BY SOFIA SCEKIC
PHOTO BY SPORTGRAPHICS

“Late-season speed.” That’s the most common goal moving into the postseason for all rowing teams, from the college level to club teams to juniors. For some teams, though, “late-season speed” means improving on the already-fast times the crews have been rowing this season in hope of winning a championship. But for other teams, particularly ones that have been hit hard by Covid, that means just showing up and giving it your best effort, without a trophy in mind.

Every rowing team has faced unique challenges over the last two years, but the 2021-22 season looked more normal than any season since 2018-19. As most teams wrap up the regular season by mid-May and championship racing is in full swing by the end of May, here is some insight into which teams are leading the polls and how they fared during regular-season competition.

IRA

The No. 2 Yale heavyweight men have dominated the IRA landscape thus far this season, winning every race they entered before the varsity eight was disqualified in last week’s Carnegie Cup. After the disqualification, the University of California, Berkeley took over the top spot in the polls, but the Bulldogs have been the team to beat all season.

Despite all the wins Yale earned on the water this season, Head Coach Stephen Gladstone characterized the success of the regular season not by the wins but the growth and development of his team.

“More than half the squad this year had never taken a stroke with a ‘Y’ on their chest,” Gladstone explained. “They were new. They were new to the culture, new to the basic structure of our stroke.”

In a typical year, Yale has nine or 10  new members on their approximately 60-person roster. But because of Covid, Yale has seen those numbers jump, and Gladstone said the integration process for new members was “much more lengthy” this year, but he found it “very enjoyable.” 

Now that dual/triangular cup events are over for this season, the Bulldogs will turn toward the Eastern Sprints on May 15, which Gladstone said are the team’s Ivy League championships. “The Ivy League pecking order is established at the Eastern Sprints. For us, that’s our league championship, and that’s very important. It’s like winning the Pac-12,” he explained. 

The team will then compete at the IRA National Championships in Mercer, N.J., from June 3 to 5 before closing the season with the famed Yale-Harvard regatta. Yale will look for its fourth IRA title; the team won three straight from 2017 to 2019 before the pandemic led to the cancellation of the 2020 edition. The Bulldogs did not compete in the IRA Championship last season, and Washington took advantage of their absence to claim the title.

Two Pac-12 schools, No. 1 Cal and No. 4 Washington, have been near the top of the polls all season as well. The Golden Bears, who have won a total of 17 IRA championships in the men’s heavyweight varsity 8+ for the third-most in IRA history, split their team among two meets for several weekends earlier this season, showing off their depth. On March 5 and 6, the Varsity 8+, Second Varsity 8+, and Third Varsity 8+ all won their races at the Las Vegas Invitational, while head coach Scott Frandsen sent the Fourth Varsity 8+ and a Freshman 8+ to Newport Beach for the California Cup Challenge. 

A month later, Cal swept the V8+, 2V8+, and 3V8+ races at the Pac-12 Challenge as well as the 4V8+, 5V8+, and 6V8+ at the Ebright Invitational the same weekend. The team also bested the Huskies for the Schoch Cup by winning four of five races, marking the first time since 2017 that Cal won its dual against Washington. Last weekend’s dual with No. 10 Stanford was canceled due to Covid issues within the Cardinal’s program, but the team has the Pac-12 Championships as its first race of the postseason before the IRA Championships.

Washington started the season at No. 2 in the polls, receiving several first-place votes and stayed in that position for two weeks until Cal overtook the Huskies in the April 19 edition. The Huskies started the fall season with a bang as their Varsity 8+ took first in the men’s championship 8+ division at the Head of the Charles in October. During their spring schedule, the Huskies’ boats went undefeated through four regattas until the dual at Cal on April 23. At that regatta, Washington won the Freshman 8+ and took second in the other four races. 

The team will race at the Twilight Sprints on Friday, May 6, and at the Windermere Cup/Opening Day Regatta on Saturday, May. 7, before starting the postseason with the conference championships and then the IRA Championships. Washington boasts the second-most all-time IRA heavyweight varsity 8+ wins with 19, sitting behind just Cornell, which has won the race 25 times since 1895.

The Yale men also sit on top of the lightweight varsity-eight standings, a spot they have held for the last three editions of the poll. Like their heavyweight team, the Bulldogs’ lightweight eights have found substantial success this season, and the first varsity eight has yet to lose a race. The U.S. Naval Academy, currently ranked No. 3, started the season ranked No. 1 and took down Yale’s second varsity eight, third varsity eight, and fifth varsity eight in the team’s dual on April 2. Outside of Navy’s first varsity eight’s loss to Yale that day, that boat also has not lost a race thus far this season. Navy also enters the postseason as the defending IRA team champion for the men’s lightweight competition. Yale has yet to win the men’s varsity lightweight overall team trophy at the IRA Championships, which was first awarded in 2015. Yale has won the 1922 Trophy five times, however, which is given to the team that wins the varsity eight at the championships, and will enter the postseason looking for its first title since 2011.

On the women’s lightweight side, Princeton University has held the top spot all season. No. 2 Stanford, which had won the Freeholders Trophy nine times between 2010 and 2019 and the women’s varsity lightweight overall team trophy from 2015 to 2019, has not been able to capture the same magic it had in previous years. The Cardinal lost to Princeton in the varsity eight, varsity four, and varsity 2x in their dual on April 16, and the team’s trip this past weekend to the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association (WIRA) Championships was canceled due to Covid issues. No. 5 Wisconsin, which won the overall team trophy at last year’s national championship, began the season at the bottom of the polls at No. 7 and has since climbed to No. 5.

STAFF REPORTS
PHOTO BY SPORTGRAPHICS.COM

Collegiate rowers from across the U.S. and Canada flock to Philadelphia’s Schuylkill River May 13 and 14 for the 83rd annual Jefferson Dad Vail Regatta.

The Dad Vail is the largest collegiate regatta in North America and has traditionally drawn thousands of rowers from over 1oo different colleges.

Through a new partnership with Five Tribes Cinema Productions, live streaming coverage runs from 7:00 am Friday, May 13, through the conclusion of the regatta on Saturday, May 14.

BY ANDY ANDERSON
PHOTO PROVIDED

Has the thought occurred to you that Washington would be much better off if only it were populated with people who know what it means to work together selflessly, people who know what it means to work toward a tough goal? In short, wouldn’t things be better if some rowers were running the show? Well, one of our own, a real rower, is running for Congress. Monica Tranel, an Olympian in 1996 and 2000, is the real deal, someone who represents all that our sport promotes and encourages. 

Tranel is running for a seat to represent the first district in Montana, the western part of the state. If you have a head for obscure facts, you probably know that Montana used to have two seats in congress, but lost one in 1993 after the census and now has regained it. That makes it the first state to have lost a seat and then gained it back. 

I was drawn to Tranel’s story not only because of her rowing but also because her background is atypical for an Olympic rower. Raised on a ranch near Miles City, Mont,, she is the sixth of 10 children. Ranch life is hard and unglamorous. Her father walked through snow to get to school; he remembers going to bed hungry often. As a girl, Monica shared not only a bathroom and bedroom with an older sister but also a bed with that sister until she went off to college. 

When it was time for Tranel to go to college, her parents didn’t want her to go East, despite some acceptances there; it was too far away. So she went to Gonzaga University in Spokane, the next state over and an 11-hour drive (Montana is a big state). There, as a tall and strong woman, she was approached by the college’s rowing club.

 “I had always had a deep connection to the natural world,” she said. “I was outdoors all the time growing up. I fell in love with rowing from the very first moment. When we got out on the water, I couldn’t believe how beautiful it was to row.” 

Gonzaga isn’t known as a breeding ground for the national team. “Our club team got to race in Seattle in the Pac-Ten championships, and our coxed four came in fourth. For us, that was like winning gold.” At that regatta, her eyes were opened to all the top rowers in the Northwest and to the potential that could lie ahead.

She moved East to attend Rutgers Law School, outside Philadelphia, and, hoping to find a place to continue rowing, she walked along Boathouse Row knocking on doors. At Vesper, the door opened, and J.B. Kelly welcomed her and showed her around, pointing out photos of his father and grandfather, both Olympic medalists. There were men and women just back from the 1988 Olympics in Korea, and they encouraged her to join. “Somewhere,” she said, “there’s a video made of me that first fall called ‘How Not to Row.’ My nickname on the Schuylkill was ‘Flipper.’”

National Team Coach Kris Korzeniowski was visiting with his Norwegian erg for testing. Tranel climbed on, closed her eyes, and visualized a creek back on the ranch that she had jumped. 

“I always thought that if I didn’t make it, if I died, that would be an OK way to go. I closed my eyes and jumped.” When she finished her erg piece, she opened her eyes to hear Korzo declare, “You just pulled the fastest score in the country.” He went on to say that he had seen her row and that she was “really strong but dangerous.”

Progress was slow, but rowing at Vesper was a delight, and she got invited to some training camps and was getting better. The wild bronco was becoming a reliable steed. By 1992, after three years at Vesper, she was in a boat that came in fifth in the Olympic trials, a disappointing reality for someone who now had higher aspirations.

 “I’ll give myself one more year,” Tranel vowed to herself. “If I don’t dedicate myself completely to this, I’ll never know what might have been.”

 It’s a good thing she stuck with it; in 1993, she made the U.S. team and won a bronze in the quad. In 1994, she won silver medals in both the four without cox and the eight at the World Championships. In 1995, the eight won gold with her in the four seat.

The 1996 Olympics in Atlanta were a monumental disappointment for the women’s eight. The year before, they had won gold in a boat of very strong, very fit athletes, so their fourth- place finish was “devastating.” Recalled Tranel: “It was the first time I was ever in a U.S. boat that didn’t row into the medals dock.”

The following year, she switched to the single and represented the U.S. at the Worlds, placing seventh. She took 1998 off and lived in Montana but returned to the U.S. eight in 1999, winning a silver medal. Her last year of high-level rowing was 2000, when she won the Olympic singles trials but did not perform up to potential in Australia.

I asked her what she had gotten out of so many years of rowing. Without hesitation, she said, “The willingness to dig deep and set a goal and go for it.” She mentioned a case in her legal career in Montana when she took on the biggest utility in the state after its failure to plan adequately meant that it was trying to pass on a $10-million loss to consumers.

 “They tried to bury me with documents. I read them all. In court, they were surprised that I could point to the exact details; it seemed like most of their team hadn’t even read them all. We won the case.” 

 “In my life, hard work and preparation have always paid off,” she reflected. “That’s my campaign message—‘Let’s restore the middle class, people who work hard.’”

Her website features a video brimming with rowing footage. She talks about how she always rowed in the “engine room,” in the middle. She identifies Montanans as the middle class, the engine room of this country. “I didn’t learn my work ethic in the Olympics; I took it there from Montana.”

She had just returned from the annual Power Ten dinner in New York when I spoke with her. “It was great. I spent time with a lot of deeply committed people who recognize how privileged they have been to have rowed. They want to contribute, to give back. That’s what we need in this country.”

If she wins the Democratic primary on June 7, it’s likely she will face former Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke, a Trump appointee, in November. It looks to be a tough row ahead, but her message— “We can be better than we are. We are in a time and a place where we need to decide where we are going”— spurs her on. If she wins, she would be the first female Olympian to be elected to Congress. This rower is what we need.

PROVIDED BY ROWERS CHOICE

STAFF REPORTS
PHOTO PROVIDED

USRowing announced that Australian apparel company 776BC will be the organization’s official and exclusive apparel provider under a three-year agreement.

“We are excited to partner with 776BC to provide gear for our national team athletes,” said Josy Verdonkschot, USRowing Chief High Performance Officer. “776BC has a proven track record in providing quality rowing gear for athletes at the highest level of competition. Their background as rowers provides a unique perspective, and we look forward to working with them to help our athletes perform at their highest level.”

According to USRowing, 776BC will provide gear to all U.S. national teams including the Olympic, Paralympic, senior, under 23, and junior national teams, as well as the USRowing staff. 776BC also will sell team-branded apparel and merchandise through their website and USRowing’s online store.

776BC was founded in Melbourne, Australia by two-time Olympic rower and Beijing silver medalist Cameron McKenzie-McHarg and Kate McKenzie-McHarg.

“We are thrilled to be partnering with USRowing and for America’s best rowers to be training and competing using 776BC products and technology,” Cameron McKenzie-McHard said. “We share a passion for performance and look forward to working to support the athletes and team on their journey towards Paris in 2024.”

The full USRowing + 776BC collection can be viewed here.

BY CHIP DAVIS
PHOTOS BY SPORTGRAPHICS.COM

The Williams College men’s varsity eight and Ithaca College women’s varsity eight won their respective grand finals of the 2022 National Invitational Rowing Championships, Sunday, May 8 on Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, Mass. Bates College won the overall points trophy in very windy conditions.

“It was an outstanding day of performances in challenging conditions but we came away with the team points trophy, a NESCAC championship, and punched two tickets to the national championship regattas,” head coach Peter Steenstra told GoBatesBobcats.com. “Not a bad day of work by the Bobcats!”

Steenstra is referring to the NCAA Rowing Championships, for Division I, II, and III women’s open-weight varsity programs, to be held May 27-29 at Sarasota-Bradenton, Florida’s Nathan Benderson Park. and the 119^th Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championship Regatta, to be held June 3-5 at Mercer Lake in West Windsor, New Jersey for heavyweight men’s, lightweight men’s, and lightweight women’s programs.

PHOTO AND STORY BY ED MORAN

While most of the winners at the USRowing National Selection Regatta II Friday morning were trying to decide what the best next steps for them should be in this unfolding 2022 season, Claire Collins and Madeleine Wanamaker knew exactly what they were going to do.

They are taking advantage of the opportunity to race at World Cup II in Poznan, Poland, and hope for a high enough finish to be named directly to the U.S. team that will race at the World Rowing Championships, September 18-25 in Racice, Czech Republic.

A high enough finish would be finish top six, or if there are fewer than 12 entries, finish in the top 50 percent. And given that Wanamaker and Collins won a final that included five other Princeton Training Center pairs, they feel confident about their international opportunity.

“It was definitely good to seal the deal, have a good race, and in perfect water,” Wanamaker said. “So it was a good day. World cup in the pair is the first on the docket, so we’ll see how it goes.  That was kind of the goal. I’ve been having a great time rowing with Claire and I think we would like to keep that partnership together, so it’s great that we are in a position now that we can do that.”

Three other crews that raced in the four A finals Friday, plus the men’s and women’s lightweight doubles that raced uncontested Tuesday—Michelle Sechser and Molly Reckford, and Zach Heese and Jasper Liu—have all earned the right to race in Poznan, next month.

Besides Wanamaker and Collins, the California Rowing Club men’s pair of Justin Best and Michael Grady; the Texas Rowing Club’s men’s double of Kevin Cardno and Jonathan Kirkegaard; and the Texas Rowing Club women’s double with Kara Kohler and Sophia Vitas, all won their final and are deciding which is the next best move for them.

Their choices are going to Poznan and vie for a direct spot on the 2022 World Championship team or go to one of the two selection camps that will begin next week in Sacramento, Calif., and Mercer, New Jersey, from which the athletes will travel to Europe as a U.S. squad and race in Poznan and the Henley Royal Regatta this spring will be chosen.

After racing, it sounded like both the men’s heavy double and the men’s pair were leaning toward racing together in Poznan, but were holding off in announcing what they would be doing.

“I thought it was a solid race,” said Best. “I am glad to see there is a really solid field out there. But as far as the race went, Grady and I did exactly what we wanted to do. We had a really solid start and we wanted to capitalize on that.

“We put our bow ball out in front and just kind of took control of the race. We went through our moves, which I was really excited about because we wanted to kind of save that for the final day. So, each call Grady made, the boat responded, and we saw a drop in speed.”

“I thought it was a solid race,” said Best. “I am glad to see there is a really solid field out there. But as far as the race went, Grady and I did exactly what we wanted to do. We had a really solid start and we wanted to capitalize on that.

Best said the decision on Poznan would come later. “We’ll be talking with our coaches and maybe [Chief USRowing High Performance Director Josy Verdonkschot] to talk about the potential for World Rowing Cup in the pair. It depends on the conversation today, but for right now, we’ll see.”

After their race in the men’s double, Cardno said, “Racing was good. JP and I have been working on a lot of things back home with the lightweight and today was just executing that to the best of our ability. I think we’re stoked about that. I think our plan is to stick with the double, but we’ll talk to Peter, but I think that is the plan.”

For Kohler and Vitas the decision is a bit more complicated. Kohler won the first NSR in the single and can elect to race that in Poznan. They were seriously challenged this week by the unaffiliated-Whitemarsh Boat Club composite crew of Sophia Luwis and Audrianna Boersen, who went toe-to-toe with the Texas open weights and finished just .48 seconds behind them in second.

“We won like we wanted to,” said Kohler. “We have some mixed feelings about the race. We definitely feel like we could be a lot faster. We got matched up against some really fast lightweights gone heavyweight, lightweights who are really good at rowing, so really good job to them for a great regatta and everyone else. We feel like we definitely have more speed in us, but we’re still happy we won.”

TRC HP head coach Peter Mansfeld later explained that the program will race at World Cup II with Kohler and Vitas in the women’s double, Cardno and Kirkegaard in the men’s double, Zach Heese and Jasper Liu in the lightweight men’s double, and Jimmy McCullough in the men’s single.

One other athlete who raced in the men’s double entry for California Rowing Club, Ben Davison, who finished third with Chris Carlson, will join the world cup team in Poznan. Davison won the single at NSR I and earned the right to row the single. Davison said that is what he will do.

Davison suffered a back strain just before these trials and will now spend time recovering and preparing.

“Single for sure,” Davison said. “It’s worth a try. I’ve been trying it now for a while, but never actually given it a proper go and I’ve got six weeks now to get the back healthy again and give it a good go. I’ve got nothing to lose. Who knows? After that, I can always come back to camp if need be and try and join a team boat. But it’s worth a go.”

* Coverage brought to you by Gemini.

STAFF REPORTS
PHOTO BY ED MORAN

The final day of racing at USRowing’s second national selection regatta of the year is underway.

Today’s the big day where crews will secure their bids to World Rowing Cup II should they win in their respective boat class.

Four bids are up for grabs in the men’s and women’s doubles, and men’s and women’s pairs. Two bids have already been awarded in the lightweight men’s and women’s doubles.

A list of full results can be viewed here.

* Coverage brought to you by Gemini.