News Archive from the 2012 - 2013 SeasonCase Crew 2012-2013 Season RecapBelow is the academic year 2012-2013 racing schedule for Case Crew with links to the results and photos for each event. For a write up about each event continue to scroll down.
DelBarba National Champion in the Men's Single; Miller 3rd in W1x
Twenty-four scullers entered the men's event warranting full a heat, repechage, semi and final progression. Patrick won his heat and went directly to the semi-final. Doug finished fourth and if he wanted to advance further would have to do it through the repechage later that day. Of the four men's single heats, Doug's was by-far the stiffest competition with four scullers eventually ending up in the final. One of those four scullers from the fast heat included Doug. He took second in the Rep and gained a spot in one of the two eight-boat semi-finals. The semi-finals were four-to-advance affairs and Doug finished fourth in his race. Patrick easily won his semi by over 6.5 seconds.
Three scullers entered, three in the finals! Senior Mallory Miller finished her collegiate rowing career with a bronze medal behind scullers from the College of William & Mary and Emory. In the men's final Patrick won his race with over 5 seconds to spare to be crowned national champion. Racing for his fourth time in two days, Doug finished slightly off the pace in 8th, but out of a 24-boat field. Go Spartans! Click here for complete race results. 2013 ACRA National Championship Regatta Photo Gallery DelBarba Claims Dad Vail Bronze; Four Boats Advance to Saturday!
The Dad Vail Regatta is one of the few of its kind fielding small club crews against big division I varsity programs across two days of racing. Traditionally this regatta serves as the national championship for small crew programs - club or varsity. This year's event had 126 colleges with 532 crews entered across 22 events. Racing commenced on Friday with Heats and concluded on Saturday with Semi-Finals in the morning and Finals in the afternoon. Severe weather threatened Saturday racing so racing in the small boats were pushed to the end of the day. This guaranteed that the big, premier boats could race and put the small boats at risk. Luckily, all races were completed. Results from Friday's HeatsThe first crew Friday morning to compete was the Women's Varsity 4+ of Stephanie Merlino (s), Abby Sevier (3), Jamie Shah (2), Valerie Michel (b) with Chloe Milliman at cox. The women finished 6th in their heat and did not advance. The next races were the men's and women's pairs. The men's pair of Matt Holdren (s) and Gavin Brown (b) took first in their heat and easily advanced after finishing 14 seconds ahead of Lafayette in second. The race was not without some excitement when Emory pulled sideways off the start and into Case's lane. It's never clear what the officials will do so Holdren aggressively went after their hull and tried to pull away. Fortunately the officials stopped the race, excluded Emory and re-started the field. The rowk.com photogrpaher caught the offending Emory crew with a series of photos you can see here. There was less drama in the women's pair with Caitlin Bowerman (s) and Mallory Miller (b) winning their heat by over 5 seconds ahead of varsity program George Mason to also advance to the Semi-Finals. Out of the heats Mallory and Caitlin finished with the 3rd fastest time overall. Patrick DelBarba and Doug Brubaker raced their singles at last year's regatta with both sculler advancing to the semis, but not the finals. This year Patrick won his heat by over half a minute to advance and Doug came in 7 seconds behind a sculler from Rutgers-Camden to also advance.
The team brought a large novice contingent to the regatta for the first time. The men's novice 4+ of Andrew Fedor (b), John Suk (2), Chris Juengling (3), Chris Ryu (s) with Peter Choi coxing. With only two crews advancing the Case men finished fourth behind Lehigh, Villanova and Rochester then ahead of Vassar. The last of seven (7!) boats racing on Friday was the women's novice 8+ of Catherine Culp, Sydnie Dong, Rachel Horetzky, Kelly Hacker, Colleen Kennedy, Hannah Johnson, Hannah Olson-Williams, and Monica Hiller with Stephanie Doran steering. The crew drew the eventual winners from Grand Valley along with varsity program RIT, Penn State and cross town rivals Cleveland State. The Spartans gave it their all, but just couldn't quite match the pace of the rest of the field and finished 5th in their heat and did not advance. Heats Summary: 4 out of 7 boats advanced! Saturday RacingThe first events of Saturday morning were the men's single semi-finals. In the two-to-advance flights, Patrick DelBarba finished second less than a second off the sculler from Virginia Commonwealth University to advance. Doug Brubaker drew both Oklahoma City University scullers in his semi, and these guys went on to take gold and silver later in the day. Doug Ended up finishing 4th in his heat behind the two OCU scullers and one from the University of Tampa but ahead of Chicago and Pittsburgh.
The women's pair were next up and they finished in second place 4 seconds off the University of Cincinnati who eventually went on to win gold. With two to advance they secured their spot in the final. The men's pair finished in third place in their heat to just miss advancing by 10 seconds. They finished behind pairs from Clarkson and Seattle University. Semi-Final Summary: 2 out of 4 boats advanced!
Novice Women & Small Boats Excel at MACRAsApril 27, 2013: Case Crew entered boats in nine events at this weekend’s MACRA Regatta in Ypsilanti, Michigan. The event held on Ford Lake was originally scheduled for Indianapolis, but severe weather the weekend before damaged the race course prompting the move north. Good, warm weather greeted the team, but the wind picked up in the afternoon for the finals affecting some teams. The Novice Women led the way for the team garnering the only Grand Final places out of the morning heats. The women’s novice 4+ of Monica Hiller, Colleen Kennedy, Hannah Johnson, and Catherine Culp won their heat by nearly 40 seconds over Wheaton College then went on to place second in the Grand Final behind Mercyhurst in a tough race.
The novice women’s 8+ also made it to the Grand Final by placing third in the heat behind Marquette and Eastern Michigan. With some of the athletes rowing multiple times and in multiple events the women gave a valiant effort but finished 6th in the Grand Final.
Senior Doug Brubaker summed up his regatta experience well: MACRAs is a very special race for me. Last year the varsity men's team couldn't field any boats so I only had one race. It was my first ever race in the single in the "Captain Rando." I came in 6th of 7 that year. One year later, I was able to race two incredible races in the varsity 4+ with Gavin Brown, Matt Holdren, Liam McCormick, and Anna Czekaj, coxing one of her final races of her college career. It was an honor to race with these guys and to be part of Anna's crew one last time. I was dead tired for the single, but I rowed well and one year later came in second in a race I had been second to last in a year before. Holdren and Gavin also had a great race in the pair taking 2nd to Cincinnati and Liam jumped back in the single after a year's hiatus. I am encouraged when I measure my personal growth and the growth of the varsity men's team by the performance at MACRA. There are also some great novice men moving up in the Fall and the crews we will build for next year are certain to be faster. We all rowed hard this weekend and will continue to do so, building on this year for further success in the years to come. The late change of venue didn’t hamper parent support. Parents for seniors Anna Czekaj and Doug Brubaker, sophomore Gavin Brown and freshman Chris Ryu showed up and provided the team with tons of food and support. Spring for the seniors always marks a bittersweet time of year, and MACRAs marked Anna’s last varsity race for Case. Congratulations Anna, and thanks to all of the parents for your support! Click here for complete race results. 2013 MACRA Regatta Regatta Photo Gallery Alumni Descend on Cleveland; Race StudentsApril 13, 2013: Case Crew hosted its sixth alumni regatta and a number of alums came from across the country to join in the fun. Folks came in from Dallas, DC, Pittsburgh, Columbus and Germany to mix it up in 600m match style races. Though the alums did not embarrass themselves, they were unable to best the students and lost all four races. The weather was blustery and in the 40's, but the water was flat and the starting commands lenient.
The first race of the morning was the men's eight. The crews lined up next to Nautica stage with bows pointed to the boathouse. Unfortunately, the pause between "Attention" and "Go" wasn't quite long enough for the alumni men to gain fair advantage. With both boats jumping off the line well the students quickly had the advantage and 30 strokes in had a comfortable lead. Click on the race results to see complete line ups for each crew. The shells were left in the water and the line ups changed to the mixed eight. The crews warmed up again into the Flats, practiced a couple starts and then lined up for Go Time. With a proper starting sequence finally offered the alumni jumped off the line in the lead, but it didn't last. Adrenaline must have been flowing in the students and the made up the advantage by thirty strokes in and sat on the alumni crew for the balance of the race. The margin of victory was "only" about half a length.
The women then had a go in the women's four. Case Crew's varsity pair of Caitlin Bowerman and Mallory Miller line up next to both the Case and Alumni women's fours for some three abreast racing. The alumni women made up their own starting sequence and started a couple lengths up on the group. However, age and lack of time together showed their effects and the varsity women proved too fast. The women's pair came first followed by the student four. The last race of the morning was the men's four. The alumni line up consisted of alumni Dan Bachmann and Mike Krofcheck being joined by associate professor Ken Klika and inactive rower Evan Lanese. They had their work cut out against a mostly novice, but extremely talented men's four from Case. The Case line up was comfortably in the lead coming around the bend to the boathouse when a WRRA learn to row group launched off the dock right in front of the finish. The chase boats had to call off the race with clearly enough room for the alumni to make a final push for the lead. So it'll have to be decided next year. After racing concluded alumni liaison Valerie Michel present a season retrospective for all of the students and alumni. Then the alumni went to the Rivergate Cafe for their annual meeting. Later that evening everyone met up at the Jolly Scholar on campus for some food and age appropriate drinks. It was really a great weekend, and we hope you can join us next year! Click here for complete race results. 2013 Case Crew Alumni Regatta Regatta Photo Gallery Case Crew Medals in 10 of 13 races in Charleston, West VirginiaApril 6, 2013: Case Crew enjoyed some fine spring weather in Charleston, West Virginia as they competed in the 2013 Governor's Cup. The nice weather was followed by some nice rowing with the team grabbing medals in almost every event they entered. The regatta included regional college teams from Cleveland State, Dayton, Ohio U, Miami, U. Charleston and John Carroll. Case has been attending the regatta since the early 90's and serves as a rite of passage each spring and a marker for speed in May.
The first race of the morning was the men's 1000m singles. Patrick DelBarba and Doug Brubaker took first and second, respectively, and were the only entrants. Next up were the varsity fours. For the women Stephanie Merlino (s), Abby Sevier, Mallory Miller, Valerie Michel (b) with Ava Kotxas coxing took silver in a close race falling behind Ohio by a length and a half. Some pre-race jitters resulted in a slow start and the crew were fighting the entire course to claw back Ohio. The men's varsity 4+ of Matt Holdren (s), Doug Brubaker, Matt Brown, Liam McCormick (b) with Anna Czekaj on the rudder finished third. It's difficult to compare times with a floating start, but the first two crews from Dayton and Miami raced below 6 minutes. Such fast times bode well for Vails. In the women's novice eights Case finished in second behind a fast crew from Cleveland State but ahead of teams from Miami and Ohio U. You can watch video of the race here. Experience and hard work paid off for Caitlin Bowerman and Mallory Miller in the pair. They comfortably bested a crew from the University of Charleston by over 13 seconds and now will set their sights on MACRAs and Vails.
In the men's 8+ racing was dominated by Dayton over the 2000m course with Case finishing a distant second but well ahead of crews from Ohio U and Miami of Ohio. The men's line up was actually a composite comprising rowers from both Case and two from Cleveland State. Dayton didn't compete in the dash and with heavy legs the men finished at the back in third. The last events of the day were a couple flights, run as finals, for mixed 8's. The first flight contained the "A" crews and Case finished in second behind Ohio U. The lineup was Patrick Delbarbra (s), Matt Holdren, Matt Brown, Liam McCormick, Stephanie Merlino, Valerie Michel, Tita Romero, and Caitlin Bowerman (b). According to alumni rep Valerie, "I was in this race to I can say that it was very intense, with Patrick stroking he kept the rating very high. Being in a boat with four men changes the speed drastically, it was quite fun to be in this boat." In the second mixed 8 flight, Case boated a novice crew that finished in fourth. Overall, the team posted some strong performances under good conditions against solid competition. Go Spartans! Click here for complete race results. 2013 West Virginia Governor's Cup Regatta Photo Gallery Case Crew Dominates Home SchoolsMarch 23, 2013: Case Crew took home the points trophy from the 11th annual Cleveland Collegiate Regatta against in-town rivals Cleveland State and John Carroll. The event is held early each spring as a tune up scrimmage between the Cleveland universities. Case Crew took home the overall points winning six races with CSU winning two and JCU failing to win any this year.
On the women's side the women's varsity 4+ garnered the only points with two crews entered versus one from JCU. The A crew clashed with JCU and were given a 20 second penalty that pushed them back to third place and placing the CWRU B crew on the podium. The women then finished 2nd in the women's novice 8+ and novice 4+ events with CSU capturing their only two points of the day. Only Case had enough athletes to field a women's varsity 8+ so they rowed it as an exhibition for no points with alumna Ruth Dickey one the coxswain ropes. The final two points for the cup were won in the mixed 8+ events. Case won the Mixed Varsity 8+ against JCU and the Mixed Novice 8+ against CSU to claim the cup for the second year in a row and the 5th time in the eleven years of the event. Cleveland State took videos of all the races, which can be viewed here. Click here for complete race results.
Brubaker and Alumni Take on Columbus Erg SprintsMarch 2, 2013: Case Crew rower and 4th year Doug Brubaker headed down I-71 to race in Ohio State's Midwest Championship Erg Sprints (MCES) where he pulled a personal record of 6:32.1. This result was the 5th fastest overall in the Men's Open category. The Men's Open race had 19 competitors from schools around the region including Ohio State, U Cincinnati, and Carnegie-Mellon. Doug is from the area and he was also able to watch his little sister compete in her first ever erg race for Dublin Crew.
Case Rows 838,374 meters in 2013 Erg-A-ThonFebruary 22-23, 2013: Case Crew embarked on their annual 24-hour erg-a-thon targeting a distance greater than that between Cleveland and Philadelphia -- the site of the annual championship Dad Vail Regatta. The team passed the 692km Dad Vail travel distance early Saturday morning on their way to a record effort. The erg-a-thon serves as one of the team's main fund raisers with each team member responsible for raising $150 for the crew coffers. Doug Brubaker and Christopher Ryu both completed full 42km marathons as part of the effort. It's an impressive effort, but also impressive is some of the late night erging. The team motivated each other and watch movies to break the monotony including classics like The Lion King and Braveheart. Mathew Holdren had this to say, "It was awesome erging to Braveheart. I felt like I had absolutely nothing to complain about even after rowing for three hours." Not every thing was candy and roses... According to Steffen Christofferson, "There was a moment at 3 am, where my heels started hurting so much I took them out of the straps and rowed with my feet on the floor. And I was delirious for about 3 hours."
First year rower Christopher Ryu had this to say about his marathon experience: Prior to the ergathon, I never imagined myself completing a marathon. But now, thanks to crew and one very encouraging Doug Brubaker, I have done just that. Doug was without doubt one of the only reasons I made it. Even before we started, he patiently calmed me down as my nervousness about the distance started to take over. He said several times that if I knew in my mind that I would finish, then I would finish. Finally, it came. We woke up in Wade Saturday morning, ate a few snacks, popped in The Gladiator, and started erging. Throughout the whole thing he told me to concentrate on form, but especially that yes, I could finish. He was right. After 3 hours and 20 minutes, I stepped off the erg, exhausted but done. Congratulations to Case Crew for surpassing the 692,000 goal and special thanks to Doug. Click here for a few photos from the 2013 24-hour Erg-a-thon. Hammer Time in Cleveland!February 9, 2013: Cleveland State played host to the Hammer Ergatta for the first time ever in the event's 24-year history. Their excellent event organization and marketing efforts drew the largest ever field with over 300 entrants -- including seven colleges. Case Crew represents themselves well winning the Men's Open, Women's Open Novice, Men's Lightweight Novice, and 6-person relay events.
In the men's lightweight novice event Chris Ryu won gold in 7:24.2 and Chris Juengling took the bronze. CWRU Assistant Dean and faculty advisor, Ken Klika, took home two silver medals in the Men's Veteran Masters B (60+) and Men's Open Rec 1k events. For the novice men Steffen Christoffersen claimed the team's fastest time of 7:15.7 for 7th place against some tough competition.
After the 2000m racing was completed, three men and three women joined forces for the 6 x 500m relay. Case finished the relay in 9:56.0 ahead of other four collegiate teams and an alumni team from CSU. Monica Hiller said of the relay, "My favorite part of the day was the relay. It was awesome working as a team and rolling off the erg was so much fun." Then sophmore Gavin Brown had this to say, "Although I was the only non-freshman, we dominated every other team from the start, against the other teams' varsity. It was cool." Click here for complete race results. 2013 Hammer Ergatta Photo Gallery Case Crew Wins Long Distance Erg ScrimmageFebruary 2, 2013: For the fourth year in a row the Cleveland colleges, Case, John Carroll and Cleveland State, gathered for a mid-winter tune up on the rowing machines. Men raced over 6000m and the women pulled 5000m. This year's competition was held at the boathouse and saw Case take the overall title for the second year in a row. The Case men won and the women took a close second behind JCU. The fastest times overall were posted by Case athletes: Monica Hiller in 20:22.0 and Patrick DelBarba in 20:31.9. The Case men took the top three spots. Along with Patrick's strong performance, Senior Doug Brubaker came second with a 6k time of 21:32.9. Matthew Holdren then came third at 22 minutes. On the women's side Case's Hannah Olson-Williams finished second behind Monica with a time of 21:21. A few years ago the coaches adopted a new points system for both the erg scrimmage and the Hammer Cup. This new system ranks all times in order awards a point for each person beaten. For example, if there are 20 competitors then the winner gets 19 points since their time beat 19 other people. Based on this scoring methodology the Case men took 83 points versus 46 for John Carroll and 42 for Cleveland State. On the women's side even though the Case women took the top two spots the team wasn't deep enough to hold off John Carroll. The final women's tally was 23 points to JCU and an oh-so-close 22 for Case. Cleveland State did not enter any women this year. However, the combination of all points meant the overall team won by over 30 points! Click here for complete event results. Early Season Tune Up in Pittsburgh
Rounding out the results were Mallory Miller with a time of 8:07.1 for 6th place in the Lightweight Open Women's event. For the men Gavin Brown finished in 15th in the Open Men category with a 6:57.4 and Steffen Christoffersen finished in 11th in the Novice Men's event with a time of 7:19.9. Last but not least, Ava Kotvas finished in 8th place in the 1000m coxswain race with a time of 4:53.6. Click here for complete race results. 2013 Pittsburgh Indoor Sprints Photo Gallery Alumni Logging Meters for C2 Virtual Team Challenge!
Four Team Members Compete in Central Catholic BiathlonDecember 8, 2012: Four members Case Crew made the trek down I-76 to Pittsburgh for the 11th annual Central Catholic Biathlon. The event comprises a long distance erg followed by a six mile run. The Pittsburgh programs have used this as a mid-winter aerobic session, and a few of our team joined in the fun. Leading the way was Mallory Miller who finished in 10th position out of 108 entrants. Mallory completed the 7,500m erg in 33:35 and the six mile run in 31:34 placing her 5.5 minutes off the winning time. Following Mallory in 12th place was Anna Duewiger 50 seconds behind Mallory. The men completed the same six mile run, but had to endure a 10,000m erg first. Patrick DelBarba finished with one of the top times on the erg, but was off the pace for the run finishing 17th overall. Doug Brubaker also made the trip and finished in 117th place overall. Click here for complete event results. Case Crew Perseveres Through Tough Conditions in CincinnatiOctober 27, 2012: Case Crew took a full squad of over 40 athletes -- varsity & novice -- to Harsha Lake in Cincinnati to take on the Head of the Hidden Dragon. After dominating the regatta last year, the team returned to continue their reign. The event is hosted by Clermont Crew and Cincinnati Rowing Club. The course snakes 5000m along Harsha Lake but is quite exposed. Unfortunately, the weather didn't completely cooperate and racing was delayed in the morning. After cancelling a number of events and compressing the schedule teams were able to race, but in less than ideal conditions. Fourteen crews from Case ultimately competed across 11 events with the team winning 4 of the events, taking silver in another 4 events, and bronze in one event.
Gold medals were won by the Women's Novice 4+ ahead of 8 other crews, Patrick DelBarba and Mallory Miller in the Mixed Double, Doug Brubaker in the single, and finally in the Men's Open 8+ ahead of Wittenberg University with the fastest overall time. The Men's 8+ result is even more interesting since two varsity women had to substitute into the line-up due to the scheduling conflicts created by the weather. The team's silver medals were earned in the Women's Collegiate 8+ behind varsity program University of Dayton, Men's Collegiate 4+ behind Wittenberg University, Men's Open Quad behind the Greater Dayton Rowing Association, and in the Men's Open Double where the duo (dressed as lumberjacks) of Henry Hershey and Doug Brubaker finished behind the father-son combo of Brian and Patrick DelBarba. As you all know Patrick is a current member of the team and paired up with his dad under the Three Rivers banner to take gold. The team's lone bronze, and ninth medal overall, came in the Men's Novice 8+ where the men finished behind crews from the University of Cincinnati and Indianapolis Rowing Center.
Before racing started in the morning the regatta organizers hosted a 5k run along the lake. Only one team member, Andrea Scheetz, took part posting a time of 29 minutes. The weather put a damper on the season finale, but it was the best season so far for Case Crew with historic results at the Cuyahoga, Ohio and Charles head races. Now the team heads indoors and we look forward to an exciting spring season! Click here for complete race results. 2012 Head of the Hidden Dragon Regatta Photo Gallery Four Crews from CWRU Challenge the Charles!October 20-21, 2012: Case Crew entered four boats into this year's Head of the Charles: the Women's Collegiate 4+, Men's Collegiate 4+, Women's Lightweight 4+ and the Men's Championship 1x. Both days of racing in Boston featured good weather with slight tailwinds. All crews availed themselves well in the regatta with second year Patrick DelBarba qualifying for next year's race in the Champ Single and the Women's Collegiate 4+ just missing a qualifying spot by less than a second. The women's collegiate crew of Louise Flavahan (stroke), Grace Foxworthy (3), Stephanie Merlino (2), Abby Sevier (b) with Evan Lanese coxing finished 20th out of 38 just missing a qualifying spot for next year. The crew finished behind 0.9 seconds behind University of Illinois missing the last qualifying spot and 6.54% off the winner’s from Bowdoin College. To qualify crews have to finish in the top 50% in terms of position or within 5% of the winning time. The Case women have the unfortunate habit of finishing one spot out of qualifying having done the same thing in 2011 and 2007.
The men's collegiate 4+ line up of Matt Holdren (s), Doug Brubaker (3), Henry Hershey (2), Matt Brown (b) with Anna Czekaj coxing finished 34th out of 42 crews and were 10.14% off the pace of the winners from UVa. The crew is very young and the exposure to such high level competition was great and will provide strong motivation as they head into the gym for the winter.
Case Crew Shows Depth and Speed at SpeakmonOctober 13, 2012: Case Crew made the annual trek down I-71 to compete in the 29th Annual Jack Speakmon Memorial Regatta hosted by the Greater Columbus Rowing Association. The race held on Griggs Reservoir usually brings out some tough regional competition and this year's team availed themselves well winning seven medals out of nine races entered -- another historic result for Case! The team brought a full squad to the regatta of over 50 athletes were able to field multiple boats in almost all boat classes. The weather in the morning was quite brisk for the Men's Open 4+ and Women's Novice 8+, but both crews managed well with then men's first crew grabbing silver behind the University of Cincinnati and the second men's 4+ finishing 8th. This is the first ever time (that we have records) Case has medaled in the Men's Open 8+ at Speakmon. The novice women were able to field two eights with the first crew finishing in 5th ahead of a crew from Ohio State and the second crew (true novices from August) brought up the rear in 7th. Both crews gained some much needed race experience in preparation for the season finale in Cincinnati at the Head of the Hidden Dragon.
As the weather began to warm up into the afternoon the men's novice team took to the water in two fours and then later in the 8+. The first men's novice crew filled with athletes that rowed last spring took second in their race and the fresh novices in the second crew took home 7th. When pulled together in the 8+ they finished 4th behind two crews from Ohio State and Ohio University, but were able to hold off cross-town rivals from Cleveland State. The women's squad fielded on varsity 4+ and two novice 4+'s. The varsity line up was outgunned by four crews from Ohio State's varsity squad and quick crew from Ohio U to finish 6th overall. However, their time was still better than crews from John Carroll, Cincy, and Cleveland State. The novice women had the most successful showing of the day taking both gold and silver medals in a 6-boat race. The two crews finished within 30 seconds of each other over the 2.8 mile course.
A few of the varsity squad members jumped into small boats to prove their technical and physical skills. Club president Mallory Miller joined Caitlin Bowerman in the pair and bested three other crews to take gold in the Open Pair event. Then following up on his win at the Head of the Ohio second year student Patrick DelBarba took gold in the Men's Open 1x. Fourth year student Doug Brubaker finished an "oh-so-close" out of the medals by 8 seconds. Net up for the team is the Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston where the varsity squad will field four boats -- the most ever for Case Crew. Then the full squad will travel to Cincinnati for the Head of the Hidden Dragon on October 27. Then it's back onto the ergs! Race results for the 2012 Speakmon Regatta can be found HERE. Case Crew Brings Home Four Medals from Head of the OhioOctober 6, 2012: Case Crew headed to Pittsburgh for the 26th annual Head of the Ohio Regatta. The race has been a fall fixture for the team for over twenty years and never has the team done so well winning 4 medals out of 8 races entered! Medals included golds in the Men's Single, Women's Lightweight Four, Women's Lightweight Double and a bronze in the Men's Open 4+. The weather started out cold and rainy, but cleared up and warmed up slightly into the afternoon.
The first crew to launch was the men's open four of Matt Holdren, Doug Brubaker, Henry Hershey, and Matt Brown with Anna Czekaj in the coxswain seat. The crew finished in 3rd place out of 17 crews. According to Anna: The men's open 4+ started pretty hectic. We were worried we were going to be late to the start but we made it with time to spare. We spent the minutes before the race relaxing and finalizing our game plan. The race started and we were behind Miami University. The goal was to just beat Miami and continue to crush the others. We did just so and passed a total of 4 boats in this race. We could have definitely placed in second. Together we will be using this as extra encouragement in racing this upcoming weekend at Speakmon and then again at the Head of the Charles in Boston. Next up into the medal category was Patrick DelBarba in the Men's Open Single. Patrick's time of 16:20.27 was 36 seconds faster than his nearest competitor and was faster than many crew boats on the day. Also in the race was his teammate and fourth year student Doug Brubaker who just missed the medals and took fourth out of ten scullers.
Seniors Caitlin Bowerman and Mallory Miller led the women's lightweight team to two gold medals. Their first race was in the women's lightweight 2x where they rowed unopposed to gold. However, they openweight race crossed the start line immediately before them and Mallory and Caitlin passed all three boats in that event. Ultimately they would have beaten the openweight crew winners by one minute and twenty seconds!
The team's last race of the day was the men's open 8+ and they finished in the middle of the pack -- 8th out of 16. Pitt won the event just over a minute ahead of our men. However, Case finished ahead of "A" crews from Cleveland State, Maryland, Miami U, Ohio U, and Liberty University. Anna Czekaj was again in the coxswain seat again and had this to say about the race: The boat had 6 novice rowers, 2 varsity rowers and a varsity coxswain. We are very proud of this race. We managed to pass a total of 5 boats and battled it out in the end. We raced against men that were two times the size of our novice guys. Although we don't have a medal to show it, we know we won this race in our hearts because for the entire 5k everyone in the entire boat gave it their all. Off to Columbus next. Bring it Speakmon! Race results for the 2012 Head of the Ohio can be found HERE. 2012 Head of the Ohio Photo Gallery Brubaker '13 Takes on the Maumee River; Takes 6th in SingleSeptember 22, 2012: Fourth year Case Crew rower Doug Brubaker took his single to Toledo to race in the 2012 Frogtown Races and took 6th place out of 20 masters scullers. The regatta hosted by Toledo Rowing Club is a 3 mile head race on the Maumee River through downtown Toledo. Brubaker's little sister rows for Dublin High School so he came to cheer her on and give the race a go. He was the youngest entrant in the Master Men's 1x and finished in a time of 27:10.75, which was 1:44 off the winner from Detroit Boat Club. He posted the 2nd fastest raw time overall, but being the youngest in the event meant the handicap system was not in his favor. Race results for the 2012 Frogtown Races can be found HERE. 2012 Frogtown Races Photo Gallery Case Crew & Alumni Burn Up the CuyahogaSeptember 15-16, 2012: Case Crew and a number of alumni participated in this weekend's Head of the Cuyahoga (HOTC) and USRowing Masters National Head Race (MNHC). All participants, students and alumni, walked away with hardware from the weekend -- marking the most successful weekend of racing in team history! The winding Cuyahoga River head race starts just below the I-490 bridge and ends approximately 4,800 meters down river in front of the Cleveland Rowing Foundation (CRF) boathouse. The HOTC took place on it's usual third Saturday of September. CRF and USRowing partnered this year to bring the inaugural Head Race Masters National Championship together. This new race was held on Sunday of the same course and featured only Masters (rowers over 21 years old). The race will rotate between cities and return to Cleveland every four years. Both races were blessed with amazing weather with temperatures in the 70's, almost no wind and not a cloud in the sky.
For the HOTC, Case Crew entered 10 crews and all medaled except for the end-of-day mixed 8+. The tally included six gold medals, one silver and two bronze, which was good enough for the team to place second for the overall regatta points trophy -- only 5 points behind winners WRRA. This result is by far the best the team has ever done in its 17-year history! Leading the way for the students was the men's 8+ posting the fastest time in the regatta in a time of 16 minutes 45 seconds. Also pacing the field was second year student Patrick DelBarba with a time of 18 minutes 28 seconds in the open single. Other gold medal winners were the Men's Collegiate Novice 4+ (Workman, Pradhan, Bupp, McCormick, and Milliman [cox]), Men's Open 2x (DelBarba & Brubaker), Women's Collegiate 4+ (Milliman, Kershenbaum, Bowerman, Miller & Czekaj [cox]), and the Women's Collegiate Novice 4+ (Kotvas, Romero, Anderson, Shah & Kruse [cox]).
Not to be outdone were the alumni who entered the Men's Open 8+ race and a few small boat events. The men's eight was up against a rec crew from WRRA so set their sites on the college teams that started down the course only a few minutes before. No one came close to the blistering time set by the Case men, but the SARA alumni men were able to better the times posted by Cleveland State and Miami University.
Race results for the Head of the Cuyahoga (HOTC) can be found HERE. Race results for the USRowing Master National Head Race (MNHR) can be found HERE. 2012 HOTC & MNHR Photo Gallery Case Crew Hires Its First-ever Paid Head Coach
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Send mail to the webmaster with questions or comments about this web site. |
| Update your information HERE. |
| S.A.R.A. is an independent, not for profit 501(c)(3) corporation. |
| © Spartan Alumni Rowing Association |
| Last modified: June 28, 2013 |