Print this newsletter from PDF March 15th, 2007

The 2007 Season Is Here

Down at the shellhouse you get the sense that a new generation has taken over. All those names you remember – Brett and Ante, Scott and Kyle, Giuseppe, Kiel, Tyler, Adam and all the others – have gone on to National Team programs, graduate school or careers, and youngsters have taken over the place. But what a group of kids!

Do you remember the class of ’09’s motto which boasted, in Latin, “In this sign we conquer?” Well, they came, they saw, and they did, indeed, conquer. Last spring as freshmen they took Class Day, the National Title, and for four of them, a World Title. Add junior, Rob Gibson, to the group and you’ve got five who sport 2006 International gold. And he is a good one to add to that sophomore mix. A life-long hockey player, Rob is a tough junior who brings that sport’s attitude to the boat house. He is a big, strong, no excuses guy who comes to work every day and leads by example.

There is a reason, Husky fans, why Rowing News traveled cross-country in February to pay a visit. By the time this reaches you, our guys may have already made the cover. “It puts a bull’s-eye on the side of your head,” Bob Ernst remarked about the national publication’s interest, “but these guys don’t care. They love to race.”

Who are these guys? Good question. First of all, all thirteen of the freshmen who went east last spring for the IRA are back and seven of the eight from the year before are back. In a recent interview, the most interesting facts we heard were that the strongest men on the ergs are also the strongest technical rowers on the squad, and that the top erg scores are better than Husky scores put up in recent years. Imagine what could happen if the guys are able to covert all that power and skill into a cohesive unit. Bob calls them “blue collar guys who like each other, like to work hard, and want to race,” and he has both the faith that they will jell as a team and the determination to make it happen.

Max Lang came off his family’s sheep ranch in Canada with the sort of work ethic you want to find in every young man. Bob calls him an “ultimate worker, an ultimate competitor.” His ’09 teammates, Will Crothers, Jesse Johnson and Bart-Jan Caron put their own unique stamp on the squad. Jesse, Bob says, “totally enjoys being around gifted guys.” At the University and no longer required to carry a team, “he has had a chance to grow into his talent.” About Will, Bob said, “Maybe even more than the others, Will’s passion is rowing. He’d rather row than eat, and he loves to race.” B.J. has put twenty pounds of muscle on his 6’ 7” frame. Bob calls him a “great racer,” and points out that he “senses the mechanics and speed of a boat.”

Are there seniors on the squad? You bet, and they are led by Aljosa Corovic who is competing better and harder than he ever has. Bob predicts a spot for him in a gold-winning IRA boat this year. From the junior varsity last year, junior Steve Full is working hard every day and has “the skill and fitness to contend.”

How about walk-ons, the mainstay of Husky rowing for generations? Meet Andrew Beaton, Drew Fowler and Ryan Huntoon, all of them sensational high school athletes. Andrew played high school basketball with Gonzaga’s (and now the Charlotte Bobcat’s) Adam Morrison. Drew was captain of a state championship football team, competing at 275 pounds. He now weighs 215 and you know his fitness and strength are better than ever. Ryan, son of a U.S. Army General, with plans to follow in his father’s footsteps, was a high school swimmer and is the great grandson of a Husky oarsman. Bob calls him a “mountain of power.” All three of them are in the mix.

And finally, we asked the question all rowers ask: “Is there a cox who can steer a straight course?” Bob said he has a bunch. The three most likely, at this point at least, to end up in a boat are Katelin Snyder, Micah Perrin, and Patrick Kavanagh. It’s going to be fun to see who wins the seats. Among them, Katelin has the edge at the moment. Bob called her a “special cox, one who understands the movement and feel of the boat. She shows intelligence, communications skills, and leadership without overloading the athletes.”

We’ve only scratched the surface. Conibear is loaded with talent this year and we will introduce you to more of the athletes next month. Bob wants all of our alumni, parents and friends to know that assembling this talent pool wasn’t done by magic. It required a freshman coach who could relate to young athletes, teach both technique and life skills with equal ability, inspire, and find ways to cause them to cohere as a team. He feels fortunate to have all that and more in Michael Callahan, whose most recent crop is rumored to be doing wondrous things on the ergs.

So now, with this early peek at a few of our athletes, you are either excited about the upcoming season or you simply aren’t a fan. Call Bob or Michael and schedule a ride in the launch one day soon. Be sure to turn out for the Class Day races on March 24, put April 28th on your calendar, too. The Bears are coming to town for the great, annual showdown dual and it just might be a race for the ages. Don’t miss it.
 


 

 

 

 

Mike Hess

Husky Women

Moving Forward

Racing Schedule

     

 

 

Mike Hess - A Husky Legend And Leader

“Be humble, be hungry, be fast.”

Through four decades, Mike Hess has used those words to incite, teach, and commit Husky rowers to their goals, and it is likely that another four decades will hear the same from him with the same results. Unfailingly, his exhortation is received seriously by Husky athletes, with both admiration for the source and renewed determination to achieve new personal bests. In more than a century of excellence, few Husky rowers have earned such respect, or have remained as viable and involved in the program, as Mike.

This month Mike steps down from his second stint as chair of the Washington Rowing Stewards. Many of you understand the impact he has had on our program – both on the water and off – but for those of you who don’t, it is time for you knew more about this remarkable man.

Long considered one of Washington’s all-time finest oarsmen, he was also one of the world’s great oarsmen during his peak years in the seventies. He remains so today. Last fall at the age of fifty, in a boat representing the Pocock Rowing Center and filled with a number of his Husky friends, he and his Masters teammates outraced arch rival Pennsylvania Athletic Club to win gold at the Head of the Charles. Consider this: he pulled the seven oar in a starboard rigged shell that featured, at stroke, 2004 Olympic gold medalist Bryan Volpenhein who is a full twenty years younger than he.

Mike spent his early years in the Midwest but moved with his parents and brothers to Vancouver Island where he attended high school at Shawnigan Lake School, home of a highly regarded prep rowing program. At the University of Washington, he was a member of the great class of 1977 that will be honored on their thirtieth reunion at the VBC Banquet later this month.

During his years as an undergraduate, he was more than a fixture in the program. With his teammates, he won the Grand Challenge Cup at the Henley Royal Regatta in 1977, was team Captain in 1977 and 1978, and won the team’s inspirational award in those same years. He was in the U.S. gold medal boat at the Pan American Games in 1975, stroked the U.S. Olympic eight at Montreal in 1976, returned to the national team in 1977 and 1978, and won gold once again as stroke of the U.S. eight in the 1979 Pan American Games. With the Russian invasion of Afghanistan and growing doubts about U.S. participation in the 1980 Olympic Games, he left elite level rowing to pursue a career.

Mike married U.W. track athlete, Andy, and their daughter, Joanna, was born in 1984. All three row. Jo, a recent Yale graduate, was cause for Mike and Andy to make nearly a dozen cross-county trips last spring for the eastern college racing season.

Mike is a board member of the National Rowing Foundation and a friend to rowers and coaches throughout the world. Most important for us, he has remained intimately involved in the Husky rowing program, contributing endless time, spirit, energy, intelligence, leadership and money.

If there is a lasting legacy to his service as an alumnus, however, it must be the new Conibear Shellhouse. Few know of the endless hours he spent with Bob Ernst, the Athletic Department, and the architects and contractor to ensure that the rebuilt boat house retained its central purpose as the home of Husky Crew. With Bob, he committed early that the space for the men’s and women’s programs would not become a basement afterthought but, instead, one of the fine rowing facilities in the world. It wasn’t an easy battle and it wasn’t easily won, but his persistence, influence and persuasive skills are reflected today in the building’s theme, and in many design and construction details. The long training room, for example, has cutout hillsides at the north and south ends that allow for large windows and a room filled with daylight. That single, hard-won concession changed the character of the entire ground floor. But that was only the most obvious contribution. The list goes on and on, and generations of Husky athletes will have the Ernst-Hess pair to thank for the final results.

After a number of years at the helm of the Washington Rowing Stewards, Mike is turning over the chair in order to relieve himself of some of the detail and demands on his time. That doesn’t mean he’s going anywhere. Yes, he will have a bit more time for Andy and Jo, and a bit more time to get to their cabin on Hood Canal, but Mike has too much energy and too much devotion to Husky Crew to step away from it. He will remain on the Washington Rowing Stewards’ new Executive Committee, and he will continue to be heavily involved in the Stewards’ affairs. He will be around the shellhouse, as always, watching the crews develop, providing inspiration to the athletes, displaying excellence and commitment through personal example, helping lead the Stewards, and quietly underwriting necessities through an endless stream of gifts of money and spirit. He and his buddies might even pull off another victory this fall on the Charles River. And, as always, he will display his commitment through personal example, living the “be humble, be hungry, be fast” creed himself, every day.

Join us in thanking Mike for his leadership and his generosity in time and resources over these last few years. Join us in thanking him for the contributions he has yet to make.

 

  

 
 

 

 

Husky Women Anticipate a Great Season
by Elizabeth Simenstad

Our Husky women have a great group of seniors this year, probably the largest number of rowers to stay through four years in some time. Along with several returning juniors, there is plenty of varsity and junior varsity experience to call upon, and the team expects that to be a strong positive factor.

Leadership begins with Courtney Plitt, the VBC Commodore, who matches a commanding enthusiasm to her fun, approachable personality. She is assisted by Andrea Smith, VBC Skipper, who coordinates team activities, Andrea Sooter, Purser, who manages the team’s finances and the quarterly gear orders, and Liz Simenstad, Logger, who records race results, team events, and other components of the team’s character for future use.

All four are competing for spots in the top boats with the other four seniors, Asiha Grigsby, Cara Troelstra, Victoria Gibson, and Corianne Bowman. Asiha came to the UW initially to join the track team but was soon recruited into rowing, and she has been a lively presence around the boathouse ever since. Cara is one of several Canadian-born rowers in our program, and her skill in the boat and off the water is indisputable. Vicki hails from Boston (she is one of the few East Coasters in Washington rowing), and has always been one of the hardest-working rowers in the program. Corianne, who comes from Cowiche, Washington, spent two years rowing at North Park University near Chicago but decided it wasn’t competitive enough and came west again. Our team could not have been luckier.

There are also some juniors and rookies who are getting ready to take the future of Washington crew into their own hands. Three top ones are Kim Armstrong, Taryn Langlois, and Jamie Unwin. In high school, Kim rowed for Everett Rowing Association, an outstanding rowing program north of Seattle. Taryn leads by example and never complains. Jamie came to the University from British Columbia. All three bring power, determination, and an incredible work ethic to practice.

This year we have two juniors and two rookies doing a fine job of steering and motivating the boats, but one coxswain that stands out is Alysha Koorji. Alysha coxed the freshman eight in the spring of 2005 through a competitive season which ended in victory at Pac-10s, a triumph which the rowers, coaches, and parents remember fondly.

This is by no means a complete list of the major contenders on the women’s crew but, rather, a glimpse at the depth and character of the people who help make the team what it is. Be sure to check out our next feature to meet more of our athletes and learn more about the women’s crew at Washington.

   

 

 

 

Moving Forward
by John Wilcox

On the chance that the photo above is confusing, meet Lily, sister of Charlotte, both nine months, both class of 2028. They will row with their cousin Ingrid, also ’28, who will follow her sister Elise (’21) and brother Rutger (’23). Showing wisdom beyond their years, all five have declared for the port side. It is tradition, after all, and tradition is part of our unique and consuming sport.

We have been at this at Washington for 104 years and counting, and I am humbled to have been asked to lead the Rowing Stewards into its next phase. Taking over from Mike Hess is particularly daunting because he set (and will continue to set) the standard for long-term investment of time, effort, financial support, and results.

Unlike Mike, I was a casual fan of rowing for most of my adult life. Like most of you, I wrote occasional checks, came down for a launch ride every few years, and read race results in the local Sunday papers – when I happened to notice them. I also wondered what the Rowing Stewards did, what they accomplished, and how one got tapped as a member.

But also, like most of you, I kept in touch with my classmates and friends from my days on the water. Our shared experience and the stories we tell about it (getting better and funnier each year) make them among the closest friends I have. I’ve even made friends with a Cal Bear or two since graduation, which says something about the mystique, camaraderie and selectivity of our sport.

Three or four years ago an unusual set of circumstances reconnected me to the program and not long after I resolved to give back, finally, to one of the true passions of my life. Every moment of it has been rewarding. As I think about the future of rowing at Washington, I hope that my experience in returning can be an example for those of you who have thought of making your own contributions. Reconnection, a word we have used frequently in these pages the last two years, will be the theme of my tenure. We launched the online newsletter two years ago and month by month it pulls alumni back, increases numbers at our events, and boosts fundraising results. But we have a long way to go. By some estimates, we are in regular contact with no more than ten to fifteen percent our alumni base.

Recognizing the need to find and engage our alumni and friends, Matt Andersen recently designed and wrote a software package that will provide us with far better alumni tracking. Along with Andrew Dempsey, his partner in the effort, Matt gifted the package to the Stewards. Over the next year, we will use it to find, record and communicate with our community, and to engage in a more useful discourse with it. If you are looking for a way to give back to the program, we are looking for Class and Era Captains. Contact our alumni coordinator, Gints Salaks, at gints@u.washington.edu and he will tell you what’s involved.

Finally, I hope to encourage a more open, more welcoming Rowing Stewards. Whether you rowed one year or four, sat in the varsity or watched it race, you are a member of the long tradition of Husky rowing. The first step in aligning our interests with yours is communication, so send me a note with your thoughts, interests or complaints to jwilcox3@msn.com. Let’s work together to ensure that that Husky Crew remains North America’s finest and most successful collegiate rowing program.

 

 

 


2007 Racing Calendar - Be There!

 

Sat March 24 Class Day 10:00AM Montlake Course
Sat April 7 WSU 9:00AM Snake River
Sat/Sun April 14/15 Windermere Classic ALL DAY Redwood Shores
Sat April 21 OSU 9:00AM Montlake Course
Sat April 28 Cal Dual 9:00AM Montlake Course
Sat May 5

Opening Day Windermere Cup

10:00AM Montlake Course
Sun May 13 PAC-10's ALL DAY Rancho Cordova
Fri-Sun May 25-27 NCAA's TBA Oak Ridge, TN
Thrs-Sat May 31 - June 2 IRA TBA Camden, NJ