The second installment of the chapter on 1979
While the energy level may have dropped a little, the level
of competition for seats in the top eight was higher than ever; anyone who
wanted a seat in any SU varsity boat was going to have to work very, very hard. There were at least twelve athletes who could
make the varsity; the five returning from the 78 IRA champion varsity, several
from the ’78 JV, and perhaps half of the 78 IRA champion freshman eight, all guys
who had won at least one IRA gold. As
the crews came off the water late in the fall for the last time, there were
three full eights on the varsity and just as many freshmen heading indoors for
winter training. The coaching staff had
increased as well, with Grad Assistant Jay Printzlau joining Sanford and
Harrison. Printzlau, coming off a season
where he had coached the Yale freshman lights to an Eastern Sprints
Championship, would prove to be a valuable addition indeed, his crews
contributing to a very solid team showing at the IRA.
The winter of 78-79 saw the level of competition indoors intensify. Sophomore and future Olympian Tom Darling set
the bar in the early going, scoring well above 3200 on the Gamut erg – by far
the highest on the team. Notice had been
served to the upperclassmen; their seats in the varsity were far from
guaranteed.
The first race, the annual Rutgers – Syracuse faceoff came a
bit late in ’79, but the delay meant decent weather for the April 21 race on
Onondaga. In the varsity, Sibley was in his usual stroke seat, facing Bob
Donabella who had taken over for Ozzie Street. Henwood had moved to three from
bow, with Captain Bill Purdy in seven. For
the Varsity, finishing more than a length of open water in front of the guests
from New Jersey was more a meeting of expectations than great news; the result
was expected. The JV, stroked by future
US lightweight eight stroke Bill Bater finished a length back of Rutgers, with
the freshmen crossing the line just a few seats ahead of the Rutgers
first-years.
The next day, the crew made their way down to Cayuga Inlet
to take on Yale. All three crews lost to
Yale by considerable margins, with the closest finish – a length open - in the
JV eight. SU’s third varsity eight
paired off with the Coast Guard Academy’s JV and came back to campus with new
shirts, courtesy of their two-length margin of victory.
There was some shuffling of lineups over the next few days
of practice, as Sanford searched for the right mix while finding a substitute
for Bill Purdy, who had an appointment with the US National Team. With the short week of practice and travel on
Friday to Annapolis to race for the Goes Trophy on the always-challenging
Severn, it was a hectic time. Races were
scheduled for early in the morning in an attempt to avoid boat traffic and
potentially worsening weather, so the crews were at the boathouse just after
dawn. Four crews were racing, and while
the results weren’t what the Syracuse fans wanted, things looked to be
improving. Navy took the Goes Trophy by
a bit more than open water over SU, with Cornell a couple seconds back. The JV broke thru, crossing the line just
under a second before the Midshipmen and less than a length in front of the Big
Red. Drew Harrison’s freshmen were in a
dogfight all the way down the course, as conditions seemed to be getting
sloppier. Navy won their event by a
deck, with Cornell over a length behind second-place Syracuse. As none of the other crews had a third
varsity eight and Pete Gaines had to move up to JV to replace Purdy’s
substitute, SU’s 3V broke down into a four only to lose to Navy.
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