ORANGE OAR JUNE EDITION ON LINE

The June 2012 edition of the SARA newsletter the Orange Oar is now available on line. It includes stories about the men's and women's spring season, the new rule that will allow freshmen to take part in varsity competition, Tony Johnson's induction into the SARA Hall of Fame and more.

Click here http://www.saracrew.org/orangeoar/Orange%20Oar%20-%202012%20June.pdf to view.

Gennaro second at Olympic pair trails

Mike Gennaro's bid for the 2012 Olympic team came up just a bit short, as he and partner Robert Otto finished second at the trials earlier this week.  For the SU alum and current U23 pair and eight world champion the pair trials was the last shot at the London Games, as he was one of the last athletes to leave the eight camp earlier this spring.

Anyone who has followed Mike's career since he arrived at Longbranch knows this will not be the last we hear of him on the international rowing scene.  While Mike is certainly sorely disappointed, his fierce determination ensures future success.

Finally, let's remind ourselves, and Mike, that while second in the Olympic Trials was not the goal, it is nonetheless very impressive indeed.

Orange Coaches on the Job at U23 Women's Camp

SU coaches Justin Moore, Dave Reischman and Shawn Bagnall are hard at work coaching the rowers and coxswains at the USRowing Under 23 training camp. The camp runs until -June 26 in Syracuse and will be used to select the Open Women’s 8+ and 4x to compete at the U23 World Championships in Trakai, Lithuania on July 11-15. The camp will also select Open Women’s 4-, 2-, and 2x to compete at the U23 Trails in Mercer, N.J. on June 24-27.

Moore is coaching the sweep oars with assistance from Bagnall, while Reischman is working with the scullers.

Here are some pictures from this week's Thursday morning workout on the Onondaga Lake buoy line. The four-legged assistant in Coach Moore's launch is Jake.

Mark of the Oarsman II, 1979 Part 6

The pair with was rowed by seniors Pete Hausman and Dan Hanavan, both with a 1977 3V Sprints Championship to their credit.  Their were seven other crews in their event, including what looked to be the top two guys from USC’s varsity eight.  Hanavan and Hausman rowed to a very comfortable second place in Thursday’s heats, setting themselves up for a good race in Friday’s reps.  Rowing well within themselves, the SU pair with cox “had swing and the rowing was effortless.”  They cruised into the finals, thereby ensuring every SU varsity crew would have a shot at the medals.

With Hausman stroking and Hanavan in bow, the pair were facing the same stiff headwind as the four with, but with two fewer oars to carry cox Jimmy Regan to the finish line.  If the rowing was effortless in the reps, it was anything but in the first 500 of the finals as they came close to suffering the indignity of being passed by the officials’ launches. Fortunately for the three Orangemen, this was going to be a long race and they’d have ample time to sort things out.  That they did, smoothing things out in the second 500, and from there moving steadily up from fifth place into third.  The result was ample proof of the depth of the program, and boded well for the eights.

Drew Harrison’s freshman eight was saddled with the unenviable task of continuing the program’s three-year reign atop the IRA podium, and their path was going to be anything but easy.  Their heat more resembled a final than a Thursday morning qualifier, with five of the six crews in the heat expected to be in the finals.  Coach Harrison opined “The heat is certainly stacked, without a shadow of a doubt, but it really doesn’t matter to our approach.  If we’re to win, we have to take it away from other people – sometime.” The crews his guys would have to “take it away from” in their heat were Northeastern, Cal, Cornell, Navy, and Brown. 

The heat was a close-run thing, with the Huskies crossing the line in front of SU by less than a half-length.  The other crews seemed disinterested in racing for the lone qualifying spot, with Cornell another six seconds back the closest of the also-rans.  With the loss in the heats, Harrison’s crew would face off with Dartmouth, Penn, Cal, and Brown in Friday morning’s repechage. 

Conditions Friday morning were distinctly unusual for Onondaga, with a stiff tailwind making for fast times.  The freshman won their rep, and would head to the line for a chance to win an unprecedented fourth consecutive IRA championship.  The competition was going to be fierce; although Wisconsin hadn’t gotten on the water till April 18, it had managed to post an impressive third at the Sprints behind the second-place Huskies from Northeastern.  Given the late start for the Badgers and their result at the Sprints, they would almost certainly be among the medalists.

SU led off the line, and for almost the entire race, with the biggest gap at the thousand where the Orange crew had open water on Wisco.  Towards the end of the third five hundred Wisconsin started a charge that brought them even with Syracuse; unable to push thru, Wisconsin found itself side-by-side with the Orange coming up to the finish line.  For the last few strokes of the race, the leader was the last crew to take a stroke, both boats surging into and then out of the lead.  The final margin was a fraction of a second, requiring officials to review the finish line photo. 

The streak had to send sometime, and it did in 1979.  Wisco ended Coach Drew Harrison’s string with a close win over the Orange, with Northeastern in third.  

Mark of the Oarsman II, 1979 Part 5

The IRAs began on the last day of May with heats for all seven crews on tap.  Two freshman fours with would take to the line wearing the orange, and Grad Assistant Jay Printzlau had a four with and pair with, both coming from the 3V that had enjoyed solid success in their races that spring.  The four had been together since the Sprints and was determined to do better than their third place finish at Quinsigamond.  With seniors and former IRA champions Bob Devlin in stroke and Pete Gaines at three and juniors Tom Weigartz and Joe Paduda making up the bow pair, there was plenty of experience in the boat.  There were nine boats in the four with, some comprised of lightweights from IRA schools, others boating the top four from the varsity eight, and the remainder breaking down their third varsity eights into small boats.  In the first heat, racing was very tight until halfway thru the third 500, when SU made its move with a power ten. Worcester PolyTech had been right with the Orange but couldn’t respond.  Syracuse pulled away from the field, finishing a very comfortable twelve seconds in front of the second place crew from Penn.  With its spot in the Grand Finals assured, the crew was able to relax and watch the other fours race off for the remaining lane assignments.

Saturday’s finals saw the SU four with lined up against Washington State, BU, WPI, Coast Guard, and Purdue. As the crews pulled into the stakeboats they were facing almost directly into a headwind that had picked up significantly from the day before.  Off the line, Devlin drove the rating up to a 42 for the first twenty, then kept it high for most of the first 500.  Across the 500, SU was in front of second place Washington State.  The Orange were rowing a 38, looking to take advantage of what had been the strength of their race, a fast start.  Truth be told, there had been a bit of miscommunication in the boat, and the settle didn’t happen after the initial forty strokes. 

Regardless, the lead held through the halfway point, when the size of the Washington State crew began to tell.  Outweighing the Orange by forty pounds a man, they began to pull away.  SU tried to respond, using the same hard push midway through the third 500 that had crushed WPI.  The move was hardly noticed by WSU, who continued to extend its lead.  The combination of the lengthy start, high rating thru the first quarter of the race and stiff headwind proved to be too much for the Orange, while the conditions were much to the westerners’ liking.  Washington State cruised to a comfortable victory with Syracuse winning the silver by open water over the Terriers of Boston University in third.

Orange Varsity Eight Fifth at IRA – Best Finish in Reischman Era

Syracuse’s varsity eight came into the season rated 15^th in the Coaches Poll in a year many thought would be rebuilding for Coach Dave Reischman. Reischman does not believe in rebuilding and his charges late this morning proved they belong among the best, finishing fifth in the Grand Final of the IRA.

Top-seed Washington won it all, beating East Coast powers Brown and Harvard by a length or so. Cal was fourth with SU next a length back and Boston University in the sixth spot, 2/3 of a length farther back. SU improved its best finish in this century by one slot. Two years ago the Orange finished sixth in the Grand Final.

Times here courtesy of row2k.com http://ira.qra.org/

JV Fourth in Petite: Tenth Overall

The Orange JV finished this year’s racing with a “throw a blanket over them” Petite Final, coming in fourth in a fight with three very familiar crews.  Navy won it with Cornell half a second behind, then Princeton another second-and-a-half and SU .8 seconds off the Tigers. BU and Penn were well back.

Washington won the 2V Grand Final by a couple of seconds over Brown. Harvard took the bronze medal edging Cal by 2/10ths of a second, Wisconsin by 7/10ths and Stanford by 8/10ths.

Times here courtesy of row2k.com http://ira.qra.org/

Frosh Win Third Level

When you find yourselves in the Third Level Final on Saturday morning the idea is to win and that’s exactly what Syracuse’s freshman eight did this morning. Coach Shawn Bagnall’s crew went through Stanford around the halfway point and then held off the Cardinal by 2/3 length. 

The Orange were described as “very sharp, very clean” as the flew to the finish line ahead of Stanford’s Sprint. The win gives the Orange 13^th place overall in the IRA.

Open 4 Is 4th in Petite

After struggling an finishing well behind the pack in Friday’s headwind , SU’s Open Four rowed a strong second half with a tailwind Saturday morning to finish fourth in the Petite Final – 10^th overall. Cornell jumped out to the lead and held on to edge Princeton.  Northeastern held off the SU charge in the sprint to take third.

 The Orange four – a combination of varsity and freshmen with Liz Abraham coxing, trailed off the start.  But this time they rowed through Drexel and Penn and went after Northeastern in the second half of the race, coming up about a length short.

Washington held off Wisconsin to win the Grand Final with California third.

Official times here courtesy of row2k.com http://ira.qra.org/

Orange Alums Second at IRA

 

The Orange Alumni Eight spotted Cornell about 36 seconds this morning in the Masters Race at the IRA and made up almost all of it. But Syracuse ran out of course and the Big Red took the race by barely half a length…about a second and a half.

The crews are handicapped by average age and Cornell was by far the oldest. Then it was Penn with SU right behind and Northeastern held well back with a crew that looked as if it had just graduated.

The Orange rowed through Penn about 500 meters in and went after the Big Red but the lead was too great and the course just a little too short.

SYRACUSE POPS THE CLUTCH!!! V8 IN GRAND FINAL!

Coach Dave Reischman’s Varsity Eight did it again this afternoon, out-rowing Princeton by half a second to make the Grand Final at the IRA.  The two teams that battled in a preseason scrimmage what seems so long ago fought to the wire this time, with the Orange getting the oars in last to grab 3rd in the race and the final spot in the Grands. Brown and Harvard were one-two, as Bruno repeated its Eastern Sprints win over the Crimson.

Top-seeded Washington won the second semi with Boston U pulling off the upset to finish second and California taking the third and last qualifying spot.

Princeton started the race challenging Harvard for the lead off the start, but soon fell into third as Brown went through Harvard to lead.  As Cornell and Penn slid back, the Orange went after the Tigers and drew even, then into a one or two seat lead. Princeton responded and SU fought back.

As they fought in the sprint, the announcer called out “Syracuse Pops the Clutch.” Aiden Barrett and his mates had found one more gear.

It took a few minutes to make it official and when the times went up, the Orange had done it by just over half a second.

Results here courtesy of row2k.com http://ira.qra.org/

Conditions were very different from Thursday and the times reflected that. A thunderstorm rolled through late morning and postponed the semis four about two hours.  When they got going the Cooper River water was rolling and the wind pushing against the crews.

The Orange dealt with it and will go against the other big boys on Saturday.

Second Varsity to Petite Finals

Syracuse’s JV eight struggled in this afternoon’s semi-final and wound last in the field of six and will race in the Petite Final on Saturday.  Washington won the heat, with Harvard and Stanford taking second and third to qualify for the Grand Final.  Navy and Princeton were next and will join Syracuse in the Petite along with Penn, Cornell and Boston University.  Cal, Wisconsin and Brown qualified for the Grand Final by finishing one-two-three in the semi.

Open 4 to Petite

SU’s Open Four fell behind at the start in its morning semi and never got close, finishing last.  It is scheduled to race againt      in the Petite Final Saturday

The SU freshman eight goes in the 3^rd level final scheduled at 9:25 Saturday.

Headwinds in Camden

Looks like the weather delay is coming to an end. Racing will go at about 1:30 for the jv and 2 for the varsity. Conditions in Camden are getting slower. There's a strong headwind coming down the course as the second eight prepares to launch. As Coach Reischman would say the semi will be a barn burner. Our guys are in lane 1 closest to the reviewing stand. Hard to tell at this point if that's going to have an impact as the wind direction is shifting. The wind has brought clouds and cooler temps...