Emory University Crew

SIRAs 2012

eucrew — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 16:56:26 +0000

On April 21-22, 2012, our varsity men’s and women’s squads took to the podiums at the Southern Intercollegiate Rowing Association (SIRA) Championships in Oak Ridge, TN. Competition was relentless, with many of the top collegiate crews from the South (both varsity and club) pursuing the gold. The weekend was filled with racing, with heats and semifinals on Saturday and finals on Sunday. While the weather had forecasted scattered thunderstorms throughout the weekend, the racecourse sported fairly good rowing conditions, with nothing more than a slight headwind and, thankfully, no rain.

From the very start, Emory’s Men’s Heavyweight Varsity 4+ (S: Ben Carr, 3: Adam Hanif, 2: Eric Rusiecki, B: Alex Dermody-McKean, C: Harry Goldberg) proved dominant, winning their heat by 10 seconds over George Washington University and their semifinal by 9 seconds over Grand Valley. In both races, Emory posted the fastest times out of all the crews. In the finals, the MV4+ battled University of Florida throughout the race, with UF having a slight lead over Emory through the first 1000m. Nevertheless, Emory’s four proved to be the faster and more mentally tough crew, crossing the finish line in 1st with a time of 6:43.20, 4 seconds ahead of UF.

The Women’s Heavyweight Varsity 8+ (S: Nora Kenty, 7: Ali Brooks, 6: Sofie Leenders, 5: Gabby Arondel, 4: Grace Veker, 3: Laura Eakes, 2: Jen Margulies, B: Meghan Ewen, C: Devan Elmore) performed well against tough competitors in the combined Club and Open category, coming in 3rd in both the heats and semifinals. Moving on to the B final, Emory placed 1st for the club entries and 11th overall, making Emory the winners of the club division of the Heavyweight Varsity 8+.
Junior Gabby Arondel commented, “racing varsity programs was a great experience and definitely pushed our boat to our limits. Although at first a little disappointed with an 11th place finish overall, we’re very happy to be taking home the gold for the club entries.”

Following tradition, shirts from other crews and medals were given to our winning teams as coxswains Harry Goldberg and Devan Elmore were tossed into the cold waters of Melton Lake.

Like the Varsity Women, the Novice Women 8+ raced in a combined open and club event. Despite battling against crews with more rowing experience, they landed in the B final, taking 2nd and the silver medal for the club entries and 7th overall. The men’s lightweight and novice boats and the women’s novice 4+ put out strong performances, and although they didn’t win any medals, they gained valuable racing experience and will return to Emory ready to make technical adjustments to their rowing and gain boat speed. On the other hand, while the months of hard work from the MV4+ and the WV8+ have paid off, these squads will train just as hard in the coming weeks with their eyes now set on gold at the upcoming Dad Vail regatta in Philadelphia, PA, May 11-12.

If any parents/alumni were able to attend the regatta and take pictures that they are willing to share, please email eucrew@gmail.com. We would love to post memories of this eventful weekend on our website for all to see.

FIRAs and Duke Scrimmage

eucrew — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 16:11:27 +0000

This past weekend, the women’s and men’s squads split up for an eventful weekend of racing at two separate venues.

The women’s teams headed down to Sarasota, Florida for the FIRAs Championship regatta at the newly built Benderson Park venue, where they competed in a V8+, V4+ (A & B), N8+, and N4+ (A & B).

Conditions proved very conducive to rowing on Friday, with a calm breeze out of the west. The Varsity and Novice women’s 4+ cruised through their respective heats to advance to finals. The Novice Women’s “B” 4+ competed in finals coming in second behind UF.

On Saturday, the Varsity Women’s 8+ began the day strong with a second place finish beating the University of Florida by 1.1 seconds. Later in the day, the wind started to pick up, creating a powerful cross wind that affected most boats for the remainder of the afternoon. The Novice Women’s 8+ came in third and in the Novice “A” 4+, Emory finished fifth. Finally, finishing up the day of racing, the Varsity “B” 4+ pushed through to a second place finish behind FIT, and the Varsity “A” 4+ weathered tough conditions for a silver place medal behind Nova.

The trip went smoothly and successfully with most boats returning with a medal and fond memories. The girls are excited to compete again next weekend against most of the same teams – this time, with their eyes locked on gold!

Meanwhile, the men’s teams traveled up to Durham, North Carolina to scrimmage Duke University. Conditions on the course at Duke’s Lake Michie were nearly perfect, with a slight tailwind and calm water reminiscent of Stone Mountain Lake. All squads put out strong performances, with Varsity 4+, Varsity 8+, Novice 8+ and Novice 4+ beating the Duke boats by a fair margin. Emory’s Lightweight 8+ was stroke for stroke with the Duke LWT 8+, but was unable to pull away, resulting in a loss of less than 0.2 seconds. The day ended seeing two exhausted crews racing in the Lightweight 4+, with Duke winning by a boat length.

The men’s squads gained crucial racing experience this weekend, and will continue to refine the technical aspects of their rowing over the next week in preparation for SIRAs and the rest of the championship racing season. We would like to thank Duke University Crew for this great opportunity and for their generous hospitality.

Coming to SIRAs/Dad Vails/ACRAs?

eucrew — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 16:12:54 +0000

Dear alumni and parents,

The spring academic season is coming to a close (1 month left!!), which marks the coming of the championship racing season! Please come support our rowers as we row towards gold at SIRAs (April 21st/22nd), Dad Vails (May 11th/12th), and ACRAs (May 26/27th)!

Additionally, we will be bringing Emory Crew apparel to these regattas, so if you are planning on attending one of these regattas and are interested in purchasing Emory Crew apparel, please send your orders (or any questions) to eucrew@gmail.com.

We hope to see you there!

John Hunter Regatta 2012

eucrew — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 03:10:28 +0000

Emory Crew put out strong performances from all four squads this past Saturday at the John Hunter Regatta. Despite the fair headwind on the course, weather at Lake Lanier was sunny and ~80F, a very welcomed departure from last year’s thunderstorms. The Women’s Varsity 4+ took gold while the Women’s Varsity 8+ took 3rd in their category. The Men’s Varsity Heavyweight 4s (A and B) finished 3rd in the V4+ and JV4+ categories respectively. A strong performance from the novice women earned them 2nd place in the NW4+. Overall, the regatta proved to be good racing experience for all squads, as well as a useful benchmark for our training as we enter championship racing season.

Spring Break 2012 – Cocoa Beach, FL

eucrew — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 03:09:36 +0000

Emory Crew spent this year’s spring break training in Cocoa Beach, FL. All four squads spent two practices a day soaking up the sun and working on their tans while honing in on the technical aspects of rowing in order to translate winter season erging into boatspeed. Although we did not have a scrimmage at the end of the week with which to gauge our improvement, all four squads improved immensely, with the novices starting to work effectively as a single unit in a boat and learning the joys of sprint racing, and the varsity polishing out the subtleties in their strokes. We hope to maintain and build on these improvements as we progress into the spring sprint season.

A-Town Cup 2012

eucrew — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 16:30:47 +0000

On Saturday, February 25th, Emory Crew welcomed the Georgia Tech and University of Georgia Crews to Stone Mountain for the A-Town Cup Scrimmage. All crews performed well for the first sprint scrimmage of the year. Having only had a handful of water practices this season, all squads used this opportunity to identify what they did well and what needed improvement. With spring break quickly approaching, these insights are valuable to the continued development of all squads on the team.

Atlanta Erg Sprints 2012

eucrew — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 16:27:58 +0000

Emory Crew made an impressive showing at the Georgia Tech hosted Atlanta Erg Sprints held on Saturday February 11th. Racing in the standard 2000m spring racing format, the squads came together to win team points, represented by a golden hammer. The varsity men’s finished strong all around, ending up with one medal winner. Alex (Hotch) Dermody-McKeen placed 2nd in the Lightweight Men’s category. Although the novice men finished with no medals they have shown vast improvements over winter training and will be entering the spring season showing great potential. The varsity women also finished with a strong overall finish in the open women’s category with Gabby Arondel placing 2nd and Laura Eakes placing 3rd. The novice women’s squad, the biggest of the four squads to attend Erg Sprints, had two medal finishes. In the novice women’s category, Vanessa Gutzeit placed 1st and Briana Odom placed 3rd. Furthermore, several squads finished with members in 4th place.

In addition to 2000m races mentioned above, Emory Crew placed in several other events. Micah Boyd, the women’s head coach, placed 1st in the men’s 500m dash. Gabby Arondel, who secured a golden hammer by finishing in record time, and Vanessa Gutzeit placed 1st and 2nd respectively in the women’s 500m dash. Two of Emory’s teams also placed second and third in the 2000m relay. Finally in the 1000m men’s coxswains race, Harrison Goldberg placed 1st and Reza Bhiwandiwalla placed 3rd. Similarly, Devan Elmore placed 1st in the women’s 1000m coxswains race.

Fundraising Goal

eucrew — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 20:20:38 +0000

At the present moment, the varsity women are held back by their current racing shell; a ten year old boat that is well past its prime. We are fundraising for the purchase of a new 8-person Vespoli shell that will help us to compete against better funded varsity programs at the national regattas we will soon be attending.

We have currently raised $31,617.09 of $35,000 that is 90.33% of the way to our goal!
Donating is now easier than ever:
Go to http://emorycrew.kintera.org to complete the donation form.
You will receive an e-mail confirmation and a tax receipt by mail from the university.

See the Donate Page for more information!

Head of the Charles

eucrew — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 23:31:21 +0000

Emory Crew competed in the Head of the Charles in Boston last weekend, the biggest and most competitive fall race in the world. The team took three boats this year, which is the most in team history. The Varsity Women’s 4+ came into the race this year as defending champions, and once again brought home medals with a fourth place finish, solidifying Emory Crew’s position as a serious contender on the national level. The Varsity Men’s 4+ finished fourteenth in their extremely competitive event, clinching a guaranteed spot in the race for next year and improving on last year’s results.

Chattanooga Head Race

eucrew — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 23:30:54 +0000

Emory Crew brought home the College Team Points Trophy at the Chattanooga Head Race in Tennessee on October 8th. There were many highlights of the day, including performances by all squads on Emory Crew. The Men’s Varsity 4+ and the Novice Men’s 8+ both took home gold medals in their respective events. In the Novice Women’s 8+ category, Emory Crew’s two boats finished in second and third place. The Varsity Men’s 8+ also brought home second place medals. The Varsity Women’s 8+, competing against varsity programs from across the South, placed seventh in their division, directly behind varsity boats from Tennessee, Alabama, and Central Florida. They placed ahead of every other club team at the competition.