News Archive from the 2009 - 2010 SeasonCase Crew 2009-2010 Season RecapBelow is the academic year 2009-2010 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.
Permanent Boathouse in Cleveland a Reality!
July 1, 2010:Rivergate Park, the Cleveland Rowing Foundation's vision for a permanent rowing and recreation center just became a reality this week. The Foundation received a total of $750,000 in donations this week from the Cleveland Foundation, the Gund Foundation, and Peter Lewis (chairman of Progressive Insurance). The grants will enable the CRF to buy the former Commodore Club site just down river from the current boathouse for $3.2 million. A small bridge loan is required because the club is a still a bit short, but it's manageable enough to proceed with the purchase. Plus, the organizers still have hopes for a few other grants to be approved especially since the project is now certain. Planning is now underway for the massive logistcs challenge ahead to move everything. The club has set a goal to have everything moved in time to host the Head of the Cuyahoga on September 18 from the new site. The existing builing on the site is large enough to accommodate all of the equipment for all teams. The site is 7 acres and will allow room to grow with additional buildings for all programs. More details: CRF Announcement Letter (pdf) and a Cleveland.com article by Steven Litt about the recent donations HERE. Women's Novice 4+ Takes 3rd in Heat Against Tough Competition
The weather was outstanding with temperatures in the 70's and a light 5-7 mph tailwind. Perfect conditions. Case was in the fourth of nine heats -- 40 boats in total. The announcer was giving the play-by-play before the bulk of the spectators could actually see the race. The initial report was that Case was in fourth place through the first 1000m. With the team starting in lane 5 they were "behind" on the staggered start due to the slight bend in the Schuylkill River course -- like a track with inside and outside lanes. Everything evens out eventually, but it can be challenging mentally. What most people, including the rowers, didn't know was that Coach Wolford had instructed coxswain Anna Czekaj make a call for the team to "empty the tank" near the end of the race!
...and empty the tank they did! Coming to the top of Peter's Island with about 500m to go the crew of Sarah Greenlee (stroke), Caitlin Bowerman (3), Elizabeth Brott (2) and Mallory Miller (bow) walked through Barry University into third place and were closing the gap to Chicago. But the team ran out of runway and couldn't quite capture the last qualifying spot. The qualification at Vails is fierce with only the top two crews advancing, and in this case it was Purdue and Chicago. Overall, Case's time was the 24th fastest out of the 40 crews in all heats. Once on shore there were all smiles. The women felt like they had an excellent row and it felt great to walk through and beat a couple varsity crews. During the de-brief session with their coach they recounted their race. Apparently the crew went off the line at 40 strokes per minute (spm) and settled to a 32! Faster than they've ever raced. By the excitement and the adrenaline held them through the race. Showing their potential, this fast start didn't blow them out and when Anna called to empty the tank they were able to climb the rating back up to 36-38 for the finish. We all know this race plan can sometimes result in a "fly & die" outcome. However, from shore the crew was crisp and together through the last 500m implying there was serious speed at those ratings -- definitely bodes well for the future of the women's team. Later Friday evening everyone met up at The Pour House -- a great little bar just upriver from the race course. Sarah Greenlee's parents, Bill & Sue, had made the trip out from Chicago to watch the race and joined everyone for drinks and dinner. Many stories about the day and plans for the upcoming fall season were shared. A great time was had by all! See you in a few months... Race results can be found HERE. 2010 Dad Vail Regatta Photo Gallery WV4+ Take Bronze; WN4+ in Exciting Photo Finish in WVApril 24, 2010: The 2010 installment of the West Virginia Governor's Cup saw Case Crew entering four crews. Case has been coming to the regatta every year since 1993 and this year the women led the way taking home a bronze the varsity four event and the novice women missing silver by 3 tenths of a second in a nail biter to actually take fourth! Thunderstorms threatened all day but ultimately held off to produce a steady tailwind and not too much chop. All-in-all a great day for racing in Charleston.
Not to be outdone, the varsity line up raced in a final with Davidson, Virginia Tech, John Carroll and Carnegie-Mellon's "B" entry. Davidson and VT were within a couple lengths at the finish and Case finished solidly in third looking very strong. The lineup of Katie Puttmann, Margaret Wilkes, Elizabeth Brott, and Caitlin Bowerman, with Anna Czekaj coxing has been strong all season with a 5th place finish at URAs and first at Home Schools.
Full results from this year's race can be found HERE (html). 2010 West Virginia Governor's Cup Photo Gallery Alumna Miranda Cullins Competes in National Selection Regatta IApril 23-24, 2010: Case Crew alumna and former coach Miranda Cullins competed this weekend at the USRowing National Selection Regatta (NSR I) in Lake Mercer, New Jersey. The annual selection process for the national team starts with NSR I and runs throughout the year with the fastest and best athletes garnering a seat at the World Championships to be held in New Zealand. The NZ Worlds will be held from October 31 to November 7. The NSR progression saw each sculler race on Friday in a time trial format. The fastest 18 would then go into a heat & semi format. Those finishing 19+ would be placed into D, E, etc. finals. Miranda placed 24th just under 7% off the winning time -- improving on her 9.3% margin from the 2009 Fall Speed Order finish. This result seeded her 6th in the D Final to be raced on Saturday.
In the side-by-side format of the Saturday races Miranda was able to improve her 6th seed position to finish 2nd in the D final -- for a 20th overall placing. The National Selection Regattas help the coaches gage athlete progress at the beginning of the annual cycle, and the winners get funded to attend the summer World Cup events in Europe. NSR I is used to select the single scullers and the May NSR II selects the pairs & doubles. The selection process for the eventual national team that attends the World Championships is a drawn out affair with many events and camps along the way. The World Championships are usually held in August. However, since they're in the southern hemisphere this year, the race is still over 6 months away with a much larger gap between World Cups and World Championships making for an interesting year ahead.
Race results can be found HERE. Alumni Lead the Way on the CuyahogaApril 10, 2010: This year's alumni regatta events were held directly after the Home Schools races. The morning races gave alumni a chance to watch some racing before having a crack at jumping in a shell. More importantly, the students were properly tired out. A winter training by a few alums and tired undergrads meant the first-ever wins for alumni! Hey, we'll take it how we can get it... Racing was done bracket style with three fours each for the men and women with a fun mixed 8+ to close out the racing. The weather by 11am when racing started was glorious. The sun poked out from the cloud and temperatures hit the high 60's with only a modest head wind. All races were 500m sprints from Collision Bend to the boathouse.
The first races of the alumni regatta were the men's fours. The "A" lineup made up of alumni an inactive club members faced the same Case lineup that raced in the earlier Home School Regatta. Adam Wilson stroked the crew of Chris Shoemaker, Chris Denzel, Michael Czigler with Nina Ma coxing to a victory over the students in a scrappy affair. In the second men's race the other "B" alumni 4+ grabbed a ringer in Nick Beese from Case to pull them down the course to victory over the "A" entry. Rounding out the "B" entry were Mike Krofcheck, Tim Marcovy and Doug Rathburn with Kate Menosky coxing. The "B" entry understroked the other alumni boat to win bragging rights by open water. The women's races also saw two alumni entries and one from Case. In the first round the two alumni fours faced off with Patty Wolford, Rachel Liu, Agata Toborek, Lauren Boucher, and Kate Menosky (cox) as the "A" crew taking the honors. For the final race the alumni "A" crew faced the winning novice entry from Home Schools and URA medalists. The alumni blasted off the line and held the Case entry in their sights to take home overall honors. Three of the winning alumni rowers hadn't touched an oar in over a year yet their easy speed was impressive to everyone. Can you say SARA Charles entry?
The alums held their best effort for last in the mixed 8+. The all-alumni 8+ of Doug Rathburn, Chris Shoemaker, Chris Denzel, Mike Krofcheck, Lauren Boucher, Rachel Liu, Jessica Schneider, and Agata Toborek with Nina Ma coxing had an absolutely storming row leading from the very first stroke. They took off at a 38 and settled to a 33 throughout the body of the sprint to finish ahead by open water. Only a little rust was present in the stroke and there were congratulations and smiles all around. It was a great day! At the regatta the team accepted the donation of a set of oars from SARA. These new oars allow Case to take out all of their shells without needing to borrow a set. Thank you to each of the oar sponsors! After racing concluded, alumni convened for the SARA Annual General Meeting (AGM). At the meeting they heard a report about the previous year and elected the Board of Directors for 2010 -- 2010 AGM Meeting Minutes. Later that evening everyone met up at Great Lakes Brewery for an evening of tall tales and revelry. Yes, we used to row wooden boats, with wooden oars out of a wooden boathouse that we used to have to break into. It was a great time so please put us on your calendar for next year. Also, Erynn Rathburn spent the day in the launch taking a ton of photos so take a look. Full results and lineups from this year's race can be found HERE (html). 2010 Alumni Regatta Photo Album Case Ties for Home Schools Trophy; Loses Tie-BreakerApril 10, 2010: Racing for the 2010 Home Schools Trophy came down to the last race -- the mixed 8+. Cleveland State, John Carroll and Case Western Reserve each had small teams this year so the regatta primarily consisted of fours races. Five races were run including men's and women's "A" and "B" fours with the mixed 8+ thrown in at the end.
Case's two points came from the women's fours. In the first flight for "B" crews, Sarah Greenlee, Caitlin Bowerman, Ruth Dickey, Mallory Miller, and Anna Czekaj (cox) powered their way through the heat and won by open water going away in the final. This crew took third at URAs against fast crews from Rochester and WashU. Their coaches commented on their progress this spring, "with a fast start and strong leg drive, they swung well together. They are looking forward to working with higher ratings in the coming weeks."
In the women's "A" four flight, Katie Puttmann, Margaret Wilkes, Elizabeth Brott, Caitlin Bowerman, and Anna Czekaj (cox) battled John Carroll taking second in the heat, but bested them in the final. From coach Preya Nixon: This boat had been working hard on finding and maintaining their rhythm during the practices. It is no doubt that they were able to achieve this during both races. Lead by Katie in stroke seat, their consistent stroke rating allowed them to move efficiently-especially towards the end of the race. Coxswain Anna Czekaj did a phenomenal job steering and was very strategic. This boat will be refining its power and rhythm and looks forward to racing at West Va. in a couple weeks The men's team didn't win any trophy points, but won tons of respect for their heart. Due to personnel changes Saturday was their first time in the line up and they entered both the "A" and "B" events in exactly the same lineup. The lineup of Nick Beese, Doug Brubaker, Michael Johnson, Mike Baldonieri, and Elizabeth Brott (cox) took second place in both the heat and final to a strong Cleveland State crew in the "B" flight. In the "A" flight, finished third in a gutsy race that saw them only a length behind Cleveland State's top line up.
The regatta atmosphere picked up a notch when the mixed 8's launched. With their two points, if Case won the event they'd win the regatta cup outright. If not they'd tie with the winner and would have to race a tie breaker -- a 500m dash in the mixed 8+. During the heat Case caught a crab 100m into the race and just couldn't recover well enough to advance to the final meaning they would have to race the tie-breaker. CSU even did their best to help Case by taking out JCU but it wasn't quite enough. John Carroll won the mixed 8+ final forcing the race off. In the tie breaker Case just couldn't find the rhythm they had in the fours earlier in the morning. Coach Nixon had this to say of the morning racing: Overall, it was a great day of racing for CWRU. Often it's hard for the coaches to gauge how the races went since we only see the end of the race, but after looking at the photos, both Patty and I are pleased with the technical improvements of our rowers. And of course-how that translates into boat speed! It was great to catch up with alumni and we hope they enjoyed seeing the regatta. Erynn Rathburn spent the entire morning in the launch with JCU's coach, Ron Dorchak, and took hundreds of photos. Be sure to check them out! Full results from this year's race can be found HERE (html). 2010 Home Schools Regatta Photo Album Women's Novice 4+ Take Home Bronze at URAs
The women's novice 4+ lineup of Sarah Greenlee, Caitlin Bowerman, Ruth Dickey, Mallory Miller, and Anna Czekaj (cox), fresh off their medal performances at the Hammer, rowed an excellent race to take bronze behind WashU & Rochester. The Rochester women's program went varsity this year and the Case entry finished only 10 seconds off their second place entry. Rounding out the field were Chicago in fourth and Carnegie-Mellon in fifth. This medal represents only the tenth ever for Case at URAs so wear it proudly ladies. Great job!
The Case women also fielded a JV 4+ and a Varsity Pair. The JV race saw a field of seven crews, and Case finished in fifth ahead of both NYU and Carnegie-Mellon. Katie Puttmann and Margaret Wilkes in the pair got off to a slow start and couldn't make up the difference down the course. The URAs is a breeder for small boats that usually make the finals at Vails. The pair has a couple more months to pick up speed and one more test at the West Virginia Governor's Cup before heading to Vails in May themselves. The men boated a crew in the JV event against line ups from WashU, Rochester (x2) and Carnegie-Mellon. The lineup of Adam Wilson, Nick Beese, Doug Brubaker and Michael Johnson with Mike Baldonieri coxing finished over one minute off the pace, but picked up some great racing experience. By the time their race went off near the end of the schedule the famous Butler Spring weather had picked up. Bow pair of the crew are true novices so we're sure to see good things in the months ahead. Full results from this year's race can be found HERE (html). Future is promising for new boathouse - The ObserverMarch 26, 2010: Another article about the proposed boathouse project was run in The Observer. The article highlights an extension the Cleveland Rowing Foundation received to raise the money and a recent $100,000 donation from the MetLife Foundation.
What this means for the Spartans crew team is that they will be able to continue their 18-year legacy at Case. While they were unable to donate any substantial sums of money, the team did pull their weight, allowing the CRF to take over the annual Hammer Regatta and use it as a fundraiser. The CWRU team members helped set up and volunteered to run the event. The end of the article also recaps Case's performance at the Hammer and prospects for the upcoming spring races. CRF Rivergate Park Web Site: details and status for the project
The full article can be found HERE (html)
or HERE (pdf). Miranda Cullins Selected to Princeton Training Center
Photos from Spring Break PostedMarch 10, 2010: The team is spending Spring Break in Cleveland this year, and the coaches have provided some photos of a mixed 8+ row from Monday. The weather is unseasonably warm and will hopefully enable the team to gain some early season speed. We'll post more photos as they come in. 2010 Spring Break Photo Gallery Case Wins Hammer Cup; Leads Series
Of course, the novices weren't to be outdone by the varsity squad. Caitlin Bowerman won the Open Novice Women's event with a time that would have given her 5th place in the varsity event. Mallory Miller beat three women from Cleveland State to claim gold in the Lightweight Novice event. Douglas Brubaker pulled a sub-seven minute time to take home bronze in the Men's Novice event. After finishing up their 2,000 pieces and cooling down, the squad broke into two teams to compete in the 6 x 500 meter team relay. The relay requires each team member to pull 500m and then jump up off the machine to make room for the next rower. Case continued a long tradition of winning this event beating JCU, CSU and two teams from WRRA. Head coaches Patty Wolford and Preya Nixon had this to say about the race: Case Western did a phenomenal job at the Hammer this year. The women won the overall points trophy, and then the entire team brought home the Hammer trophy! Numerous personal records were set, and for some, this was their first 2k. After the individual events, the team split into 2 groups to compete in the open relay. Both Patty and I were impressed with the teamwork and encouragement from everyone - the results are a true testament to their hard work ethic. Case athletes were also assisting in running the event, and the organizers were very impressed with how diligent everyone was.
Race results from the 2010 event can be found HERE. 2010 Hammer Ergatta Photo Gallery Case & John Carroll in Head-to-head Erg Challenge
February 13, 2010: In lieu of attending the Pittsburgh Indoor Sprints, CWRU travelled to John Carroll's campus for a head-to-head competition. Individual rowers from each team faced off against each other with the winner taking one point. The women raced over 5,000m and the men pulled 6,000m. Katie Puttmann pulled the fastest time for the Case Women and Nick Beese pulled 21:53 on the men's side. John Carroll ended up taking the overall competition by a score of 7 to 4. Next weekend, Case will be competing with John Carroll, Cleveland State and Baldwin Wallace for the Hammer Cup! From Co-head Coach Preya Nixon, "We are looking to break the tie between JCU. The team has been training hard, and has started doing more interval/AT work. Having already done two 2k's this season, the athletes are looking forward to bringing the trophy home!" If any alumni or parents are in the area, please stop by and support the Spartans on Sunday, Feb. 21st between 9am-12noon (the team will be sticking around to assist the race directors for the remainder of the day, however). Race results can be found HERE. 2010 JCU 5k/6k Erg Challenge Photo Gallery Adam Wilson Profiled in Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Alumni row 1.4 million meters in Concept 2 January Challenge
Cleveland Boathouse Proposal Highlighted in The ObserverJanuary 22, 2010: Case's student newspaper, The Observer, today highlighted the Cleveland casino project and it's affect on rowing in Cleveland. The article quotes Case Crew president, Margaret Wilkes, about details for a planned new boathouse further down river. However, the major challenge for the project is securing funds for the new home before March 31, 2010. Without this new site, rowing in Cleveland and at Case could end. As a short term fundraising measure, Case Crew turned over the organizing of The Hammer Ergatta to the Cleveland Rowing Foundation. Historically, Case and John Carroll swap organizing duties every year and each team keep any excess funds raised for their year. Foregoing this year's Hammer funds will impact the team's budget, but it's necessary for the boathouse campaign. CRF Rivergate Park Web Site: details and status for the project
The full article can be found HERE (html)
or HERE (pdf). Cleveland Boathouse Proposal Highlighted in The Plain Dealer
December 16, 2009: The dream of a permanent home for Cleveland rowing is upon us! The Cleveland Rowing Foundation is in talks to purchase the seven acre Commodore's Club site just down river from the current boathouse. The proposal, dubbed Rivergate Park, was highlighted in The Plain Dealer and online at Cleveland.com. It's still early days for planning, but folks in Cleveland are cautiously optimistic about securing the site. A multi-million dollar fundraising campaign is underway to secure funds by March 31, 2010. The CRF board is calling in all of their chips for donations and approaching numerous charitable boards throughout the region to help. The mayor is behind it and many local organizations are throwing their weight into the project. The site is ideal and it currently has a building that can house all current clubs without much modification. So what does this mean for Case Crew? Not much in the short term other than (possibly) higher rack rents and rower fees. There's a building currently on the site that can comfortably accommodate the current square footage for shells. The longer term vision (10-50 years) is to have a collegiate boathouse row with each team having their own dedicated space in a new building(s).
The full article can be found HERE (html)
or HERE (pdf). Miranda Cullins Competes in Fall Speed OrderNovember 14-15, 2009: Case Crew coach Miranda Cullins competed this weekend at the USRowing East Coast Fall Speed Order in Princeton, New Jersey -- part of the US National Team qualification process. The Case graduate student finished 35th out of 39 national team hopefuls in her single. Her time of 19:13.7 placed her within 10% of the winning time and ahead of current national team member Laura Larsen-Strecker. Definitely a great result for her first Speed Order. The Fall Speed Order is meant to provide a long distance physiological test for current and hopeful national team members early in the annual training plan. On Saturday each rower pulled a 6,000 meter piece on the rowing machine. The results on the erg provided the starting order for a 4,500 meter head race on Sunday. Miranda pulled an average 1:52.5 for the 6k erg placing her in 28th.
Miranda was invited to the USRowing Pre-elite Training Camp in Bloomington, Indiana this past summer. She has continued her training plan throughout the fall semester and hopes to make a future national squad. We wish her luck as she makes the transition from Case Crew rower and coach to the national stage! Click here for a row2k.com article about the event.
Race results can be found HERE. Women Earn Medals in Every Event at Speakmon
Race results can be found HERE. 2009 Speakmon Regatta Photo Gallery
The SARA line up somehow was given bow number 4, which meant they were lined up between Holy Cross and the Rude and Smooth from Harvard. In total four crews from Harvard, two from Princeton, three from Williams and the rest of the Ivy League were in the race. The guys from Rude and Smooth inquired about our age at the start. Their hey-day was well before all of the SARA guys were born (except maybe Doug), and wondered if it was fair to be racing with them. However, they were still THE Harvard crew from the 70's and the boys from Case set a goal to stay ahead of them. For the race, the alumni went off at a 33 and quickly settled into a rhythm at ~30 strokes per minute under the BU bridge. They maintained that rating throughout the body of the race and felt strong. Crews from Hobart, Georgetown, Harvard (another one) and Cornell (clashing oars under Eliot) did eventually pass the SARA crew -- including an exciting three abreast adventure under Weeks that got us on row2k -- but the old boys in Rude and Smooth stayed firmly behind. The final verdict saw SARA beating Rude and Smooth on the water, but were bested by 43 seconds due to the age handicap. Given that the handicap is meant to adjust for age, the crew was excited by the speed of the line up and how they could hang with the former national champions.
Interestingly row2k.com did a feature article on the alumni eights race (or pdf version), which claimed the SARA crew had the "Least Accurate Alumni Name" in the lot. You can check out the results to see some of the other creative names. SARA finished their event in 27th place out of 34 crews. They were the highest placing crew from a club program and beat line-ups from Columbia and Princeton. Case Crew garnered two entries into the Club Fours event -- one for the women and one for the men. The line-ups are below:
The men's four finished in 52nd place out of 55 crews. The women were assessed a one minute penalty for interference under one of the bridges, which knocked them down to 52nd place out of 54 crews. The men were all underclassmen so hopefully this experience will encourage them to build more speed throughout the winter season for Dad Vails. For many of the women there will be no more head races in Boston under the Case banner. Graduation beckons, but don't worry because you can always row with us next year as SARA! That evening most of the alumni, rowers and a few parents headed to the Boston Beer Works near Fenway Park for dinner and reminiscing. But it was early to bed, because many of the students volunteered for the regatta the next morning. It snowed on Sunday, and that's all that really needs to be said.
A couple alumni competed in the regatta as well for other teams. The results were:
Race results can be found HERE. 2009 Head of the Charles Photo Gallery Tough Day for Fours in Pittsburgh; Regatta Ultimately Cancelled
Miranda Cullins in her single won her event while besting the second place finisher by nearly a minute. In men's racing, Case Crew fielded an Open 4+ and Novice 4+, with both placing at the end of the pack. The Men's Open 4+ of Matt Moss (stroke), Chris Cichewicz, Adam Wilson, Nick Beese and Grace Eder (cox) powered through strong winds and high waves holding off two boats coming up from behind for the entire course. The Men's Novice 4+ Dan Seery (stroke), Ben Lorman, Kenji Ishida, and Ben Connell with Jessica Schneider (cox) battled for a long stretch of the course with John Carroll's Novice 4+. The JCU and Case novice boats had a large gap in front and behind resulting in a mini dual race. By the end JCU persevered placing a few spots ahead of Case in the final standings. The Women's Varsity 4+ survived what could be called a character building outing. The crew of Jessica Schneider, Margaret Wilkes, Sarah Rubin, and Katie Puttmann with Kenji Ishida coxing in his first ever regatta headed to the start excited to race. On the way to the start the weather got worse and the cox-box failed. While waiting in the starting area two boats swamped near the finish and racing ceased. However, the team had to row all the way back to the finish area to the docks anyway -- all of the rowing without the glory. According to Sarah Rubin, "Luckily, HOTO is fun even on a bad day." Race results can be found HERE. 2009 Head of the Ohio Photo Gallery Great Weather and Racing Greet Alums in Cleveland
Case Crew founder and SARA Board Member, Tom Hudak, raced in a number of events for Three Rivers. We're not sure exactly how many events, but he sure got a good mental image of all the bends in the Cuyahoga. At last count he finished 1st in the Masters 8+, tied for 2nd in the Open 2x, and 4th in the Men's Master A-B 1x. Former Case Crew head coach Tim Marcovy, rowing for WRRA, won his first-ever Head of the Cuyahoga medal in the single beating out 11 other scullers in the D-F category. Great job Tom and Tim!
While we did not have a formal dedication like we do for shells, taking delivery of the new trailer was still a big deal for the team. In the mid-1990's the team shared a trailer with WRRA and John Carroll. But after an accident (not by Case) the team has been without a trailer for almost ten years. To get to races they had to beg, borrow or rent space on other team's trailers. SARA bought the 2007 Vespoli 36' Transporter trailer from Lesley University who were disbanding their rowing team. The trailer had almost no miles on it and SARA Board member Brian Chorney brokered a great deal for us. Click here see photos from the new trailer.
Complete race results can be found HERE.
2009 Head of the Cuyahoga Photo Gallery Club Sports Highlighted in The ObserverSept. 18, 2009: An article in this week's Observer highlighted the efforts student athletes put into making their sports a reality on campus. Sports club administrator, Pat Kennedy, sums up the club sports experience: Like any state, the rise and fall of a sport depends on the efforts of its citizens. For the 20-plus years they've been on campus, club sports have come to life and been mercilessly snuffed out by student interest. Clubs are responsible for recruiting their own members, and doing their own fundraising. They are allotted supplemental funds based on what associate athletic and club sports director Pat Kennedy calls "goal-oriented budgeting." As in, how many recruits does a club think it can get this year? Will it need cash to travel? The "goal-oriented budgeting" Mr. Kennedy refers to is smallest cash allotment of all UAA schools by over $8,000 to its next closest peer. Many restrictions on how the team uses its budget exist including not being able to pay a coach amongst others. Case is the only school of its UAA peers that is explicitly prevented from paying a coach so even though the students do everything themselves they are very limited in resources and the tools needed to be successful. From the article: Jessica Schneider, the president of the crew club, understands this struggle too well. She commends the efforts of the athletic department, but believes funds dispensed for varsity t-shirts and pizza at meetings could be better spent. She recently spent 12 hours selling beer at a Browns game to help fund her sport. At all of the other UAA schools the money Jessica raised would go into equipment and coaching to make the team fast. At Case it just provides for their existence: travel and rack rents. The other schools set funding levels for existence and the kids fundraise for speed. Thanks to all alumni that are helping us close the gap. You can read the full article HERE (html) or HERE (pdf). |
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CWRU Crew's 2010 Dad Vail Women's Frosh/Novice 4+
You can read a detailed race report from the coaches and rowers in the 
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