Crew Classic video

Congratulations to the Men's Varsity Eight on their third place in the Grand Final of the Copley Cup at the San Diego Crew Classic. Great competition, with our guys finishing behind Cal and Brown while besting BU, Northeastern, and Stanford

For those who missed the real-time video feed (that includes me), you can watch it again on ESPNU - you'll have to wait till May, but that's plenty of time to set up the TiVo. Here's the schedule:

• May 6, 7pm EDT
• May 8, 5am EDT
• May 12, 5am EDT
• May 22, 5pm EDT

A great start to the season for the guys, and congratulations to Coach Dave and his staff!

ORANGE MEN THIRD IN COPLEY CUP FINAL

The Syracuse men’s eight took third in the Copley Cup Grand Final at the San Diego Crew Classic this morning, trailing Cal and Brown, and beating BU, Northeastern and Stanford.

Cal in lane one roared off the starting line at 46 strokes-per minute with the other five crews battling to stay in contact. The Golden Bears rowed the whole race at a high pace after settling at 38. As Stanford fell back, the other four crews spent much of the race just about dead even.

Brown took a shot at Cal at one point but could not get back into it and the Golden Bears won by open water in 5:49.50. At one point it appeared that BU had edged ahead of Syracuse but the Orange fought back, putting on a move in the second 1,000 and while they were not able to catch Brown, they did get pretty close. Brown finished in 5:53.63, SU in 5:56.22 and BU in 5:59.36 with Northeastern just behind the Terriers in 6:00.69. Stanford finished in 6:03.85.

Here’s the lineup Head Coach Dave Reischman had put together heading West.

C – Ken Marfilius, Jr., 5’8”, 130, Collingdale, PA
8 – Mike Gennaro, Jr., 6’ 3”, 189, Havertown, PA
7 – Chris Lutz, So., 6’ 5”, 227, Fairless Hills, PA
6 – Dan Turner, Jr., 6’ 3”, 194, Vankleek Hill, Ontario
5 – Vince Berry, Jr., 6’1”, 193, East Lansdowne, PA
4 – Tyson Bry, Sr., 6’4”, 195, Woodstock, VT
3 – Mike Dietrick, So., 6’ 3”, 192, Orchard Park, NY
2 – Ryan Patton, Sr., 6’ 4”, 194, Signal Mountain, TN
B – Dan Berry, Jr., 6’ 2”, 190, East Landowne, PA

SU is now back to practice until April 17 when the full squad will be at Annapolis to take on Navy and Cornell for the Goes Cup. Reischman said before the trip that there will be more seat racing at home before the lineups are set.

ORANGE MEN ADVANCE TO GRAND FINAL

The Orange Men's Varsity Eight finished second in this morning's first heat at the San Diego Crew Classic to advance to the grand final of the Copley Cup tomorrow. California won the heat, blasting off the line in lane one at 44 strokes per minute with SU in lane three fighting to keep in contact and BU between them chasing the Orange. The Golden Bears looked smooth as the held on to the lead and finished with just a bit of open water between their shell and SU's. Syracuse repelled a couple of charges by BU to take second and all three qualified for Sunday's top race.

Cal blistered the 2,000 meters in 5:54.62. SU's time was 5:58.82 and BU's 6:00.97. Temple and UCSD trailed.

The other three crews in the Sunday competition will be Brown, Northeastern and Stanford.
Brown started strong in Saturday's heat two, gave up the lead to Northeastern and then rowed through the Huskies to win in 6:00.10. Northeastern's time was 6:03.19 and Stanford's was 6:06.48.

The Grand Final is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday (9:30 Pacific) and can be viewed live at http://crewclassic.org/video/

SU WOMEN REGAIN KITTELL CUP

The SU Women opened the spring season today by winning back the Kittell Cup from Boston University as the Varsity Eight rowed through the Terriers and built a lead of close to two lengths of open water at the finish.

“(Coxswain) Lydia (Wong) said were down on the first stroke you could just feel every single person in the boat saying ‘not today,’ said stroke Natalie Mastracci, the junior from Thorold, Ontario. “We’re not being down today.”

On a beautifully sunny but sub-freezing Saturday morning in Syracuse, BU jumped out by a deck at the start on Onondaga Lake, but that lasted a matter of seconds. Looking smooth and strong in the inside lane, the Orange women blasted their way down the course. By the time the crews passed the boathouse with 500 meters to go, the race had been long been decided.

“They actually did start to move slightly when we were crossing the second 500 and we responded with out own move,” Wong, a senior from San Francisco said.

SU finished the 2,000 meter course in 6:46.66 to win the Kittell Cup for the first time in three years. BU’s time was 6:56.93.

Head Coach Kris Sanford called it a great way to start the season. “…but we will never forget that it’s a long season and we have to build on our speed to be where we want to be by the end of the year.” Where that is, of course, is in the NCAA championship competition.

The opponents get tougher in a hurry, with top-ranked Yale among the competition at Ithaca next weekend.

“We want to go after those big crews,” Mastracci said. “We want be the ones to say Syracuse is here this year and we are going to show people who we are.”

And on this Saturday, what did Wong say to her crew as they powered across the finish line? “YYEEEAAAAHHHHHHH!”

3V (NOVICES) ALSO WINS; BU TAKES 2V8 AND VARSITY FOURS RACES

The opening race of the day also went to SU. Officially it was the third varsity race but it turns out both crews were made up of novices. “Our league – the Eastern Sprints league was the first in the country to pretty much get rid of novice rowing, “ Sanford explained. “So there is no more novice rowing. We did that because the NCAA does not recognize novice rowing and it gives a lot more flexibility to coaches.”

SU took the lead in that one and rowed on to win by a couple of lengths of open water in 7:14.00. BU finished in 7:23.33

The Terriers won the second varsity race by just over a length and won the varsity four and second varsity four races easily.

Photos from the end of Columbia, South Carolina

....SENDDDD!
Catch...



Dave looks across to line up boats for pieces.




Big Smiles after dinner and last night of an intense training trip.

Crew Classic Heats Announced

Heat 1: SU, Cal, BU, Temple and UCSD

Heat 2: Stanford, Brown, Northeastern, UC Davis and USD

San Diego Crew Classic Preview

From Coach Dave Reischman:

It hardly seems possible but we start our racing season this weekend as we send a Varsity Eight out to the San Diego Crew Classic. You can get more information on the race, including the schedule of events, at: www.crewclassic.org.

You can also catch live feeds of the racing at http://crewclassic.org/video/

This is a week early for the Crew Classic this year due to Easter being the first weekend in April. The key for us is to keep in mind that we are still a long way from the Sprints and the IRA where we want to have our best boat speed. With an early race like this we have to resist the temptation to ramp things up too much too early. Particularly since the Goes Trophy isn’t for another 4 weeks yet. Having said that, I suspect the guys will be ready to go. We had a very productive spring break in Columbia, South Carolina this past week. Unusual for us, we were able to get in 6 rows in Syracuse before heading south so we were able to get to work right away. A quick afternoon row to check the rig on the first day and the start of competitive pieces and trying to figure out a line up for San Diego on the second. I am not a big fan of setting line ups early—I prefer to keep the competition boiling as long as I can. And, fortunately, I have a group that allows us to get quality work in no matter which of our 21 athletes are in the boats. By the end of the week, we were able to put together something that approximates a varsity line up for a couple of practices. When we get back from San Diego we will continue our seat racing ladder and try to have line ups solidified for the Goes Trophy.

Currently the varsity eight looks like this:

B – Dan Berry, Jr., 6’ 2”, 190, East Landowne, PA

2 – Ryan Patton, Sr., 6’ 4”, 194, Signal Mountain, TN

3 – Mike Dietrick, So., 6’ 3”, 192, Orchard Park, NY

4 – Tyson Bry, Sr., 6’4”, 195, Woodstock, VT

5 – Vince Berry, Jr., 6’1”, 193, East Lansdowne, PA

6 – Dan Turner, Jr., 6’ 3”, 194, Vankleek Hill, Ontario

7 – Chris Lutz, So., 6’ 5”, 227, Fairless Hills, PA

8 – Mike Gennaro, Jr., 6’ 3”, 189, Havertown, PA

C – Ken Marfilius, Jr., 5’8”, 130, Collingdale, PA

If you plan on attending the Crew Classic please stop by the boat area and say hello.

Saturday Racing Schedule - SU Women (March 27, 2010)

For everyone following the races via phone or email on Saturday (March 27), here is the racing schedule

Kittel Cup

Syracuse University vs. Boston University

9:00 a.m. - 3rd V8

9:20 a.m. - V8

9:40 a.m. - 2nd V8

10:00 a.m. - V4

10:20 a.m. - 2V4

Many thanks to John Nicholson and Colin Goodale for coordinating all the broadcast logistics for this race!