News Archive from the 2017 - 2018 SeasonCase Crew 2017-2018 Season RecapBelow is the academic year 2017-2018 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.
View details of previous seasons here.
Women's Varsity 4+ Fourth at ACRA National Championships!May 26-27, 2018: Five Spartan athletes headed south to compete in the American Collegiate Rowing Association (ACRA) national championship regatta. The crew of Emily Schnittman, Ingrid Iversen, Sarah Carlson, Dani Pezzuto and coxswain Elizabeth Tobin raced in the women's varsity four raced against 18 other crews and ultimately claimed fourth in the nation. The race held in Gainesville, Georgia is the national championship for club level rowing programs. The Lake Lanier venue hosted the 1996 Olympic Regatta, and was also where the team held their spring training. Weather threatened all weekend and ultimately didn't hinder Case's races, but did downpour just after their final onto the varsity eights races. Due to the weather forecast racing was compressed on Saturday to time trials in order to seed the semis instead of the traditional side-by-side heats. In the Saturday morning time trial Case finished fourth overall in a time of 7:31.6 and six seconds off the TT winners from Vanderbilt. The race organizers removed the starting platforms from lanes 2 and 5 with bow numbers split between the two lanes to provide spacing. To ensure fair start times, the clock didn't start until about 100m past the start platforms shortening the trail to about 1900m.
With fast time trial run, the Spartan women advanced directly to the semi-final on Saturday afternoon. The timing of the semi was pushed up to avoid weather. After some re-fueling and ice bath, the crew lined up in the 8-boat across race. Case took 2nd behind Vanderbilt again by almost 5 seconds and ahead of UAA rivals Emory 2 seconds behing in third. The top 4 finished advanced them to the final to be held on Sunday morning. Based on times of the TT and semi, the crew would have to dig deep and find another four to six seconds in order to break into the medals. The result of the 8-boat Grand Final matched the spedd from the time trial with the top 5 boats finishing in the top order -- with Case in 4th. Vanderbilt claimed the national championship beating Case by 11 seconds. Silver went to Cincinnati and the bronze went to Washington State. Behind Case were UAA rivals from Emory and U. Chicago. Claiming the last two spots were Sonoma State from California and Southern Oregon University. The ACRA race always occurs well after graduation, which makes attedance by the bulk of the squad challenging. Since only one boat competed, they were able to avoid trailering and rented a boat from Clemson. This event marked the last competitive endeavor for Emily Schnittmann and Elizabeth Tobin wearing the Spartan colors. Both have had exemplary careers on Case Crew, and we thank and congratulate them. Welcome to the alumni ranks! Race results for the ACRA National Championships can be found HERE. 2018 ACRA Championships Photo Gallery ACRA Prep: Message from the CoachesMay 24, 2018: It has been nearly two weeks since the Women of Sparta competed to a respectable finish in the Varsity 8+ at the Dad Vail Championships, and from that crew, five athletes have remained in Cleveland to train for the American Collegiate Rowing Association National Championships - the ACRA - to be held on CWRU's Spring Training location of Lake Lanier in Gainesville, GA.
Link to: ACRA Livestream The team of Emily Schnittman, Ingrid Iversen, Sarah Carlson, Dani Pezzuto and coxswain Elizabeth Tobin are prepped and ready to go, making the shift from the 8+ to the 4+.
The ACRA has been successfully attended by CWRU in the past, but never in a Big Boat category. These courageous women are likely the herald of things to come. However, the bar has been set very high by the coaching staff in terms of "competitiveness" to merit attending the ACRA regatta, and these rowers - led by Spartan of the Year and Women's Team Captain Emily Schnittman - are up to the challenge. After some decent water in Cleveland, the Case 4+ has had some good training in finding rating. Relying especially on the Speedcoach data (thanks to our S.A.R.A. supporters!), these rowers have been finding speed after adjusting to a different "touch" in the smaller boat class. Their performance has been coupled with an adequate amount of rest, weights/conditioning, erging, yoga, and other cross-trainings. The team has been training mainly at dawn and dusk in order to beat the other traffic and ensure the best possible conditions. The squad leaves on Thursday for Georgia, planning on one or two swing rows on the course Friday, depending on weather, in preparation for Saturday morning's heats. As the 2017-2018 Case Western Rowing Campaign comes to a thundering conclusion, it calls to mind all of the well wishes, support, contributions and enthusiasm of our parents, Alumni, fellow students, and school support. We would be nowhere without S.A.R.A.'s leadership and encouragement, and we cannot begin to express how indebted we are. On behalf of the Executive Committee, the students, and the coaching staff, we want to say thank you to all of the people who helped bring us to where we are today. It has been encouraging to see these contributions - big and small - come rolling in as the team progresses into what is one of the most successful seasons in Case's history with one of the most challenging schedules to match it. We would ask for the entire Nation of Sparta to send their encouragement over Facebook, Instagram, email and texts to our crew, as they prepare to take on the best club teams in the country. 2018 ACRA Championships Photo Gallery Write up provided by Head Coach Aaron Marcovy Women’s Novice 4+ Takes Bronze at 2018 Dad VailsMay 11-12, 2018: The CWRU rowing team raced three women’s crews that this year’s running of the Dad Vail Regatta. The Philadelphia regatta has been in existence since 1934 and is considered the small and mid-sized college championship regatta. The regatta hosts both varsity and club-status programs and is a true “all-comers” race. Case raced in the women’s varsity 8+, women’s varsity 4+ and women’s novice 4+ with the varsity crews advancing to the third level finals and the WN4+ taking bronze.
Both varsity crews advanced through the TT format. Only 17 crews entered the novice four so that event followed a traditional heat/final format. The women’s novice four of Victoria Fan (b), Sam Magliato (2), Lindsay Kluender (3), Nicole Palmer (s) and Aleksa Sorgatz (c) took a commanding lead in their heat to beat crews from Drexel, Cincinnati and MIT. Their time was the fourth fastest overall coming out of the heats, but their winning performance placed them directly into the Saturday Grand Final.
In the WN4+ final the crew came out of the blocks fast leading the field for the better part of 1000m. The poise of the two fastest crews from the heats shown through, and walked on the Spartans through the 1500m pushing our women back to 3rd place and a bronze medal. Lafayette College took the Gold and Clemson University took silver. Before the race, the coaches stated that a time of 7:42 would be the “stretch” target based on all of the time coming out of the heats, and the Case women hit that number exactly!
The top varsity women were boated into the varsity eight. The event ran a TT Friday morning with 12 crews advancing to the afternoon semi-final. CWRU missed out on the semis by 0.56 seconds to Middlebury College and were placed into the third level final. The WV8 line up was Emily Schnittman (s), Sarah Carlson (7), Emily Judge (6), Joyce Chu (5), Steph Collins (4), Dani Pezzuto (3), Ingrid Iverson (2), Katie Francissen (b) with Natalie Scherner coxing. Racing on Saturday in the 3rd final, the WV8 race became a drag race between our Spartans and the cadets of West Point. The parent/alumni tent was at the 1750m mark with great views of the last 500m. As the crews passed the tent, West Point had the edge, but a spirited final push placed the bow of the Triple H just ahead to claim victory by just over 1 second!
The JV women formed a four and raced in the varsity four event. This event also went to the TT format with 29 entrants. The crew of Madison Piccirillo (s), Anneliese Braunegg (3), Michaela Kus (2), Emmeline Pearson (b) with Maria Tompkins on the ropes finished with the 15th fastest time earning them a spot in the Friday afternoon semi-final. The WV4+ semi-final was stacked, and Case was the only club-status school in their semi. The crew finished in a time of 7:57 to finish 5th placing them in the third-level on Saturday. The crew couldn’t quite hang onto the sterns of Drexel, Boston U, St. Joe’s and UMass – all very top notch varsity programs. In the third level final, Case finished in fourth (16th overall) while trading blows in the next lane with the University of Chicago who took third.
Race results for the Dad Vail Regatta can be found HERE. 2018 Dad Vail Regatta Photo Gallery Weather Hampers Spring ScheduleApril 2018: This year’s weather wreaked havoc on teams in the upper Midwest and Northeast. Cold temps continued all the way through April limiting water time and cancelling a number of races. Also, two scrimmages that the coaches planned with U. Buffalo and Carnegie-Mellon did not pan out as anticipated, which further limited good quality racing opportunities this spring. GVSU hosts the Lubber’s Cup each year, and this year’s race was cancelled due to severe weather in the forecast. The loss of this premier racing opportunity forced a number of programs to scramble to find good competition before the championship season ramped up. Case shifted last minute to the Redhawk Sprints, which was the same day as Lubbers. SARA also cancelled the alumni regatta the next weekend for the squad to be able to scrimmage GVSU and attend the Schaab Regatta. Women Medal in Each Event at MACRAs; Men Win PetitsApril 29, 2018: Last Saturday morning, a determined CWRU program was taking a swing row on the Cuyahoga before getting the boats loaded to head to the concluding race of the "regular season," the MACRA Championships.
The following morning, more changes came in. The regatta had gone from a stakeboat start to a floating start, and the conditions had calmed down substantially. After shuffling the timing of some races, the squad fell into a rhythm.
In the Finals round, there was blood. The great heats placement on the part of Rachel Stanley's Varsity 4+s had not one but two CWRU boats in the WV4+ Grand Final. Case came in second place, only 4 seconds back from Mercyhurst University, and defeating Cincinnati, Miami, and Grand Valley. The other CWRU boat of Serena Lai, Helen Sanderson, Regina Velarde, Kate Bush and Elizabeth Tobin came in 6th with a solid finish. The crew of Maria Thompkins, Michaela Kus, Emmeline Pearson, Emily Judge and Kirsten Wetzel were the first CWRU crew on Sunday to medal, and they wouldn't be the last. The Varsity 4+ race at MACRA is a storied competition for the Club, as CWRU has had a boat in the Grand Final in 2018, 2017, 2015, 2014, and 1997. This result ties the best ever silver medal crew from 2014 with Mallory Miller, Abby Sevier, Collen Kennedy, Rachel Horetsky and Sheerin Sandhu, and was at that point the best big-boat finish for CWRU at MACRAs. Outstanding work in the Women's Varsity 4+s.
The final two races of the day for CWRU were the Men's Varsity 8+ Petite Final and the Women's Varsity 8+ Grand Final. In the Men's 8+ Petite Final, the crew of Elizabeth Tobin, Tim Nehila, Sam Nutt, Ian Steiner, Ryan Norchi, Spencer McClung, Sean Mann, Andy Swyers and Will Warren had a fight on their hands. Once the flag dropped, it was a horserace from wire to wire. In a very exciting final 250m, both Ohio State and the Milwaukee School of Engineering came roaring into a sprint, and Case Western had just enough of a lead to hang on, winning the Petite Final 0.6-sec ahead of MSOE, and 1.3-sec ahead of Ohio State. This was a fantastic result, and showed the evolution of the crew over the course of the season with Ohio State as a marker of speed. The squad has come a long way from it's 2014 debut in the MV8+, where they came in 5th out of 5 in the heat and not making any final at all. A great evolution. There was a great deal of anticipation in the buildup to the Women's Varsity 8+. They knew the relative speed of Grand Valley, and Mercyhurst was not to be underestimated. After a slow start, the Spartan women found their rhythm, and began to muscle into the pack. With very favorable conditions, Case Western found themselves in a fight for the first half. The crew was made of Emily Schnittman, Sarah Carlson, Ingrid Iversen, Joyce Chu, Steph Collins, Madison Piccirillo, Dani Pezzuto, Katie Francissen, and Natalie Scherner in the driver's seat. By the time they got to the 1,000 meter mark, things had shaken out, and the race was in 2 halves: CWRU, GVSU, and Mercyhurst in one half, the rest of the field in the back. With some very clean rowing, Grand Valley and Mercyhurst were duking it out, and CWRU just being outside of the conversation, but well ahead of the pack. Mercyhurst vs.Grand Valley developed into a barn burner, with Mercyhurst Lakers taking the Grand Valley Lakers by less than a second. Then, roaring into third place was Case Western! This bronze medal represents the best that CWRU has ever done at the MACRA Championship in a Varsity 8+ on either the men's or women's side. Congratulations to Coach Stanley and her Mighty Women's 8+. After all of the racing, the regatta team began to tally the final results. We are pleased to report that due to the fantastic results across the CWRU program, Case Western placed 5th overall out of 17 teams as a program, earning 20 points. Considering that it is the third-smallest undergraduate population (MSOE and Mercyhurst, full-fledged varsity athletics programs, being the only schools with fewer undergraduates), this is an amazing achievement when placed across from heavily subsidized or varsity programs. Coaches Rachel Stanley, Stephanie Merlino, and Stella Willoughby-Miles deserve an abundance of praise for their thoughtful and enthusiastic approach to this team and this season.
As MACRAs concludes the regular season, the team is looking towards post-season competition for select crews, and further on to next year. The MACRA medal-winning boats of the Women's Novice 4+, the Women's Varsity 4+, and the Women's Varsity 8+ will undergo some further personnel selection, and will head to the Dad Vail Championships in a few weeks, and possibly beyond. The men's team will be focusing on their final exams and establishing their summer workout program. Finally, these fantastic results could not have been accomplished without the undying support and assistance of our stalwart alumni and parent corps. From the thousands of dollars raised to the well wishes and attendance at regattas, your support has been our biggest advantage for these many long months. Please accept our warmest thanks. Congratulations to the Spartan Navy for their successful 2018 Regular Season Campaign and MACRA Championship success, and we look forward to concluding this academic year with a flourish. Photos and videos can be found on the Spartan Alumni Rowing Association Facebook page. Race results for the MACRA Championships can be found HERE. 2018 MACRA Championships Photo Gallery Write up provided by Head Coach Aaron Marcovy Varsity Women Scrimmage Grand Valley in MichiganApril 21, 2018: The Spartan women’s varsity eight traveled to Allendale, Michigan to scrimmage Grand Valley State University. The bulk of the team were in Buffalo, New York at the Jim Schaab Collegiate Regatta. The morning scrimmage on the Grand River consisted of side-by-side racing in the eights, then a short break, and finally splitting up into fours for some more racing. In the eights, our women jumped off to an early boat-length lead, but didn’t have enough base speed to withstand GVSU. The margin at the end of 2000m was 14 seconds to the Lakers. After a short break, the eights split into fours for an ‘A’ and ‘B’ race. In the top fours Case fell to GVSU by just over 5 seconds. GVSU added a ‘C’ crew and three boats raced in the next scrimmage. Case ‘B’ was about 5 seconds off the ‘B’ crew from Grand Valley and over 30 seconds faster than their ‘C’ crew.
The event was a lot of fun for the team, and the connection respect between both squads improved markedly. Grand Valley sets a high bar for a club program, and it was great to pace off them for a morning. Race results for the GVSU Dual can be found HERE. Case Competes Against Upstate NY Colleges at Jim Schaab RegattaApril 21, 2018: The bulk of the Case rowing team traveled to Buffalo, New York to compete at the Jim Schaab Collegiate Regatta hosted by West Side Rowing Club. The regatta is an on-again, off-again event that’s been hosted by various Upstate NY clubs over the years. West Side is looking to boost collegiate rowing opportunities in the region and took on organizing duties this year. The race was originally slated to take place on the Black Rock Channel near the West Side boathouse on the Niagara River. However, due to icy conditions (terribly cold spring this year), the race had to move to Tonawanda Creek. The change in venue reduced the number of lanes available, and the club was unable to shift to the timing infrastructure to the new site. Not ideal. Case entered five crews into the heat-and-final format regatta. Due to the reduced venue, only 3 crews could race side-by-side with a “win or go home” progression. Case won their heats in the Men’s Varsity 8+ and Women’s Novice 4+ to progress to finals. Crews not making the cut were the Men’s Varsity and Novice Fours and the Women’s Varsity 8+. Our WV8 was actually our JV 8 since the top eight women were in Michigan scrimmaging Grand Valley State.
The WN4+ line up of Victoria Fan (b), Sam Magliato (2), Lindsay Kluender (3), Nicole Palmer (s) with Aleksa Sorgatz coxing beat SUNY Binghamton in their heat and SUNY Geneseo in the final to claim their winner’s t-shirts. The men’s varsity eight beat both RIT B and Cornell’s club team to earn their spot in the final. The final saw the MV8 paired up against both crews from RIT (a varsity status program) and finished second splitting their ‘A’ and ‘B’ crews. No times were taken. Overall, the race provided a large scrimmage format and provided some valuable racing experience to the crews before MACRAs. The team showed speed across all boat classes. Race results for the Jim Schaab Collegiate Regatta can be found HERE. 2018 Jim Schaab Collegiate Regatta Photo Gallery Spartan Women Sweep Redhawk SprintsApril 14, 2018: The extended winter weather forced the cancellation of the Lubbers Cup in Michigan so CWRU Rowing re-grouped quickly and entered the Redhawk Sprints hosted by Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. The weather proved on regatta day proved to be rowable, but ended up being quite cold with rain all day. Case availed themselves well placing all-but-one boat in the final and the women sweeping their events in convincing fashion. The regatta, held on Acton Lake in Hueston Woods State Park, hosted 7 clubs from Ohio plus Wheaton from Chicago. The format consisted of heats in each boat class then 4-boat finals later in the day. Racing was compressed to assure completion before some forecasted weather arrived that cancelled many other regattas throughout the Midwest.
The women's squad fielded two varsity eights and a novice four. Each of the three crews won their respective heats by open water. Then the varsity and JV eight took first and second in the final pushing Ohio State into third by open water. The margin from our varsity to Ohio State was over 25 seconds! The novice four crushed their heat and then went onto win their final by 42 seconds over Cincinnati with Ohio State and Cleveland State in third and fourth, respectively. On the men's side, Case boated a varsity 8, varsity 4 and a novice 4. The only competition for our novice crew, Xavier, scratched so the coaches through the crew in with the varsity races. In the heats for the fours, our varsity crew took first and advanced while our novices finished out of the money in fourth behind Ohio State, Cincinnati and Dayton. The men's varsity 8 took their heat easily to advance. The men did not fare as well in the finals with the MV8 finishing second to Ohio State by three seats. Ohio State was clearly holding something in reserve since our boys beat them easily in the heats. The MV4 finished fourth overall (out of 11 entrants) and 28 seconds off the pace of Ohio State. Photos and videos can be found on the Spartan Alumni Rowing Association Facebook page. Race results for the Redhawk Sprints can be found HERE. 2018 Redhawk Sprints Photo Gallery CWRU Bests U. Buffalo During Scrimmage on the CuyahogaApril 7, 2018: The University at Buffalo travelled to Cleveland to race against CWRU on the Cuyahoga River. Due to freezing and windy conditions, the racing venue was changed from Aurora Lake to Cleveland. Buffalo brought 4 varsity women in their newly formed club team, the UB Women's D1 program having been eliminated last year. They also brought 8 varsity men, electing to leave their novices at home. The race course agreed upon was from the far end of the Turning Basin heading downstream, concluding at Marathon Bend. Although this is a bit of a hike to get to the starting line, it was agreed by the coaches that the athletes would get something out of the longer warm up.
The first volley of racing was a WV 4+ from both CWRU and Buffalo, as well as a W2V4+ from CWRU. On the men's side, there were MV4+s from CWRU and Buffalo, and 2 M2V4+s from both squads as well.
The numerous coaches and crews launched and headed upstream. Once rounding the turn at Marathon Bend, the flotilla
was greeted by an enormous debris field. The crews picked through it, emerging to a clear turning basin. The first patch
of racing was held downstream, a 700m sprint from just upriver of the Basin through to I-490. In every matchup, CWRU bested UBuffalo: After that brief piece, the flotilla picked through the debris downriver, and lined up again for a 2,200m race around the Cuyahoga's turns going from the West 3rd Street Bridge to the British Street Bridge. The races went Women's 4+s / Men's 2V 4+s / Men's 1V 4+s. The turns and wake from motor launches created challenges that we ably met by the crews, the launches necessarily staying close because of cold water rules relating to safety. The outcome to the 2,200m piece were the same as the shorter 700m piece. Due to logistics of timing, while placements were captured, timing was only captured on the Women's Varsity 4+ races.
WV4+ 2,200m, W3rd to British St., Downstream: Once the crews came back to the CRF boathouse, the coaches discussed going to a different racecourse on the river. A few coaches went to check on the Flats Racecourse, and it was determined to be a viable course. The Men's Varsity 8+s from UBuffalo and CWRU launched, with the CWRU Women's 1V8 set out to race the Men's 2V8+ from CWRU, and then the CWRU Women's 2V vs. CWRU Women's 3V 8+. The results were cleaner, as the measured stagger was easier to set up as crews raced from the NS1 bridge to the Cereal Bulk Foods Terminal. In the Men's Varsity 8+, Buffalo started with a 1+ length stagger advantage to compensate for the outside of the turn on a coin toss. Buffalo was permitted to take the inside of the turn lane if they could gain 1 length clear water ahead of Case before the turn for safety, after already being given the lead on the stagger. Despite the UBuffalo advantage, CWRU took off well, and was approximately 3/4 length ahead of Buffalo by the time they had to get lined up for the turn around the Nautica Theater. After capitalizing on the turn advantage, the CWRU Varsity Men walked away on the straight back to the CRF.
Men's Varsity 8+, 1,300m NS1 to Bulk Foods, Upstream: In all, good racing was had, and the squad is looking forward to seeing UBuffalo again at the Jim Schaab Regatta in Buffalo in two weeks Photos and videos can be found on the Spartan Alumni Rowing Association Facebook page. Write up provided by Head Coach Aaron Marcovy CWRU Claims Cleveland Cup for 7th Year in a RowMarch 24, 2018: Case Rowing competed in the 16th running of the Cleveland Collegiate Regatta (aka Home Schools) and claimed top honors in each event to take home the Cleveland Cup for the 7th year in a row. In the 16 years of the annual race between CWRU, John Carroll and Cleveland State, the Spartans have taking the cup 10 times.
This year there were four races with all of those races counting toward the Cleveland Cup. The racecourse was approximately 1,500m from the Loraine-Carnegie Bridge to the to the British St. RR Bridge. The races were conducted as time trials, but from a standing start for each boat. Weather was sunny and 30°F with calm winds. Case took top honors in all races. In the women's varsity 8, Case fielded two crews against JCU. The Case varsity won in a time of 5:25 and the Case JV took 2nd in a time of 5:56. JCU finished third in 6:08. The varsity men also raced JCU in eights and finished almost 40 seconds ahead in a time of 4:57. In the fours, CWRU went one-two in both the women's and men's races. The top women's four beat third place JCU by 37 seconds. The men's varsity four beat JCU's top four (3rd place) by 44 seconds and CSU top four (4th place) by 54 seconds. Race results for the Cleveland Collegiate Regatta can be found HERE. 2018 Cleveland Collegiate Regatta Photo Gallery Spring Training - Miles Make Champions in Gainesville, GeorgiaMarch 12-16, 2018: Case Rowing ventured south to Gainesville, Georgia’s Lake Lanier Rowing Club and the 1996 Olympic Rowing Course for intensive spring training. The squad consisted of two men’s eights and three women’s eights. The team had previously trained in Gainesville during the 2016 spring break.
The structure of the training week was: The weather at the beginning of the week was cold and very windy, but only one session had to be cancelled (check out the planking photo in the gallery). Things perked up by the end of the week in time for a series of scrimmages against the other teams also there for training.
Friday morning saw the women’s team break up into fours and race the Ithaca 2V/3V, U. New Hampshire and North Park over 1000m. Our women’s top two boats won each flight. The men’s squad squared off against Marietta, Ithaca and UNH in eights over 9x1 minute pieces. The men were slightly off the pace of Marietta and Ithaca (both varsity squads) and traded places with UNH over the 9 pieces. Friday afternoon, all squads lined up in 8’s to take a run at the full 2km Olympic course into a pretty stiff headwind. The women’s 1V race had Ithaca’s top crew and UNH face off against Case. The Spartan women didn’t quite have enough strength into the wind to hand onto the other (significantly) larger crews. They turned around and did a 1km sprint with the wind, and Case hung onto the stern of Ithaca and beat UNH. Word on the street is that Ithaca crew will be finalists at NCAAs this year. Our women’s 2V also lined up against the second varsity crews of Ithaca and UNH with similar results and margins into the wind. On the men’s side Friday afternoon, it was Case vs. Marietta, UNH and Ithaca over 2km. Off the start, Ithaca and Marietta pulled away with Marietta being the class of the competition. Our men maintained a commanding lead over UNH. Ithaca gassed it to 1300m opening up almost 4 lengths on us, but into the last 700m we pulled to within a length. All crews rowed back up to the start for 1000m and 500m pieces, and we beat Ithaca over 1km and only were two seats down over 500m. Our men’s novice squad went up against Marietta’s novices and weren’t able to keep the pace. Marietta’s crew had 7 recruited athletes that rowed in HS. The strides our novices made during the week were exceptional, and they were able to rip off a 2k from a racing start. Overall, these results are great. Still room to improve, but there’s some serious speed there this early in the season. Congratulations to the crews and coaches! 2018 Spring Break Photo Gallery Case Wins 14th Hammer Cup; 8 Golden Hammers at Erg Sprints
The men's team also showed tons of speed and depth. The men had nine athletes break seven minutes with club president Ian Steiner leading the way with a 6:34.6 to win the Open Men's category. In fact, Case took the top 6 places in the men's open race! In the open lightweight race Sam Nutt pulled a 6:37.6 to take top honors. The fastest novice man was Finn Hittson with 6:38.0, which was fast enough to win. Ezra Chow was the fastest lightweight novice with 7:35.3 and second place. The last event of the day was the Sledgehammer 6x500m mixed relay. Case entered three squads and finished 2nd, 3rd and 5th. The top two teams were varsity Case squads and the third crew were novices. The fastest Case relay team completed the 3km in 9:38.9 to take home the silver sledgehammer. Race results for the Hammer Ergatta can be found HERE. 2018 Hammer Ergatta Photo Gallery Spring 2018 Wish List Posted
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Top Eights Show Strong in Tennessee; Women Take Gold!November 4, 2017: Case Crew took their top eights to the Head of the Hooch for the third year in a row and showed that last year's results were no fluke. The course in Chattanooga and early November date allows teams to extend their on-the-water season and guarantee good, fast and fair racing conditions. Therefore, it has become one of the largest regattas in the country and pulls in colleges across the south and a number of Midwestern colleges. The regatta has become so large that they instituted a requalification scheme a few years ago. Case easily requalified for the 2017 event based on the top 10 performances last year. This year the women's varsity eight took gold against a field of 26 other colleges and clubs while the men took tenth against 35 other teams. This year the team split the varsity and novice squads with the novices wrapping up their season at the Speakmon Regatta in Columbus the weekend prior (see write up below). The two-day event hosted over 200 teams and over 2,000 entries with the regatta site right in downtown Chattanooga, Tennessee. The 5,000 meter course is fairly straight, fair and easy to pass. With the city center venue and excellent course, the Hooch has grown into one of THE premier head races in the country. For northern crews, the early November timing also extends the competitive season. Case only raced on Saturday and the weather started out foggy, which delayed the start of racing. Conditions were fair but extremely muggy resulting in a few athletes seeking help with hydration after racing concluded.
The Case varsity women were event #8 and after the fog delay stormed down the course. The crew has improved each of the last years from 4th in 2015 and second last year to then taking the top spot in the 2017 race. Their second place finish last year gave them the second slot in the starting procession with only Georgia Tech to pass. Georgia Tech proved no match for the Spartans leaving only open water for the the line-up of Emily Schnittmann (s), Sarah Carlson (7), Emily Judge (6), Joyce Chu (5), Kirstin Wetzel (4), Madison Piccirillo (3), Ingrid Iversen (2), Katie Francissen (b) and Natalie Scherner (cox) to take gold. The other podium spots went to Clemson (6 sec behind) and Georgia (11 sec off pace).
The men's varsity 8+ of Matt Hausladen (s), Sam Nutt (7), Ian Steiner (6), Luke Fakult (5), Sean Mann (4), Ryan Norchi (3), Dave Fulton (2), Will Warren (b) and Elizabeth Tobin (cox) faced a deep field and finished 10th overall and four spots off last year's finish. The crew has had a bit of a grudge match against UAA rivals WashU over the last couple years. The crew from St Louis had the bow number right in front of our squad, but Case couldn't quite hang onto their stern. WashU finished 3rd overall and 16 seconds ahead of the Spartans. Florida took top honors with UNC Chapel Hill grabbing silver with the top five crews breaking 16 minutes. The Hooch runs a qualification system for guaranteed entries in the next year's race. Both varsity 8's easily grabbed 2018 slots. Race results for the Head of the Hooch can be found HERE. 2017 Head of the Hooch Photo Gallery Novices Gain Experience and Wrap Up Fall Season in ColumbusOctober 29, 2017: The Fall 2017 CWRU Novice Squad ended their on-water season at the 33d running of the Jack Speakmon Memorial Regatta in Columbus on Sunday, October 29. They were tired, confused, and bewildered, but determined to uphold Spartan Pride. Without experience, and in the dark and 39 degree cold, guided only by the kind direction of Coach Steph Merlino and the crazed mutterings of the Old Man, they got the Hudak and the James off of the trailer, onto the slings, properly rigged and, without hesitation, down to the water.
BREAKING NEWS (11/4/2017): The organizers of the Speakmon Regatta just reached out to the coaches of crews racing in the women's Novice 4+ event (our women's “3rd place” finish, remember?) to inform them that the wonky timing results have been reviewed and revised. The CWRU Novice Women's 4+ will be receiving their Silver, 2nd place medals shortly! Well done, Spartans! On to Spring and even greater success. Thanks to Coach Tim Marcovy for the race write up. Race results for the Speakmon Regatta can be found HERE. 2017 Speakmon Regatta Photo Gallery Tough Racing, Tough Conditions in MariettaOctober 28, 2017: Case Crew headed to southern Ohio to Marietta for an invitational event against Marietta College, University of Dayton and the Ohio State University club team. The format of the race consisted of a 6,000m head race followed by three 500m pieces. On the women's side the teams boated eights for the head races and all crews split up into fours for the sprints. The late October weather was terrible this year -- rainy and cold. The weather prevented us from getting good photos, though a few are available at the link below. The women's varsity 8+ finished strong placing first in the head race and the JV 4+ placed 5th over the 6km distance. The men's squad improved significantly versus last year's effort finished just over a minute off the pace of Marietta's varsity crew in the head race. After winning the head race, the women's squad broke up into three fours for the sprints. The Varsity 4+ took second place behind the top 4+ from Dayton in all three sprints. The JV 4+ won two of the three sprints and scratched the third while the 3rd 4+ beat Dayton's Novice 4+ in the first sprint then off the pace for the next two sprints. The varsity men's 8+ just didn't have the juice against Marietta's and Ohio State's top 8's. The third place results in each of the sprints did't tell the story of year-ove-year margin improvements (they're there) and how competitive the racing was (it was). The Case JV 8+ lost the first sprint to the in-state rivals, then put their head down, committed to the effort, and won the next two sprints in convincing fashion. Well done boys! Case only brought their varsity squad to this event. The novices headed to Columbus for the Speakmon Regatta the same weekend. You can read the Marietta College official event write ups here: Men's Team and Women's Team. Race results for the Muskie Chase can be found HERE. 2017 Muskie Chase Photo Gallery WV4+ Top Collegiate Club 2nd Year in a Row in BostonOctober 21-22, 2017: Case Crew sent women's and men's varsity fours to Boston for the 53rd Head of the Charles Regatta. The world's largest regatta hosted 2,271 crews over two days on the Charles River. The women's four of Emily Schnittman (s), Steph Collins (3), Ingrid Iversen (2) and Sarah Carlson (b) with Natalie Scherner coxing finished in 16th place out of 53 finishers in the Women's Club 4+ event. The women's finish position re-qualified the boat for next year's regatta -- the third time in a row for this event. The men's four of David Fulton (s), Luke Fakult (3), Matthew Hausladen (2) and Ryan Norchi (b) with Elizabeth Tobin (cox) raced on Sunday in the Collegiate 4+ event and finished 26th our of 40 finishers and just missed out on re-qualification in a deep field.
The women's four improved on last year's finish position by three slots and again finished as the top collegiate club crew in the event. Ten of the top 11 finishers in the Saturday event were collegiate varsity D1 programs, which puts our women's 16th place position in good perspective. They also finished ahead of 16 other crews from varsity status programs! This year's women's line-up featured Emily Schnittman at stroke who was the only returning athlete from last year. The bow three rowers were all in the last year's novice 8 that took silver at Vails. Having such a young crew demonstrate this much speed again on the national stage is harbinger of the talent within the squad.
The 2017 running of the regatta benefitted from tremendously fast conditions and wonderful weather. Course records were set in 35 events across both days of racing. A combination of little-to-no current (the race runs against the current), favorable wind, and brilliant fall weather led to fast racing all around. Alabama's winning time in the Women's Club 4+ broke the course record by 17 seconds.
Impromptu Scrimmage Shows Case Still Head of the River in ClevelandOctober 17, 2017: The Case coaches wanted to test a new timing system so they invited the other Cleveland colleges to an impromptu scrimmage on the Cuyahoga River one fine Tuesday morning. Crews from Case, John Carroll and Cleveland State took part with Case posting four of the fastest five times! Our men's varsity 8+ took top honors followed by the varsity 4+. The men's 4+ from Cleveland State posted the third fastest time for the 4.5km course from the Turning Basin to the British Street Railroad Bridge. The next two slots were taken by our women's 4+ and women's mixed novice/varsity 8+. All four Case boats beat all crews from John Caroll -- men and women! Thanks to Coach Aaron Marcovy for the scrimmage details. Race results for the Spartan-Tartan Scrimmage can be found HERE. Varsity Takes Spartan-Tartan HonorsOctober 14, 2017: After 5 years of trying to find a weekend, the coaches at Carnegie Mellon University and CWRU were finally able to find a weekend where a scrimmage could happen. On a very pleasant fall morning, the CMU Tartans came to participate in what we hope is the beginning of a renewed tradition. (After all, the name “Spartan / Tartan” couldn’t brand itself any better, could it??). The scrimmage was a friendly match-up between the UAA rivals and provided a nice tune up before the Head of the Charles. Case took top honors in each of the varsity races, and CMU's more experience novice crews rowed the upstream course faster than our fresh crop of novices.
The Buffalo Lower Lakes Freighter made it’s entrance causing a 45 minute delay, and several pleasure craft made the regatta adapt, but after three rounds of racing, the scrimmage was deemed a great success. The event was joined by several Cleveland-based alumni and parents—it was great to see you all! Parents even came in from Pittsburgh and beyond to root for rowers from Carnegie Mellon. The conditions were flat, with about 75’ and sunny. The race course, 2,750m, was from the deep pocket of the Old River Bed back to the CRF docks. Overall a great experience. Thanks to Coach Aaron Marcovy for the race write up. Race results for the Spartan-Tartan Scrimmage can be found HERE. 2017 Spartan-Tartan Scrimmage Photo Gallery Case Rowing Brings Home Bucket of Fourths from RochesterOctober 7, 2017: The rowing team from CWRU headed east to the Head of the Genesee in Rochester, New York and brought home three 4th place finishes in the marquee eights races. The regatta is split between two days with the colleges rowing on Saturday and the master/juniors races on Sunday. The state of New York has a tremendous number of colleges with rowing teams, and the regatta brings most of the upstate New York crews to race. The weather was rainy and overcast for the beginning of racing and let up as racing progressed. The women's varsity four was first up in the rain and had the most adventurous race of the regatta. The provisional results had them placed third overall. However, one of the slower local crews protested the result saying that Case had pushed them across a couple buoys. The protest was upheld and 60 seconds were added to the time to push the crew down to ninth overall. My understanding is that even with the penalty Case still beat the other college so it was done mostly out of spite, apparently. Next up were the men's varsity and JV eights. Both crews finished fourth in their respective races behind three varsity-status crews. Varsity crews at the DIII level are extremely rare. RIT took the top spot in both races, and our V8 beat out RPI, SUNY Binghamton and SUNY Geneseo. The women's varsity 8+ was last up with improved weather and also took fourth place behind varsity-status programs Hamilton, RIT and William Smith. They also finished ahead of varsity status programs from Colgate, Rochester and Ithaca along with a few club programs. This is one heck of a result considering Ithaca garnered the "at large" bid to last year's NCAA DIII national championship. RIT were also at NCAAs and our women finished only 20 seconds off their pace. Next up for the team is a scrimmage in Cleveland against UAA rivals Carnegie-Mellon then onto the Head of the Charles for the top men's and women's fours. Go Spartans! Race results for the Head of the Genesee can be found HERE. 2017 Head of the Genessee Photo Gallery Medals Across the Board at the 2017 Head of the CuyahogaSeptember 16, 2017: Case Rowing brought their A-game to the 22nd running of the Head of the Cuyahoga and medaled in all boat classes entered. The highlight of the day were the varsity women taking gold and silver against Penn State, Miami, John Carroll and Ohio U. The weather was beautiful for the racing, and times were fast (more on that later). The race is run along a winding 4,800m course from the I-490 bridge downstream to Rivergate Park. The varsity men brought home two silver medals in the big boats. The V8 was beaten by over one minute by Westerville High School in a time that would imply they are the junior national team (more later as promised). The V8 had bow number 1 in the event and were not passed and beat crews from Penn State, Miami, Ohio U and John Carroll. In the V4, our men came in second behind a WRRA crew that's been rowing together for years and also won masters Canadian Henley last month. The V4 beat six other collegiate crews to earn their silver medal.
The timing differential in the MV8 (and all pre-lunch times were suspiciously variable) would have also implied that Westerville passed Case given the bow number order and intervals between starts. Case was not passed, and the high schoolers were not the national team so the regatta timing was questioned. No resolution was to be had, and it was coincidence that the head official in charge of timing was a coach of said high school. Apparently the timing stop watches were reset during the lunch break, and the after lunch times seemed to be closer to what the local coaches would expect. The women's varsity team claimed the top two spots in a deep field. The V8 beat our JV8 by nearly a minute (race was after lunch). A solid looking Penn State took the bronze nearly 40 seconds off the JV. The speed and depth shown by our JV8 is really amazing. In 5th place was a composite crew of ex-juniors from The Foundry coming back from their college programs to try and take on Case - the boathouse grapevine got back to us... We won. They didn't. Congratulations Spartan ladies!
Rounding out the men's results were a novice men's 4+ that was the only entrant, but they rowed a very respectable time to earn their gold medal. Chris Ryu also raced in the single for a bronze medal and teamed up with the silver medalist from Mercyhurst/Foundry to race the double and earned a gold. Coach Emeritus Tim Marcovy raced his single to 10th place in the men's D-F single and in 3 seat of a WRRA masters 4+. After only a couple weeks back on campus to prepare, they splits the crews are showing this year are promising. Barring injuries and/or drop outs, we hope to see more hardware out of the squad this fall! Race results for the Head of the Cuyahoga can be found HERE. 2017 Head of the Cuyahoga Photo Gallery |
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