Alumni & Friends Break 2 Million Meter Mark for First Time
Rower
Meters
1
Ken Klika
352,451
2
Patrick DelBarba
256,001
3
Tom Hudak
250,035
4
Doug Rathburn
240,347
4
Brian DelBarba
234,769
6
Kelli Anderson
201,018
7
Evan Halprin
148,000
8
Mark Schoenenberger
122,179
9
Tuck Pescosolido
87,348
10
Erin Brandt
71,000
11
Katherine Allen
65,685
12
Brian Chorney
57,000
13
Caitlin Bowerman
53,480
14
Tim Marcovy
45,386
15
Chris Bowley
43,081
16
Erynn Rathburn
34,572
17
Meg Grow
25,870
18
Lauren Boucher
25,802
19
Ruth Dickey
25,700
20
Sarah Rubin
15,000
21
Gavin Brown
14,000
22
Matt Steadman
10,000
23
Fraser Hewson
9,000
Total Team Meters
2,387,724
February 3, 2012: Twenty-three alumni & friends pitched in to row 2,387,724 meters in the annual C2 January Virtual Team Challenge
(JVTC). For the challenge rowers had to row as many meters as
possible between January 1 and January 31 then log their daily meters using the Concept 2 Logbook. The results were then ranked against
other teams. The SARA team finished in 47th place out of 330 teams with each member averaging over 100,000m! Thank you to everyone that participated.
This year marked the third time a concerted effort was made to log meters for this challenge and the third time we bested our URA rivals from
the University of Chicago. We beat their alumni team, but were passed by the students (a separate ranking group) who pulled 100km more meters.
Leading the charge for SARA was CWRU Assistant Dean Ken Klika who took top honors with 352,451 meters! Family DelBarba (father Brian and son Patrick)
also teamed up to pull a combined total of 490,770 meters. Six people broke the 200km mark and earned a free Case Crew hat – including the first
ever alumna to break 200k for the challenge, Kelli Anderson.
Let's keep it going next year!
Father and Son Take On Pittsburgh; Team Takes 3rd Overall
January 28, 2012:Case Crew headed to the Steel City for their first 2,000m test in
competition at the Pittsburgh Indoor Sprints.
The team traveled with a mixture of varsity and novice rowers. Into the mix were freshman Patrick DelBarba and his father Brian
racing for Three Rivers. Patrick pulled the fastest men's time of 6:25.3 for the team taking fourth place in the Open event.
Earlier in the morning his father Brian pulled a 6:41.6 to take 1st in the 40-49 year old category.
Also in the Men's Open event with Patrick were Doug Brubaker with a time of 6:56.2 (15th place) and Matt Moss with 7:13.5 and 19th place. The Pittsburgh
Indoor Sprints serves as a satellite regatta for the CRASH-B race in Boston. People that pull a certain "gold" standard time earn a free
trip to race in Boston. While no one from the team qualified for a free trip, the official satellite designation draws an incredibly large
field of rowers. This year's event drew 600 entries and is in the top ten events in the world.
Novice Gavin Brown being coxed by Club President Mallory Miller
The novice men brought four athletes to Pittsburgh. In the Open Novice category Matt Brown pulled a 7:20.0 and was good enough for 7th place.
The Lightweight Novice event had three CWRU participants: Gavin Brown with 7:21.0 and 7th place, Evan Lanese with 7:42.1 and 10th place, and
Matthew Steadman with 7:48.5 and 12th place.
On the women's side only two athletes pulled 2k. Junior Caitlin Bowerman did her piece in 7:53.2, which was good enough for 8th place. Novice
Ava Kotvas then had a go in the Lightweight Novice event and earned 12th place with her time of 10:32.6.
For the last event the team mixed it up -- literally -- for the team 6-person relay race. The relay teams of three men and three women completed
a total of 3000 meters, or 500m per racer. Case's team consisted of Doug Brubaker, Ava Kotvas, Matt Moss, head coach and alumna Patty Wolford,
Caitlin Bowerman and anchored by Patrick DelBarba. The team's time for 3k was 10:30.2, which placed them 8th overall out of 13 teams. You can
watch a YouTube video of the relay here. In the collegiate team points competition, the team
finished in third place behind the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie-Mellon University.
Case Men Best Local Rivals at Head-to-head Erg Challenge
January 21, 2012: John Carroll hosted Case and Cleveland State for a friendly round of Anaerobic Threshold testing with the Case Men claiming
top honors along with the team winning the overall title. The previous two years had only Case and JCU racing each other, but the teams invited Cleveland State
to the party this year. The teams raced over 5,000 meters (women) and 6,000 meters (men) with each rower awarded one point for each rower they beat.
Then the points were tallied to crown a winner overall and for the men and women. JCU won the women's crown.
Case, CSU & JCU Erg Challenge Participants
The men showed up in force and dominated their event. The nine men from Case were led to victory by freshman Patrick DelBarba with his winning
time of 20:47.5 (1:44 splits). Novice Willis Mathews pulled 22:44.9 for the second fastest team time and 4th overall. Half a second off Willis
was Doug Brubaker in fifth and Matt Moss in sixth with a time of 23:05.6. Five other men's novices (Matthew Holdren, Gavin Brown, Matt Steadman,
Evan Lanese and Edwin Bernardoni) also competed gaining valuable racing experience and capturing 14 points for the team.
The men's team doubled JCU's point total with 62 points. JCU finished with 31 points while Cleveland state were awarded 27.
The Case women's ranks were thinned by an event on campus. However, the top three scores on the team garnered spots two through four putting
them only 27 points off JCU who brought 9 athletes to the event!
Junior Caitlin Bowerman pulled a 20:50.5 5k (2:05 splits) finishing 2nd behind Lauren Penkala of JCU by 2.5 seconds. Caitlin was followed
by law student Ruth Dickey with a time of 21:08.7 and novice Abby Sevier with a time of 21:12.4. Rounding out the results was novice
Ava Kotvas' time of 27:52.4.
After combining points from both teams Case was declared the overall scrimmage winner with 95 points against John Carroll's 77 and Cleveland State's 39.
The event is a fun tune up for both teams. Next up for Case is the Pittsburgh Indoor Sprints next weekend and then the Hammer Ergatta
on February 11. If you're around please go and cheer the students on!
Below is the spring racing schedule for Case Crew.
If you're in the area or would like to help organize the cheering
section for an event please email the webmaster.
Alumni Events: This spring we'll hold our 7th spring alumni regatta in Cleveland! The event will follow the
"standard" format of student/alumni racing in the morning followed by the SARA Annual General meeting (AGM) after racing.
Then in the evening we'll all meet up at Great Lakes Brewery for networking and story telling. If you
would like additional information please contact Doug Rathburn.
It's okay if you haven't rowed in a while. For many Case Crew alums
the SARA alumni events are the only time they step into a shell all year, and we manage to have a great time. Give it a try!
Fundraising with Amazon.com -- Use our link for Case Crew!
January Results:
$86.19 raised
as of January 31 - Thanks!!!
Over $6,000 raised since Oct'07!
Do all your shopping at Amazon using our link to access the site and Case Crew will get at least 6% of each purchase. Also, consider
buying a gift certificate first to buy your product and double the amount raised.
The campaign so far has been very successful.
But using the link everytime you visit Amazon is critical for us to get credit for each purchase. Thanks!
Please Note: Amazon doesn't make it perfectly easy for us to get credit for purchases.
Many people use the link to add items to their shopping cart and then purchase them at a later date. However, we only get credit if you use the
Amazon Link
when you actually make the purchase. Therefore, when you return to Amazon you must use the link provided
at the point your credit card is charged for us to get credit.
Double Your Gift to Case Crew! UPDATE: Gifts starting to roll in!
UPDATE (May 13): Alumnus Pete Whittaker '04 became the first "founder" of the coaching edowment!
The gift was matched by the SARA Board and he will be listed with the university documents and press released as helping
secure a permanent future for the team. More details on the campaign and match below:
UPDATE (April 9): Alumnus Eric Matyac '94 G'96 has made the first major gift to our last leg of the
Alumni Victorious Campaign. Eric has chosen to sponsor
a seat in the new four, and his gift was matched by the SARA Board as previously announced. More details on the
campaign and match below:
We are kicking off the final leg of the Alumni Victorious Campaign.
We've been emboldened by the generosity of Case Crew's alumni, family and friends so we've set an ambitious goal for 2011.
We would like to raise a total of $50,000 this year to go towards the purchase of a new coxed 4+ and to
establish a permanent coaching endowment at the university.
To kick start the campaign and to recognize the 20th anniversary of the team this fall, the SARA Board will 100% match the first donations
up to $20,000. If you get your donations in we only need $30,000 in new donations to hit the $50,000 goal!
We'll be sending out periodic updates throughout the year, and we're targeting christening the new shell at the 2011 Head of the Cuyahoga.
The 2011 Appeal Letter has much more detail regarding the rationale behind the shell and endowment. Please take a few minutes
to read it. There are many donor recognition levels to choose from, and please don't hesitate to contact a Board member with any questions.
Please send donations to Fraser at the address below. Also designate if you'd like the funds to go toward the shell or endowment.
All donations will be recognized, but check out the bottom of this page
for various naming opportunities or shoot us a note with any questions.
Checks can be made out to Spartan Alumni Rowing Association.
Fraser Hewson
Spartan Alumni Rowing Association
31646 Electric Blvd.
Avon Lake, OH 44012-2010
Leave Your Mark on Case Crew
We are pleased to announce the first capital campaign for Case Crew! The team continues to benefit from the generosity
of your Annual Fund contributions. However, it's time we, as alumni, parents and friends, leave our mark on the team
by providing them with competitive equipment.
The new Pocock 4+, the Dorothy A. Hudak, to replace the Sweet J has been delivered and was dedicated at the
2008 Head of the Cuyahoga. Also, a trailer was given to the team at the 2009 Head of the Cuyahoga. The new four and trailer have been huge steps
in building the Spartan Navy, but we still need another four.
Please take a moment to read about the Alumni Victorious Campaign
and consider a donation. There are still many naming opportunities left.
Tons of Photos and Race Results
SARA is continuing to build a comprehensive database of old Case Crew photos and race results.
We've reached almost 4,000 photos, but are constantly on the look out for more!
If you have any photos or results to add please email Doug Rathburn.
We'll even convert old negatives to digital, post them on the SARA web site and mail the negatives back to you.
Click here for the SARA Photo Gallery or on the logo to the left to view the thousands of photos.
Also, if you have any paper copies of old race results we'd appreciate a copy.
Click here for the SARA Race Result Archive to
see past results and which ones are still needed. Thanks!