News Archive from the 2014 - 2015 SeasonCase Crew 2014-2015 Season RecapBelow is the academic year 2014-2015 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.
Holdren & Brown Third at ACRA National Championships!
The 8-boat final of the men's pair saw the top three crews separate themselves from the pack down the 2,000m buoyed course. Coming into the last 300 meters, Case was in the hunt, battling High Point and the University of Connecticut, ultimately succumbing to a staggering sprint by UConn to take third. Matt and Gavin gave it everything and were extremely pleased with their result.
The speed in the small boats is amazing given the fact they none of the three really trained for the regatta in these combinations. Following Coach Aaron Marcovy's program this spring the team prioritized the 8+, and very little work was done in small boats. Chris was only in the single a few times before the regatta. Matt and Gavin had done some pair work during their 4-year Case career, but were rusty coming into the race. The top two crews prioritized those line ups all season, which puts into perspective the base speed the team had this spring. Go Spartans! Click here for complete race results. 2015 ACRA National Championship Regatta Photo Gallery Case Crew Culminates Year at Dad Vails
The weather was beautiful all day with temperatures starting in the 70's in the morning and rising to the mid 80's in the afternoon. Wind was negligible before lunch and picked up to a light headwind for afternoon racing. The men's 8+ afternoon race included some titans of Vails-caliber rowing. St. Joseph's, Cincinnati, Minnesota and Georgia Tech all showed excellent form pushing Case back to fifth place in the rep. Finishing in sixth was a crew from SUNY Binghamton. The men's squad graduates two seniors this year, Gavin Brown & Matt Holdren, and this year's experience left the younger rowers excited for next year.
On the women's side the charge was led by the varsity four of Steph Merlino (s), Abby Sevier (3), Colleen Kennedy (2), and Hannah Olson-Williams (b) with Josh Zuccala coxing. The crew faced three varsity status programs in their heat and were beaten by two: George Mason and St. Joseph's. With only two advancing to the semi-finals it was little consolation they beat the varsity squad from Fordham and club from Georgia Tech. The women were in second place for the majority of the distance, but St. Joe was able to out-sprint our ladies at the line.
Prior to this year Case had only ever fielded one 8+ at Vails, and that was a novice women's crew in 2013. This year's edition of the women's eight had to race three varsity women's squads in the 3-to-the-semi format. The crew looked great storming down the course, but unfortunately could not hang onto the pack and finished in fifth place. It is a young, talented crew and within the boat were a couple spring novices. There was talk of excitement after the racing and a desire to field a strong varsity 8+ next year.
Seat racing for the final line ups and final seat in the 4+ lasted up until almost race day. The men's squad is fast and deep this year. In the men's varsity 4+ heat Case drew three varsity status programs and finished fourth. The crew had good, flat morning conditions, but the crew of Lucas Vroege (s), Kevin Cronin (3), Andrew Evans (2), Masato Miyagi (b) with Kathleen O'Shea coxing just could not hang onto the speed of the leaders from St. Joes, Colgate and St. John Fisher.
Working Out the Kinks and Showing Speed at MACRA'sApril 25, 2015: The MACRA regatta pulls in big club programs and small varsity programs from all over the Midwest for a day of heats and finals. Winners of the MACRA events are typically strong medal contenders for Vails medals two weeks later. Case Crew brought their Vails contingent to the race to test their mettle. The team had mixed results with one boat in the Grand Final, one in a Petit Final and two others eliminated during the heats. The temperature was in the 50's, but it was very blustery throughout the day. A stiff cross head wind made conditions down the 2000m buoyed course a bit dicey -- especially the first 1000m. The regatta had stake boats available, but many races were run with floating starts with a "close enough" attitude. The two Case boats eliminated during the heats were still in the process of sculling to get a point when the starter gave the "Attention" command. The coaches prioritized the line ups for both the Men's Varsity 8+ and Women's Varsity 4+ with both boats advancing to afternoon racing. In the WV4+ the crew came second to Northwestern to advance. Then in the Grand Final they could not hang onto the medaling crews from Mercyhurst, U. Chicago and Grand Valley.
In the MV8+ the start of their heat was streaking fast with the crew out in front of the field until the 1000m mark. The crew held the outermost lane assignment and they clipped the 1000m marker buoy and could never re-gain their base speed to finish in third behind Mercyhurst and Notre Dame. Mercyhurst has a varsity-status men's team and Notre Dame is a club juggernaut, and to say Case showed some speed is an understatement. In the Petit final they finished 3rd behind Michigan State and Illinois. Informed observers think this is the fastest men's 8+ Case has ever fielded. In the women's novice 8+ finished at the back of the pack facing tough crews from Marquette, DePaul and Miami. The same Miami crew that had their number at the Aurora Lake Sprints. However, Case closed the gap from the previous meeting by 22 seconds. As mentioned before the crew was aligning when the start gave the starting sequence. A few of the crew only started rowing after winter break, so the race experience proved valuable in the lead up to Vails. In the men's varsity 4+ the start, conditions, and new line up all played their parts for a 6th of 7 finish. A murderer's row of club programs were entered in their heat, and the crew did not have the base speed to match qualifiers from Michigan State and Michigan. MACRA's pits the team up against the fastest crews in the Midwest, and there were some real bright spots for the team to hang their hats on. No single race was executed perfectly, and the weather played a role too. So there is more speed to be found in the next two weeks before Vails. The team and coaches are looking to end the season with a bang in Philly! Race results for the 2015 MACRA Regatta can be found HERE. 2015 MACRA Regatta Photo Gallery Case Crew Alumni Descend Upon Cleveland, Win EverythingApril 18, 2015: Over twenty Case alumni, parents and friends participated in the festivities associated with alumni regatta day. The day consisted of some racing, being address by an Olympic gold medalist, the SARA Annual General Meeting and an alumni dinner. The weather cooperated, and it was a wonderful day all around. Thanks to those that came! The morning started with the usual gathering where SARA reps talked a bit about the organization, and alumni introduce themselves to the rowers. This year's event was a bit poignant with SARA president Doug Rathburn presenting Patty Klika, the widow of Ken, with his 2015 JVTC 200km hat. SARA members pulled a total of 279,594 meters to remember former team faculty advisor Ken Klika who was a stalwart of our JVTC teams. After the morning get together and introductions, it was time to race! Up first was the mixed 8+. The alumni crew of Nate Uber (cox), Doug Rathburn (s), Meg Grady (7), Tom Attenweiler (6), Jeff Chin (5), Doug Brubaker (4), Mike Krofcheck (3), Laura Kruse (2) and Caitlin Bowerman (b) took the students "by a deck" according to head coach Aaron Marcovy *. The racing started just below the Center Street swing bridge and concluded in front of the boathouse - a lung burning 700 meters. The student crew was Liana Kabins (cox), Gavin Brown (s), Matt Holdren (7), Abby Sevier (6), Steph Merlino (5), Andrew Evans (4), Liam Hoye (3), Emily Schnittman (2) and Elizabeth Tobin (b).
It was decided to allow the alums to revel in their victory and only contest one race. A perfect 1-0 in 2015! More importantly, the early end allowed everyone to meet and hear from 3-time Olympic gold medalist Mary Whipple. She was in town to provide a coxswain clinic, and we borrowed her for nearly half an hour. She imparted some words of wisdom about commitment and racing, and then she was available to field questions. Next followed the SARA AGM. The AGM is where the SARA officers detail the events of the previous year and the membership elects the board for the coming year. You can read minutes of the meeting here. In the evening everyone, plus some not there in the morning, met up at the Flat Iron Cafe for our second ever alumni dinner. The agenda consisted of a video and presentation given by the Head Coach Aaron Marcovy. After some student speeches it was Doug's turn to provide some highlights about SARA's year. You can view that presentation here. New this year was the presentation by the alumni of the Spartan of the Year award given to a student who exemplifies the best attributes of a student athlete, but also is mindful and supportive of the alumni. This year we gave the award to both Abby Sevier and Steph Merlino. Thank you to everyone that made an effort to participate in the day. Next year is the team's 25th anniversary and we are planning a few special items for next year's alumni regatta. This will include a special dinner and the presentation of the team's history being compiled and edited by Tim Marcovy and Meg Grady. So please consider coming next year! * Coach's decision was final. No quibble over the details of a favorable start, an alumni mixed 8+ with five men and the student 8+ all switching sides... Race "results" for the 2015 Alumni Regatta can be found HERE. 2015 Alumni Regatta Photo Gallery New Venue & Solid Results in Aurora, Ohio
On the men's side they won every race bar the last race of the day - the varsity 8. While not winning the penultimate race put a small damper on the day, it was in the context that for Buffalo it was their squad's only race and our men had one or two races in their legs before the eight. The V8 took third behind Buffalo and Miami, but ahead of Ohio.
The men's second varsity 8+ won against Buffalo in commanding fashion. The seven second margin does not signify how much in control of the race the men were. Then in the varsity 4+ the crew got off to a slow start and were in third place but ended up winning by open water and 9 seconds against the three other schools. In the novice 4+ it was a similar story with a slow start and commanding 10 second win. The men's pair featured boats from Case and Buffalo, and for all four guys it was their first time in a boat all spring. The Case crew of Matt Holdren and Gavin Brown held it together much better and walked away from the Buffalo pair by nearly a minute.
The coaches and SARA would like to thank The Aurora Lake Association for their hospitality. Aurora Lake is private and governed by the association. They installed a sock early for us and provided use of a pontoon boat as well as a couple helpers. To anyone's knowledge this was the first ever rowing event held on the lake, and we suspect we will be back. The 2km course runs roughly north-south and even though it was a bit gusty Saturday the conditions never approached being unrowable. The site has the potential to hold small dual and double-dual races as Case's home course for years to come. Race results for the Aurora Lake Sprints can be found HERE. 2015 Aurora Lake Sprints Photo Gallery Case Crew Holds Onto Cleveland Cup for 4th Straight Year!
The men's fours dominated their cross town rivals. The novice four took CSU by 30 seconds. This year Case was only team with numbers to field an eight so for the Home Schools the boat broke into two fours and knocked JCU out of the varsity 4+ heat. It was then a CWRU vs. CWRU final, the stern 4 ultimately besting the bow 4 by 14 seconds. The women's team put in a strong showing with the novice 8+ taking the final by 14 seconds. The coaches decided to make the women's novice 4+ a 3-boat final due to freighter traffic. A battle to the bitter end, the Spartan novice women, in their second race of the day, experienced three boat-stopping crabs, dropping from 1st place to 3rd place three times, and running out of race course in their final push, ending up bow-over-stern against CSU’s NW4+. Race results for the Cleveland Collegiate Regatta can be found HERE. 2015 Cleveland Collegiate Regatta Photo Gallery Putting in the Work During Spring Break in FloridaMarch 6-14, 2015: Case Crew headed south to Canal C-54 near Fellsmere, Florida for their annual spring break. The canal is the spring break home of Columbia University and a number of other northern teams. It is also the home race course for Florida Tech, and in general, a beautiful waterway for rowing offering many kilometers of protected, straight rowing.
Case did not scrimmage any other teams while in Florida but put in 30-40km per day and 3-4 sessions per day including land work outs. The coaches reported a highlight of the MV8+ breaking 7 minutes into a 9mph headwind for a 2km piece! Rower Stephanie Merlino’s grandparents live nearby and hosted the team for a dinner one evening as well. All in all it sounded like a great trip for the team. 2015 Spring Break Photo Gallery Case Crew Dominates the Hammer
The women also showed speed with Colleen Kennedy taking the Open Women event with a time just under eight minutes. Mallory Miller also broke the eight minute barrier by nearly 8 seconds to take the hammer in the Lightweight event. The top novice finisher was Grace Karabinus with a 5th place finish. Race results for the Hammer Ergatta can be found HERE. 2015 Hammer Ergatta Photo Gallery It's Time for the January Virtual Team Challenge!
Weather Dominates the Story in ChattanoogaNovember 2, 2014: Case Crew's regatta schedule this fall meant to focus on the Head of the Ohio and the Head of the Hooch. However, the weather gods did not support that plan with most of the team's events at those races getting blown out by weather. The Hooch is one of the biggest races in the country and its southern Tennessee locale allows for a later race date and correspondingly longer training window for the team. It is a two-day race and Case had their women's club four and men's champ eight registered for racing that day. Weather prevented all Saturday racing to be cancelled leaving only the Sunday schedule.
The only two boats from Case had entered on Sunday were fourth year student Patrick DelBarba and alumna Mallory Miller '13 in their singles. Patrick sculled his way to 2nd place in the championship 1x event ahead of 27 other scullers. Mallory took third in the lightweight single behind scullers from Atlanta Rowing Club and Oklahoma City University. Race results for the Head of the Hooch can be found HERE. 2014 Head of the Hooch Photo Gallery
DelBarba & Kirkegaard Finish 4th in Champ 2x in PhillyOctober 25-26, 2014: Case Crew sculler Patrick DelBarba and former Case Crew strength and conditioning assistant coach KP Kirkegaard finish 4th in this year's championship double race at the Head of the Schuylkill Regatta in Philadelphia. JP currently rows for the Vesper elite program and Patrick rows for them in the summer. This home course advantage proved beneficial to place so highly. JP raced his single on Saturday and took 5th place in the Champ 1x event as well. Race results for the Head of the Schuylkill can be found HERE. 2014 Head of the Schuylkill Photo Gallery DelBarba Finished in Top 10 in Champ 1x in BostonOctober 18, 2014: Case Crew sculler Patrick DelBarba finish 9th in this year's championship single race at the Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston, MA. This finish improved on his 11th place finish last year to and qualified him for next year's race. This amazing result put him ahead of numerous current and former national team members. Patrick was 49 seconds off the winner and only 34 seconds off reigning Olympic champion Mahe Drysdale who finished fourth.
Grand Outing in Lansing for Case CrewOctober 12, 2014: Case Crew brought the whole team to Lansing, Michigan to compete against the big club teams in the area. This year's event did not conflict with the Head of the Charles so many teams brought full contingents. The 3300 meter Grand River regatta course is relatively short for a fall race, and the nice weather made for some fast ratings and times.
The regatta hosted most of the clubs from Michigan including U Michigan, Michigan State, Grand Valley & Michigan Tech along with Notre Dame. Stand out performances for Case came in the novice fours with the women taking 3rd and men taking fifth. The women's novice 8+ also took 4th in their race ahead of Grand Valley's "B" entry and Eastern Michigan. The women's varsity 4+ and men's novice 8+ had rough goes finishing near the back of their fields. The unsung result of the day came in the men's varsity 8+ with Case finishing in 8th place. Watching them in person the crew showed poise and speed, and the middle of the pack finish was a solid result considering all the boats ahead of them will most likely contend Vails or ACRA national championship finals. In the history of Case Crew we can count on one hand when the team has been able to field an 8+ of men or women with this much speed.
In the old man events Tim Marcovy LAW'77 and Doug Rathburn '97 joined forces to finish near the back in the master 2x. Then they jumped into singles where Doug took first and Tim took second. SARA Secretary Brian Chorney who lives in Michigan came down to the race to cheer the team on, but did not make it into a shell. He assured all attending he'd be fit by April for the alumni regatta! Race results for the Head of the Grand can be found HERE. 2014 Head of the Grand Photo Gallery Early Season Speed at the Head of the Cuyahoga
Alumni women raced in singles with Mallory Miller taking 3rd in the Open 1x and alumna and former Case Crew coach Nancy Richter winning the Master C 1x. On the men's side Dan Bachmann and Doug Rathburn teamed up to finish near the bottom in the Master 2x. With Dan sculling less than 10 times in his life any result was a result! Rounding out the results was Doug Rathburn in the Master 1x taking third. Tim Marcovy raced with WRRA in the men's master 8+ and finished 4th.
To continue the mission of providing world class equipment to the team, SARA unveiled a brand new replacement for the Capt. Rando. The Capt. Rando is a 1997 Peinert 26 heavyweight single that we sold and replaced with a brand new version of the same hull. The new boat was christened the sachem and is the perfect complement to the X25 lightweight Peinert we donated a couple years ago. During the short ceremony Dan and Doug said a few words about the shell and the purpose of SARA supporting the team. Race results for the Head of the Cuyahoga (HOTC) can be found HERE. 2014 Head of the Cuyahoga Photo Gallery |
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