moved the Big Green up a spot in this week's CMax rankings. The loss dropped SU just one place - in other words the teams switched places - Dartmouth moving up to 7th and SU back to 8th.

Interestingly, the speedy times moved both crews closer in margin to #1 Washington. Dartmouth is rated 10.5 seconds behind the Huskies (12.9 last week) and SU 11.5 seconds behind (12.1 last week.)


The Connecticut River at Hanover certainly contributed to the speed. "This course always produces fast times," Head Coach Dave Reischman said in an email to SU Crew supporters after the Packard Cup Race. He described the conditions as great for racing - "...light tail current and a very slight headwind."

But Reischman gave credit where credit was due, after Dartmouth's second win over SU in a week. In spite of a strong start and an early lead by SU, Dartmouth rowed past the Orange about 750 meters in and SU could not catch up. "My hat's off to Coach Bordeau and his guys," Reischman said. "We got beat by a better crew."


The Orange men now are working on becoming an even better crew themselves with the IRA just over a week away.

CMax rankings courtesy of row2k.com

Honors for Two SU Rowers

The Collegate Rowing Coaches Association has named SU Junior Natalie Mastracci (right) to the first team of the Mid-Atlantic All-Regional team. She'd been named to the second team in her freshman and sophomore years.

Senior Sydney Axson (left) was voted to the second team. Axson and Susan Groff were the only seniors in this year's first boat for Coach Kris Sanford.

Click here for story from suathletics.com.

Dartmouth Wins 50th Packard Cup: SU Takes Three of Four but not V8

Topher Bordeau’s Varsity Eight proved this morning its performance at the Eastern Sprints was no fluke, beating the Orange again by a bit over half a length in fast conditions on the Connecticut River. Dartmouth rowed the race at a high rate as it had in Worcester – 38 strokes per minute for much of the course – with SU understroking at about 34 ½. The Big Green opened about a half length lead with a move at the halfway point and in spite of cranking it up to 38 the Orange crew was not able to catch them. The Big Green took it in the ridiculously fast time of 5:31.3. Syracuse finished in 5:34.5.

Dartmouth wins the Packard Cup for the first time in five years in the 50th edition of the competition.

Cox Ken Marfilius
Stroke Mike Gennaro
7 Chris Lutz
6 Dan Turner
5 Vince Berry
4 Tyson Bry
3 Mike Dietrick
2 Ryan Patton
B Dan Berry



SU JV8 Wins

Syracuse’s JV eight opened up a length lead on Dartmouth by the halfway point and withstood a push by the Big Green in the third 500 to win by open water. SU understroked Dartmouth all the way down – keeping it around 33 ½ - 34 while the Big Green raced as high as 38.


Syracuse covered the course in 5:40.2 to 5:50.7 for Dartmouth.


Cox Jack Mutty
Stroke Kynan Reelick
7 Steve Connors
6 Chris Bickford
5 Nemanja Bogdanovic
4 Tim Daigle
3 Clai White
2 Aidan Barrett
B Peter Kruse

Frosh Win Easily
The SU Frosh understroked the Big Green all the way down the course but won the race by open water. Syracuse kept it around 31 or 32 strokes per minute and only went up to 33 or 34 as Dartmouth pushed up to 38 down the stretch. The Orange won it by open water. SU's time was 5:47.0 with Dartmouth at 5:54.6

Cox Matt Cosman
Stroke Nick Pickard
7 Mason Leasure
6 Brendan Murphy
5 Kyle Rogers
4 Tyler Toporowski
3 John Redmond
2 Harrison Taylor
B James Tracy


3V4 wins first race of the day.
The Orange got off to a good start with a dominating win by the varsity four over Dartmouth. SU understroked the Big Green but after grabbing a lead off the start, SU opened to a length and then open water by the 1,000 meter mark.

It was the second consecutive win for the Varsity four, which won last week at the Eastern Sprints. SU - 6:24.9 Dartmouth 6:48.6

Cox Isaac Budmen
Stroke Matt Hopeck
3 Chip Keyes
2 James Olson
B Jim Behr

Photos by Tracy Smith, Tom Darling

Times courtesy of row2k.com

Live Broadcast of the Packard Cup

Syracuse Alumni Rowing Association (SARA) is excited to provide live audio broadcasting of Men’s and Women’s crew regattas. Our announcers will be following the races, in a chase launch providing a stroke by stroke account of the races – from the start until the finish. There are two ways to listen in to the broadcast, via telephone or the internet. Below are the details and the regatta schedule.

Via Phone / Conference Line :
(605) 715-4900 195587# - you can bypass announcing your name by pressing #

Via Internet: http://secure.stretchinternet.com/demo/games.php?user=syracuse&o=cal_stamp&sd=today

Race times are as follows (EST):

9:00 am Third Varsity
9:20 am Frosh
9:40 am Second Varsity
10:00 am Varsity

Graduation - 2010

Many thanks to Sharon Bry for sharing this photo of the 2010 Senior Class with Coach Reischman.

From left to right:

Jack Mutty
Claiborne White
Mark Vyzas
Coach Dave Reischman (not graduating!)
Tyson Bry
Ryan Patton
Peter Kruse

Congratulations to all and good luck racing this weekend in Hanover!

Plenty at Stake in Sunday’s Packard Cup Race

Syracuse is at Dartmouth this Sunday for a race that, a week or so ago, some people probably thought of as a nice diversion for the Orange between the Eastern Sprints and the I.R.A. That was before the 12th-seeded Big Green smoked the field in last Sunday morning’s heat, knocking off top seed Brown and leaving #6 SU and #7 Northeastern in the Petite Final. Dartmouth wound up fifth in the Grand Final, just behind Wisconsin.

The performance jumped Dartmouth from #15 to #7 in the USRowing Collegiate Poll as SU slipped from sixth to number ten. This Sunday the Big Green will be out to prove it was no fluke and will get to do it at home on the fast-flowing Connecticut River. It’s worth noting that the CMax rankings still have SU .8 second ahead of Dartmouth.

“All the credit to those guys for a brilliant race,” SU Coach Dave Reischman said in an email to SU Crew supporters this week. “We knew they were fast and would be a factor in the first 1,000 meters but their second 1,000 was just as gutsy and they were not letting anyone back in the race. I have never seen a #12 seed knock off a #1 in a heat.”

The result this Sunday is likely to have an effect on the I.R.A seeding too.

50th Anniversary, 50th Packard Cup Race – Winning in Streaks

(Captain Martin Etem holds Packard Trophy after SU's 2009 win at home)

Usually the 50th anniversary of event marks the 51st time it has happened but that’s not the case this year for the Packard Cup because the event was cancelled in 1987. Anthony Ladd commissioned the Packard Cup in 1959 to honor his father-in-law, Edward N. Packard (SU class of 1906). Packard was the stroke of the 1904 varsity eight, the first SU crew to capture an IRA championship. The sterling silver cup is awarded annually to the winner of the Syracuse-Dartmouth race.

Syracuse won the first one in 1960 and the next six as well before MIT, which also was included for a number of years broke through in 1967. SU won again in 1968 before Dartmouth finally took it in 1969 and then won again the next two years.

MIT took the next four (1972-75), SU three straight and then Dartmouth one.
The Orange then took control, winning ten in a row from 1980 through 1990 (with 1987 cancelled.)

Not to be outdone Dartmouth won the next 15 years until Dave Reischman’s guys finally got the cup back in 2006. They’ve now made it four in a row.

Syracuse has won the cup 25 times to Dartmouth’s 19 and MIT’s five.

All that probably is less important to the eight oarsmen and a coxswain in the two shells, who’ll race this Sunday morning than just trying to beat each other. This time they’ll go at it without the distractions of Brown, Northeastern or anybody else. And it’s not likely anybody paying attention will see it as a nice diversion between the Eastern Sprints and the I.R.A.

Polls courtesy of row2k.com

Packard Cup history courtesy of suathletics.com

Men's V8 Back to #10 Following Sprints

If you assume Washington is tops and Cal is #2 you'd expect SU to be tenth in the latest USRowing Collegiate Poll after last Sunday's Eastern Sprints - and if you did, you'd be right.

SU's near miss in the morning heat and even nearer miss in the Petite Final dropped the Orange men from sixth to #10. In fact the order after following Washington and Cal (after the Huskies beat the Golden Bears again last weekend) is almost exactly the order of finish in the Sprints.

The lone exception is Cornell which rose to #8 with its near miss in the heat and then squeaker over SU in the Petite Final. Columbia, which won its heat in a photo finish then wound up last in the Grand Final is sandwiched in between the Big Red and the Orange. With 14 coaches voting, Cornell is five points ahead of Columbia and ten ahead of SU.

The Orange varsity gets another shot at Dartmouth in Hanover this Sunday. The Big Green made the biggest jump in the poll, going from 12th to 7th after edging Brown and Syracuse in the morning heat in Worcester, then finishing fifth in the Grand Final.

SARA is working on live phone line and internet coverage of the races. Watch this blog for details.

CMax Ranks SU V8 Seventh

The fact that Wisconsin, Dartmouth and Columbia finished higher than Syracuse this past weekend did not move them past the Orange in the CMax rankings. SU dropped just one slot to number seven - estimated at 12.1 seconds behind #1 Washington. Cornell, which beat SU by .9 seconds on Sunday is rated .4 better in the CMax rankings at #6.

Polls courtesy of row2k.com

V8 photo by Tom Darling

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!”

2010 Women's Sprints Schedule

click on the images to enlarge.

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."

Sprints and EAWRC broadcast

Faraway fans can tune into the Sprints/EAWRC broadcast at http://secure.stretchinternet.com/demo/games.php?user=ecacrowing&o=cal_stamp&sd=today

A phone link should be available as well; when we hear about it, you will too.

SU Women’s V8 Seeded Tenth in EAWRC Sprints in Camden on Sunday

The final seeding poll for the women’s Eastern Sprints finds Coach Kris Sanford’s varsity eight up one notch from the previous week to a #10 seed. That means the Orange women will face #3 Brown, #4 Dartmouth, #9 Radcliffe, #15 Boston College and #16 MIT in the morning heat.

Princeton gets the top seed with Yale at number two.

SU’s second varsity holds its #10 seed and will go against Yale, Columbia, Dartmouth, George Washington and Georgetown.

The third varsity is seeded #11 and will race Cornell, Princeton, Columbia and Rutgers.

The varsity four is the 13-seed and opens the day with #1 Princeton, Radcliffe, Dartmouth and Navy.

The varsity four B boat gets a #8 seed and is in the qualifying heat with Yale, Bucknell and George Washington.

Poll courtesy of row2k.com

Hotel Rooms for the Navy Ball - November 6, 2010

Please note that the Navy Ball is scheduled for the same weekend as Parent's Weekend at Syracuse University so if you are planning on attending, please book your room now.

SARA Board Member Chip Gibson has a block of rooms set aside at the Holiday Inn Express & Suites in East Syracuse/Dewitt for people coming into town. Below is the contact information. Please notify the person taking your reservation that you are with the Syracuse Alumni Rowing Association.

Holiday Inn Express & Suites
East Syracuse-Dewitt
5908 Widewaters Pkwy
East Syracuse, NY 13057
Tel: 315.373.0123
Fax: 315.373.0100

*** Please note that the Navy Ball will take place at the Syracuse University Sheraton

Men's Eastern sprints heat lineups

As of today, it looks like the Men's V8 heat, scheduled for 11:12 on Sunday will look like this:

BRO, SYR, NOR, DAR, GWU, RUT.

Brown is seeded first, our guys sixth, NU seventh. Loyal fans will recall our guys have beaten Northeastern twice so far at the San Diego Crew Classic. Under the expert tutelage of Coach Dave, there's no doubt the Orange are faster - and also no doubt NU is as well.

That's not so say we are conceding anything to top-ranked Brown...

For the eighth-seeded frosh and sixth-seeded JV, we're going to be seeing a lot of Northeastern's red and black on the line (and hopefully from a fine vantage point in front of NU during the racing as well). Their heat lineups are as follows:

JV - 11:12 = BRO, SYR, YAL/BOS, NOR, PEN - there are only five boats, and my GUESS is we'll see either Yale or BU, as they are tied for the seventh seed. Recall that our guys beat BU handily at the Conlan Cup way back in April.

Frosh - 10:36 am = COR, PRI, SYR, WIS, NOR, GWU

SU's Varsity 4 has a Grand-only at 8:30 am on Sunday, and our guys will face off with (you guessed it) Northeastern, Yale lights, MIT lights, and Yale heavies. Make no mistake, despite what the prima donnas tell you, this is where the real rowing is, far from the madding crowd, out of the glare of publicity and away from all the fans. Yes, I am wildly biased...

you can get the full heat sheet and times here.

Go Orange!

Coach Dave Esteemed in Great Northwest

At the risk of embarassing the head coach of SU Men's Crew - we direct you to a story published prior to the Windermere Cup last weekend. It's story about where Dave Reischman comes from - a story some in the Syracuse rowing community are familiar with and some, not so much.

http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2010/apr/29/dark-blues-from-oxford-highlight-windermere-cup/

It's worth reading. Twice.

Photo courtesy of SU Athletics/Steve Parker

SU Men Seeded Sixth - Rematch with Brown, Northeastern at Sprints

Dave Reischman’s varsity eight is going to have to prove it on the water – but that’s always been the way. The final seeding poll for the Eastern Sprints finds SU moving up one spot to the six seed – meaning it will face off with top-seeded Brown, #7 Northeastern, #12 Dartmouth, #13 George Washington and #18 Rutgers in the morning heat. The top two move on to the Grand Final.

Syracuse trailed Brown by about three-quarters of a length in the final at the San Diego Crew Classic March 28 and defeated the Northeastern Huskies by a length. SU’s third place finish (Cal won) vaulted the Orange to a number five ranking in the first US Rowing Collegiate poll. But before the first EARC poll came out a split-second loss to Cornell in awful conditions at Annapolis put the Orange at #8 in the East and dropped them to #10 in the US Rowing Poll with Washington and Cal on top.

There’s been some shuffling since then but even though the Orange crew has climbed back over Princeton and Wisconsin in the USRowing Poll, it has not been able to do it in the EARC poll. SU does not face Wisconsin or Princeton before the Sprints.

SU’s JV eight also is seeded sixth at the Sprints, setting up a heat with #1 Brown, Yale or BU (tied for 7th) Northeastern and Penn.

The frosh, who have seen limited action this season are seeded eighth and will face Cornell, Princeton, Wisconsin, Northeastern and George Washington.

Please, No Wagering – the CMax Rankings

All crews in the league are off this weekend. SU is in final exams, which come much later for at least some of the Ivies. That gives your writer some time to muse on the CMax rankings – a system that rates all crews based on performance and surmises how they’d do against each other in an “average standardized race.”

Going into the race against Washington last weekend, SU’s varsity eight was rated 8.5 seconds behind the Huskies. The Orange lost by 9.8 seconds and that’s where they rate this week. It’s tougher to do when crews don’t face each other but Chris Maxwell has been managing since coming up with CMax in 2002.

If the rankings are correct, Brown is about a half length faster than SU (1.9 seconds) and SU is about a length faster than Northeastern (3.8 seconds). Funny enough, the Orange are rated .8 seconds faster than Wisconsin and 1.1 faster than Princeton.

To put it another way – “you could throw a blanket over them.” Coach Dave Reischman said several weeks ago that there are “eight or nine crews that could be in the medals hunt at the Sprints.” Not much has changed since then. It should be some amazing racing.

Polls courtesy of row2k.com

Photos from Boston

Here are a few photos (and a video documenting conditions) for the women's race against Dartmouth and Radcliffe in April.

Just another beautiful day in Boston!

Early Risers, Take Note

There will be a 5 a.m. (EST) rebroadcast of the 2010 San Diego Crew Classic tomorrow morning (Saturday, May 8) on ESPNU.

Practice Videos

Thanks to Coach Reischman for sending along some video footage of the SU men in action.

30 SPM with a Tailwind


32 SPM with a Headwind

...More Seattle Photos....

Many thanks to Coach Dave Reischman for sending over some great photos of the SU Men in action in Seattle.

SU Men Up One Spot in US Rowing Poll

SU Varsity Battles Washington early in the race

Two weeks ago a split second loss to Cornell dropped the SU Varsity five spots to number 10 in the US Rowing Collegiate Poll. Syracuse climbed back last week to number seven with a win over Columbia and BU. Now a 9.8 second loss to number one Washington combined with Northeastern’s six second loss to Harvard has moved the Orange up to number six in this week’s poll.

Northeastern, whom Syracuse defeated at the San Diego Crew Classic to open the season, fell from number six to number nine. Washington remains a unanimous number one.

While SU lost by more than a length of open water to Washington, the Orange held off Oxford to take second in the race and gave the Huskies a fight at the start.

“Our goal was to see how long we could hang on to their stern and we did that through the 1000m mark,” Head Coach Dave Reischman said in an email to SU Crew supporters, following the weekend racing. “We had solid rhythm and the guys were throwing everything they had at them. “

The JV also gave Washington’s JV a fight before losing by open water, and easily defeated Oregon State.

The Orange crews compete next at the Eastern Sprints in Worcester, Mass., on Sunday May 16. “I think both crews are looking forward to the next 2 weeks and really striving to see how fast we can go,” Reischman said in the email. “The goal each year is to get better each race so we do our best racing at the Sprints and IRA.”

Poll courtesy of row2k.com

2010 Crew Classic Footage on ESPNU

There will be a one hour feature of the 2010 Crew Classic tomorrow night at 7 p.m. on ESPNU. Rebroadcasts on Saturday 5/8 at 5 a.m., Wednesday, 5/12 at 5 a.m. and Saturday, 5/22 at 5 p.m.

SU Women Hold Their Spot in EAWRC Poll

SU Varsity Eight races hard in Seattle last Weekend

SU’s Women’s Varsity Eight is ranked eleventh in the new EAWRC poll, holding the same spot as a week ago, just two points behind # 10 Boston University, a team the Orange Women defeated in the opening race of the season in Syracuse.

Princeton is #1 as it has been in this poll all season.

IF those seeds hold for the Eastern Sprints May 16 in Camden that would mean an opening heat against #2 Yale, #5 Columbia, #8 Penn, #14 Rutgers and #17 Georgetown There is one final poll next week for the seeding.

The Orange second varsity eight moved up a spot to #10.

The third varsity dropped to #11 from #9, the varsity four slid one spot from #12 to #13 and the varsity four B stayed at #9.

Poll courtesy of row2k.com