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Coach Kris Sanford Moves On

After 14 seasons as head coach of the SU Women’s Rowing Team, Kris Sanford has announced that she is stepping down. In an email to her team, Sanford said she does so with mixed emotions. “You were all a real pleasure to coach and I thank you for that,” she said.

Sanford informed her team after a meeting with Senior Associate Director of Athletics Rob Edson on Monday. “Daryl (Director of Athletics Daryl Gross) will begin searching for my replacement immediately,” she said in the email. “I am very excited to watch the progress of the program in the coming years because I know it is going to get faster.”

Edson confirmed the search in an email to SARA President Tracy Smith and suathletics.com put out a news release this afternoon.

Edson said Associate Athletics Director Jamie Mullin will coordinate the search and that he and Mullin will present a short list to Gross. “I suspect that we will formally interview anywhere from 3-5 candidates and will attempt to do so as quickly as possible given summer schedules of those on campus and the candidates themselves,” he wrote.

Edson said he welcomes SARA’s offer of support. “While the involvement may not be formal,” Edson wrote, “I believe it will prove very valuable to us and the future of the program. For that, I very much appreciate your willingness to assist and value the perspectives and insights you can bring to us.”

The daughter of long-time men’s head coach Bill Sanford, Kristen Sanford grew up in the S.U. Boathouse and came home to Syracuse in the fall of 1994 after a stellar rowing career at the University of Washington and experience as executive director of the Indianapolis Rowing Center and Midwest Regional Technical Director for USRowing.

She started here as novice coach and recruiting coordinator and moved up to head coach in the fall of 1996. Her first varsity eight made the inaugural NCAA regatta in 1997 and she would take the V8 to the NCAA’s again in 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2005.

This year’s varsity eight began with a strong win at home over Boston University, but then struggled against a schedule of highly-ranked crews and wound up the season finishing tenth (4th in petite final) at the EAWRC sprints.

Sanford’s athletes excelled in the classroom. 41 team members made the Athletic Director’s Honor Roll in the fall semester of 2009.

Sanford plans to enroll in nursing school in January. “This is something I have always wanted to do and I am excited about the next chapter in my life,” she wrote in the email.

A Few More...and Thank Yous!

Many thanks to David Beck ('77 Frosh 4+ stroke, 1974 IRAs) for sending along the last photo in this series and a gigantic thank you to Carol Kruse for coordinating the unbelievable refreshments and hospitality at the SU tent. Nicely done!

Scenes from the IRAs

Phew. What a day at the IRAs. A fantastic day of unbelievably close racing. We could not be prouder of the SU coaches or athletes. A tremendous performance by all. Here are a few photos from the day....

More from Camden: V8 "took our shot" - JV, Frosh win their races, V4 in a tight one and Master's Eight Just Short

The truth is they would have preferred to do even better, but the 2010 SU Varsity Eight did something an SU V8 hadn’t done in 20 years – made it to the Grand Final at the I.R.A. On this blistering hot Saturday, the Orange went after a medal but ran out of gas and finished sixth.

“You want to look back on your last race and say you got everything out of your guys you could,” Head Coach Dave Reischman said afterward. “The varsity left the last bit of everything they had on the water.”

After SU made the Grand Final by holding off BU Friday by .02 seconds, Reischman said he told his varsity, “We’re in the final and we’re going to end up road kill in the third 500 or we’re taking a medal, but we’re going to take our shot at this thing. We took our shot and it didn’t work out.”

“We went physically all out as hard as we could,” senior bow man Ryan Patton said.
“We gave it our all,” senior three man Tyson Bry said.

Cal 5:23.897
Washington 5:24.160
Cornell 5:30.356
Harvard 5:31.106
Brown 5:40.513
SU 5:43.902

JV TAKES PETITE FINAL

After a finishing fourth in the semi-final on Friday, the JV came out fired up Saturday morning and knocked off five good crews to win the petite final. "The guys put together probably the best race I think they’ve had to this point," sophomore coxswain Isaac Budmen said.

In previous races the JV had run into problems in the second thousand meters, so when the Orange crossed the halfway point this time Budmen had a message " I said ‘this is it, let’s take control.’ We took 20 strokes and kind of pushed out about ¾ of a length and they knew they were in control at that point."

Princeton came after the Orange in the final 500 but SU was ready. "We had a nice little pickup with 300 to go," stroke Kynan Reelick said. "a good little ten stroke push there and kept it there and kept going and it got us to the finish."

SU5:44.725
Princeton 5:45.892
BU 5:47.446
Yale 5:47.934
Northeastern 5:52.072
Columbia 5:54.030



FROSH WIN THIRD LEVEL FINAL

You want to win the race you’re in and the Freshman eight found itself in the third level final at this year’s IRA – so that’s the one the Orange won, doing a nice job of holding off Penn at the finish.

"I was proud of these guys for coming back from in their minds what was a disappointment a couple of days ago and racing I think a tough race and flat out just seeing what they’ve got," frosh coach Dave Weiss said.

"It was our goal to make the petite final so it’s a little bittersweet but it gives us something to build on for next year it gives a little motivation," stroke Nick Pickard said.

Cox Matt Cosmann would have liked the chance to make some noise in the petites, but "It’s fun to end the season with a win," he said.

SU 5:53.345
Penn 5:54.234
Northeastern 5:56.283
Yale 6:02.202
Dartmouth 6:10.660



V4 THIRD IN PETITES

The varsity four battled it out in the petites, finishing in the middle of a three boat jam with Penn and Temple a length or so behind winning Yale. The Orange wound up third, edging the Owls, but a beat behind the Quakers.

"I thought it was the best race we had of the four," sophomore two-man James Olson said. "Today we had a good rhythm all the way through and it helped us walk through Temple and George Washington in the middle of the race."


Yale 6:24.573
Penn 6:28.212
SU 6:28.565
Temple 6:28.698
George Washington 6:34.253
Princteon 6:44.270





MASTER’S EIGHT SECOND – RUNS OUT OF WATER CHASING BIG RED.

SU’s master’s eight started about 30 seconds behind Cornell because of the adjustment for average age of the boat (57 to Cornell’s 67) and went flying after the Big Red. But the finish line came about a length too soon and Cornell held on to win it. SU was second, then MIT and a pair of eights from Penn.

"We had a good row," two-man Ted Kakas '64 said. "We just didn’t have enough real estate."

"It was a good piece," said Don Smith '90. "We ran out of space. The course wasn’t long enough."



Staggered Start
Cornell 7:08.215
SU 7:13.506
MIT 7:38.084
Penn B 7:51.405
Penn 7:57.434

S U varsity sixth in grand final

The varsity eight, in the grands for the first time in over two decades came in sixth. Winner Cal posted a 5:23, a blazing fast time even with the stiff tailwind.

According to two man Dan Berry, "this was the toughest racing if the year but the guys came in with the right focus and attitude and raced against the best crews in the world.

Sophomore Mike Dietrick, who first sat in a shell a mere 20 months ago and made the big boat in his secind season, said "after a Disappointing sprints and Dartmouth race we came in with no real expectations and nothing to lose. We came out here racing hard. Speaking about today's race, Mike commented "We tried to race just like Seattle and go really hard in the first 1000 and try to be in a position in the last 800 to compete."

Coach Dave said he revamped the lineup to shake things up a bit. In speaking to the crew after last nights race "we are going to take a shot to put ourselves in a position to medal by the third 500. That gamble didn't pay off today but hats off to Dave and the guys for their willingness to put it all on the line and race for a medal.

Dave didn't limit his praise to the Varsity, deserved a measure of credit for the varsity's grand final position as the two crews force each other to get faster every day.


Cornell took third behind Washington, with Harvard in fourth and Brown fifth.

Conditions have steadily gotten faster as the day has gone on, as the wind has built and backed around.

Freshmen 8 wins third level final

The yearlings won the third level finals convincingly earlier today, rowing a solid race despite their position in one of the less-windy lanes. While the guys would have much preferred to race in a higher level final, they rowed well and raced even better in their final contest.

There are more alums here on the course than I've seen in years, a good thing because there is more food here than a normal crowd could handle.

SU's JV wins petites at IRA

In a terrific race they led wire to wire, the JVs won the petite final by a second thanks to a very solid middle thousand. Speaking about the effort, Coach Dave Reischman said "we've been working on the second thousand all year: had 3/4 a length with 800 to go and that was just enough. A great way to send out Kruse and White, the two seniors in the boat."

For a crew that gave away height and weight to every other crew in the race, the victory was well deserved. The guys defeated several crews that had bested them earlier in the year.

And now the SU JV is seventh in the nation.