News Archive from the Fall 2007 Season
A Silver Day in Columbus
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October 27, 2007: Case Crew completed its fall season this weekend with a strong showing at the
Jack Speakmon Regatta in Columbus, Ohio. Not only did two women’s boats medal,
but the men’s 8+ came off the water at the end of the day with the athletes describing the race as the
best they’ve ever rowed. Given that some of the men in that shell rowed in high school and college, that’s
high praise indeed – and sends the men to winter training with a clear sense of their potential to excel in the spring.
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Saturday’s racing also marked the 2007-2008 novices’ debut, and the men’s novice 4+ performed so strongly they
came within seven seconds of a bronze medal. The novice women also rowed well, particularly after shaking off
the butterflies of their first race of the day.
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The women’s medal winners – both silver – were:
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Miranda Cullins and Shannon Armstrong in the 2x, rowing the
positive α
pair-double donated by SARA this summer. The shell has claimed medals in every race it’s been
in this fall, a tribute to both our athletes and alumni providing
the equipment that allows them to showcase their skills.
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Nina Ma (cox), Miranda Cullins, Sophia Houghton, Shannon Armstrong and Agata Toborek, the
same line-up that participated in the Head of the Charles
earlier this month. The group felt they had a more controlled, consistent row this time,
but also missed the turns and bridges of Boston/Cambridge. Speakmon has one tiny,
extremely gradual bend, which prompted a couple of the ladies to complain how boring
it was to just go straight the whole time. Just wait until they’ve had two months in the
erg room – they’ll be pining for those straight courses on the water.
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Shannon & Miranda
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Nina & Dan
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The team also had the pleasure of hanging out with crew alum Dan Bachmann '97 MED'02, now a emergency medicine resident at the
Ohio State University Medical Center and SARA Vice President, who brought lots of food and
spent much of the afternoon taking photos of the shells racing. Crew Club President Lauren Boucher’s parents
and grandparents also pitched in on the sustenance front, providing bagels and donuts in the morning and a
full spread of pasta salad and soups in the afternoon. Such support means the world to our athletes, and we
thank everyone who’s cheered in person or from afar via email this fall.
Both the men’s and women’s teams have this week off to catch up on sleep and schoolwork, but then begin winter
training with baseline 2k tests. The first indoor regatta will be Feb. 2 at the
Pittsburgh Indoor Sprints.
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Thanks to Coach Chris Sheridan for the great race report.
Race results can be found HERE (html).
2007 Speakmon Regatta Photo Gallery
Two Case Fours Race at the Head of the Charles
October 20, 2007: The team raced two boats at this year's Head of the Charles Regatta:
Women's Club Four (bow #7) and Men's Collegiate Four (bow #26). This is the first time ever that Case Crew has had two entries
into this prestigious event. Coach Tim Marcovy also raced in the Senior-Master Eights 50+ (bow #42) event with WRRA.
All three races were Saturday morning October 20 of the two-day event. Details of alumni rowing in the event are below.
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The event organizers changed the qualification rules at this year's race, which made racing extremely tight.
In previous years, crews that finished within 5% of the winning time of each event were then guaranteed an entry for that event
the following year - often a small percentage of crews racing in the regatta. This year the rule was changed
to the top 50% in each event would qualify for next year's regatta making racing in the middle of the pack tight.
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The Women's Club Four line up just missed the final qualifying slot for next year's regatta by finishing
17th out of 32 crews. A time penalty for Riverside Boat Club was re-assessed after the regatta moving them ahead of Case and
out of the automatic qualification position. The Men's Collegiate Four face extremely strong competition and finished within 10% of
the winning crew from the University of Michigan. The men's strong race resulted in a 22nd place finish out of
31 teams. The men have typically entered the club event in past years. Finishing so close to the winner
signifies a strong result and bodes well for the spring.
The Master's 8 from WRRA, with Coach Marcovy providing the power, also claimed the final qualifying spot for next
year's race by fininshing 23rd out of 45 teams - 16% of the eventual winners from Team Attager.
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Women's Line-up:
cox: Nina Ma
4 Miranda Cullins
3 Sophia Houghton
2 Shannon Armstrong
1 Agata Toborek
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Men's Line-up:
cox: Rebecca Carter
4 Chris Shoemaker
3 Zach Fredin
2 Christopher Denzel
1 Ben Lawler
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Race results can be found HERE (html).
2007 Head of the Charles Photo Gallery
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Chris Denzel's parents were able to attend the race and his mother, Elsie, provided some of her thoughts from the day's racing:
It was very exciting seeing all of the trailers of shells on the highway heading toward Boston on Friday.
It was a near perfect day for being on the river – not too hot, not too cold.
We saw and cheered the guys as they rowed to the start from our vantage point right on the bank up river just a short way
from the finish line. From there we could see them come around the last bend before the finish.
I think they put in a very good showing. It was very impressive to think that a school that sent virtually its entire team
was on the river competing with boats from Australia, England and Ireland, and with schools who could afford to send 5 eights
for a single race! We were very proud of the Case team.
A number of alumni competed in the regatta as well. The results were:
Amy Kozlowski '96 stroked the Alexandria Community Rowing team to a 23rd of 51 finish in the Club Eight event;
Brian Chorney '07 sat three seat for Community Rowing Inc. of Boston to a 26th of 43 finish in the Club Four event;
Craig Agricola '97 entered the Masters Single for Quinsigamond Rowing Association and finished 13th of 18 behind a couple ex-national team members.
Click here for more complete results (pdf) and some photos are in the SARA Photo Gallery.
If we've missed any other alumni results please let us know.
Women Take Home Two Medals from the Head of the Ohio
October 6, 2007: Miranda Culling and Shannon Armstrong took gold in the Open 2x and the Women's Club 8+ entry took bronze.
The gold medal performance in 2x was Miranda and Shannon's 3rd race of the day. Just proving that when we put fast rowers in a
fast shell - the positive α - they win hardware.
The women's club eight took 3rd ahead of crews from Villanova, Pitt, Penn State and Ohio U. This crew then hot seated
into fours for the Open event finishing 10th and 20th. The weather was sunny and and 84 degrees the entire day,
and a Miami University athlete was taken to the hospital to be treated for dehydration. Given the weather and
multiple races for most of her rowers, Coach Chris was pleased with their performance.
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The men also had a strong showing including a 5th place finish in the Open 4 - only 7.3% off the winners
from the University of Pittsburgh. This men's line up will be competing along with the 10th place women's 4+ at the upcoming
Head of the Charles. The men's eight finished 4th of four, but this
result masks the fact that they performed quite well given the relative inexperience of the line up.
As a bonus Coach Tim got a silver in his single to match his charge's strong performance.
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Race results can be found HERE (html).
2007 Head of the Ohio Photo Gallery
Alums Take On the Textile River and Come Home with Hardware
September 30, 2007: Both Craig Agricola '97 and Brian Chorney '07 raced at the
2007 Textile River Regatta in Lowell, Massachusetts -
though for different clubs. Having graduated 10 years apart neither had met each other. However, Brian wore his
CWRU Crew jacket and Craig introduced himself and a new connection was made.
Craig entered the Masters 1x for the Quinsigamond Rowing Association
and took 3rd place out of 9 - just 6.7% off the winning pace.
Brian entered the lightweight 4+ (in 3 seat below) with his new club in Boston,
Community Rowing Inc., and won the event over three other
college crews. We all know his speed came from the practice he got at the Head of the Cuyahoga a couple weeks earlier!
Race results can be found at PowerHouse Timing (html).
Photos courtesy of Sport Graphics (if it's not obvious).
If other alums have photos or results from regattas they've entered please send them to the web master.
Alumni Remember How to Row on the Cuyahoga
September 15, 2007: The alumni showed that their rowing muscle memory hadn't faded at the 2007 Head of the Cuyahoga.
Alumni came from as far away as Boston, Washington DC and North Carolina to race, and they beat Carnegie-Mellon
in the Open 8+ to take home the gold. The Case men were unable to field an eight in the event so it was a battle between
the all-alumni crew from SARA against CMU's finest. The alumni crew rowed what could best be described as a "ragged"
29 spm down the course chasing CMU the entire way. The conditions were windy, but the alumni managed to "look pretty"
while going past the dock. It has been since 2003 since such exceptional skills were on display.
The alumni men also entered the Open 4+ event where they took fifth behind a few university crews and ahead of
the Case entry. The lineup from stroke was Mike Krofcheck, Brian Chorney, Phil Trechowski, Nate Uber with Erynn Rathburn coxing.
Of note were the winners from "Ivanhoe Boat Club" which featured Tim's son, Aaron, in stroke seat and was comprised alumni from
St. Igantius.
While Aaron is still a world class oarsman, his crew mates only row once a year at the HOTC.
In fourth place were Duquesne in their stunning $20,000 Resolute shell, which proves the point that fast shells
don't always allow you to beat people who don't row anymore.
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SARA Alumni Men's 8+
Back Row: Fraser Hewson, Chris Pfahl, Mike Krofcheck, Tom Hudak, Brian Chorney, Nate Uber
Front Row: Doug Rathburn, Erynn Rathburn, Eric Matyac
2007 Head of the Cuyahoga Photo Gallery
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One of the other highlights of the day was the dedication of the "positive α". This new addition to the
Spartan Navy was raced successfully by the Case men in the Open 2x event and in the Mixed 2x
by Miranda Cullins and Doug Rathburn. Miranda, a current rower on the team, and Doug teamed up to beat
three others boats from WRRA and TRRA to take home the gold. Click here for
pictures from the shell christening.
All but one of Case Crew's boats came home with hardware. The women were perfect taking home gold in the Open 8+ and 4+.
The women's open 4+ proved exciting since Case and Carnegie-Mellon each had the exact same winning time 28 seconds clear of
third place. The men's double of Chris Denzel and Jeremy Saks took third place behind the Marcovy father and son duo. Everyone on
shore watching the race swore they saw Tim light up a cigar while Aaron pulled him down the course to a gold medal.
Race results can be found HERE (html).
Plain Dealer video about the regatta.
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