May 2, 2009

Windermere Cup Awards Ceremony

Complete Final Opening Day Results

Post-Race Quotes

SEATTLE - Washington rowing accomplished what it set out to do in the 2009 edition of the Windermere Cup/Opening Day races: win all nine races it entered.

The Huskies kept the Erickson Cascade Cup and the Windermere Cup right at home in the Conibear Shellhouse, winning all four races by open water.

The women's varsity eight pulled out their most decisive win of the season, crossing the finish in 6:29.4, 16 seconds ahead of second-place University of Miami and 24 seconds ahead of third-place Brazil. The Huskies got off to an early lead and held open water by the time they got to the Montlake Bridge.

"We rowed well," said Director of Rowing and women's head coach Bob Ernst of his varsity eight. "It's the first time we've had [2008 U.S. Olympic women's gold winning shell] The Hunter out. It's a beautiful boat. We've been sort of oriented toward finding out who the Huskies are who are going to row the boat and this week we got it out. It's a nice sled. The kids like rowing in it."

"He told me to go a little crazy at the start, which we did," said women's varsity stroke, freshman Veronica Tamsitt, of Ernst's race plan. "[He told us] to keep the focus in our boat, really. This race was really a chance to get us moving."

And move they did. Washington's women's varsity rowed one of its fastest races of the season, shaving nearly nine seconds off last week's time against California and winning its third consecutive Windermere Cup.

"I think we've been tinkering with the lineup and of course this week, going into the new boat... yeah, I think we're making some progress," commented Ernst. "We'll see. The Pac-10s are going to be a really good shootout. I think that probably three of the top five teams in the country are going to be in the Pac-10, so we'll see how that goes."

The Husky men got off equally well, recording an open water victory over second-place Oregon State and third-place Brazil to win their third straight Windermere Cup. The race plan this week was similar to the plan executed last week against then-No. 1 California, which included a move around the 650-meter mark to open up some space between the Huskies and the other crews.

"We've really come together the last couple of weeks," said men's varsity five-seat Rob Gibson. "We've really starting trusting each other and having more fun out there."

"Executing what we know we can do and just keeping our heads down and working hard," added men's varsity stroke Will Crothers. "That's what it's really coming down to for us. I think maybe we were taking ourselves too seriously before."

In the Erickson Cascade Cup races, the Huskies fared well, taking pretty dominating wins over the University of British Columbia, UCLA (men) and Miami (women).

The women's second varsity recorded a 6:24.5 finish, 11 seconds faster than the crew from UBC and 25 seconds faster than the Hurricanes.

The UW men's second varsity shot out to a fast start to win their 11th-straight Cascade Cup race, leaving UBC and UCLA to duke out what was a very close finish between two evenly-matched crews. The Huskies crossed the finish in 5:40.7, while just half a second divided UCLA's second place and UBC's third place finishes.

Washington's depth was on display Saturday as the women's novices and men's freshman boats won their respective races by wide margins. In the women's open eight, the first Husky novice eight beat the third varsity eight by over a length. The freshman men dropped the hammer on the Oregon schools, pulling across the line in 5:37.2, nearly 27 seconds faster than OSU and over a minute faster than Oregon, winning their 17th-straight Opening Day race.

"Seeing that our top three eights, the freshman, the second varsity and the varsity all at 5:40 or below, that's a good sign," said Callahan, of the men's performances. "In the end, we can't make anyone else faster or slower. We only can focus on what we do and do it well."

Both Ernst and Callahan agreed that the races themselves and the spectacle of Windermere Cup were as exciting as ever.

"I think that it was really successful," remarked Callahan. "It's great to have so many teams come. Having UCLA, Oregon State, Oregon and Brazil here, it's a great testament to Windermere in such hard financial times to sponsor this at such a high level. I think it went really well."

"I'm glad all the people on the log boom had the last couple of days to sit out in the sun and drink beer," commented Ernst. "And of course Seattle people - today['s weather] doesn't make any difference to them. They're having a good time and they turn out because they want to see the yacht parade and they want to see the crew races. I think if you went out into the parking lot and asked the master's rowers who are 70 and asked the juniors rowers who are 14, everybody had a great time today and that's what it's all about."

The Huskies are off next weekend as they prepare for the Pac-10 Championship May 16-17 on Lake Natoma in Rancho Cordova, Calif. For the complete schedule and results, log on to GoHuskies.com.

2009 Windermere Cup/Opening Day Results
Men's Windermere Cup (Varsity Eight)
1, Washington, 5:39.5 ; 2, Oregon State, 5:52.1 ; 3, Brazil, 5:59.7
UW Lineup
cox - Katelin Snyder, stroke - Will Crothers, 7 - Simon Taylor, 6 - Bart-Jan Caron, 5 - Rob Gibson, 4 - Hans Struzyna, 3 - Anthony Jacob, 2 - Jessiah Johnson, bow - Max Lang

Women's Windermere Cup (Varsity Eight)
1, Washington, 6:29.4 ; 2, Miami, 6:46.1 ; 3, Brazil, 5:59.5
UW Lineup
cox - Isabelle Woodward, stroke - Veronica Tamsitt, 7 - Adrienne Martelli, 6 - Hanne Trafnik, 5 - Kim Kennedy, 4 - Erika Shaw, 3 - Jenny Park, 2 - Lia Prins, bow - Kayleigh Mack

Men's Erickson Cascade Cup (Second Varsity Eight)
1, Washington, 5:40.7 ; 2, UCLA, 5:59.0 ; 3, UBC, 5:59.5
UW Lineup
cox - Michelle Darby, stroke - Nenad Bulicic, 7 - Lowell Neal, 6 - Matt Zapel, 5 - Ty Otto, 4 - Blaise Didier, 3 - Roko Svast, 2 - Bede Clarke, bow - Stephen Connolly

Women's Erickson Cascade Cup (Second Varsity Eight)
1, Washington, 6:24.5 ; 2, UBC, 6:35.6 ; 3, Miami, 6:50.0
UW Lineup
cox - Ariana Tanimoto, stroke - Sarah Aylard, 7 - Heather Young, 6 - Rosie DeBoef, 5 - Erin Knox, 4 - Kerry Simmonds, 3 - Kira O'Sullivan, 2 - Helen Wall, bow - Samantha Smith

Men's Freshman Eight
1, Washington, 5:37.2 ; 2, Oregon State, 6:04.0 ; 3, Oregon, 6:41.8
UW Lineup
cox - Laura Denman, stroke - Mathis Jessen, 7 - Tom Lehmann, 6 - Conlin McCabe, 5 - Robert Munn, 4 - Justin Hopkins, 3 - Jay Thompson, 2 - Ambrose Puttmann, bow - Jeffrey Gibbs

Women's Open Eight
1, Washington "A", 6:59.0 ; 2, Washington "B", 7:04.5 ; 3, Washington "D", 7:14.0 ; 4, Washington "C", 7:51.1
UW Lineups
Washington "A"
cox - Aya Shimizu, stroke - Annie Johns, 7 - Schuyler Pearman-Gillman, 6 - Helen Tilghman, 5 - Birgitte Gingold, 4 - Jona Ensley, 3 - Alexis Pong, 2 - Sarah Velling, bow - Carina French

Washington "B"
cox - Katherine Mahoney, stroke - Lauren Bresnahan, 7 - Ana Stoudt, 6 - Leslie White, 5 - Sarah Martin, 4 - Bridget Claycomb, 3 - Lauren Fritts, 2 - Emily Koltuniak, bow - Jessica Thimmig

Washington "C"
cox - Samantha Pang, stroke - Janie Schwarz, 7 - Melanie Nelson, 6 - Maggie Henley, 5 - Nina Gerber, 4 - Elizabeth Weidner, 3 - Ashley Ahlstrom, 2 - Sarah Scwisow, bow - Sydney Clark

Washington "D"
cox - Leah Tormey, stroke - Gina Matteo, 7 - Whitney Wood, 6 - Amanda Hacking, 5 - Ashley Daniels, 4 - Jessica Jones, 3 - Erica Knutzen, 2 - Hannah Austin, bow - Joanne Li

Men's Open Eight
1, Washington "B", 6:03.3 ; 2, Washington "A" 6:18.1 ; 3, Pocock 6:18.1 ; 4, Lake Union 6:25.1
UW Lineups
Washington "A"
cox - Bronson Kolde, stroke - John Collins, 7 - Kit Culbert, 6 - Andrew Perkins, 5 - Christopher Plumer, 4 - Alex Pekasky, 3 - Jamie North, 2 - Alexander Keats, bow - Matthew Mackinnon

Washington "B"
cox - Samuel Ojserkis, stroke - Alan Meininghaus, 7 - Stephen Silverstein, 6 - Robert Squires, 5 - Thomas Kicinski, 4 - Jethro Van't Hul, 3 - Clarence Miller, 2 - Reiner Hershaw, bow - Ryan Byarlay

Women's Varsity Four
1, Washington "C", 7:16.7 ; 2, Washington "A", 7:23.1 ; 3, Washington "D", 7:35.2 ; 4, Washington "B" 7:40.4
UW Lineups
Washington "A"
cox - Michele Miyauchi, stroke - Rachel Powers, 3 - Sarah Ryan, 2 - Audrey Baker, bow - Blakeley Holland

Washington "B"
cox - Laura Dally, stroke - Laura Cooper, 3 - Ali Steiner, 2 - Kelly Myers, bow - Kaiini Macarro

Washington "C"
cox - Lauren Wands, stroke - Sydney Collins, 3 - Adriene De Leuw, 2 - Erin Lauber, bow - Haley Yeager

Washington "D"
cox - Kelsey Meyer, stroke - Gillian Pennington, 3 - Victoria Nenchev, 2 - Ailish O'Sullivan, bow - Markee Murphy

Men's Varsity Four
1, Washington "A", 6:19.9 ; 2, Washington "B", 6:21.0 ; 3, Washington "C", 6"42.8 ; 4, Oregon State "A", 6:49.0 ; 5, Oregon State "B", 6:57.6
UW Lineups
Washington "A"
cox - Leah Downey, stroke - Maxwell Weaver, 3 - Casey Dobrowolski, 2 - David VanBolt, bow - Trevor Walchenbach

Washington "B"
cox - Valaree Fowler, stroke - Niles Garratt, 3 - Noah O'Connell, 2 - Ricky Bargreen, bow - Peter Carlson

Washington "C"
cox - Elizabeth Mackeen, stroke - Joseph Hamm, 3 - Leland Quinn, 2 - Pavel Mantchev, bow - Oliver Enquist

Boys Junior Club 8+
1, Everett, 6:03.9 ; 2, Capital, 6:05.4 ; 3, Green Lake, 6:11.4 ; 4, Mt. Baker, 6:16.9

Boys High School 8+
1, Shawnigan Lake, 6:03.8 ; 2, Brentwood, 6:07.9 ; 3, Lake Oswego, 6:17.3 ; 4, Vashon, 6:36.9

Girls Junior Club 8+
1, Everett, 6:45.2 ; 2, Rose City, 6:50.1 ; 3, Green Lake, 6:50.5 ; 4, Mt. Baker, 6:53.1 ; 5, Vic City, 6:59.4

Girls High School 8+
1, Brentwood, 7:04.5 ; 2, Holy Names, 7:08.5 ; 3, Lakeside, 7:26.5

Women's Eight (Age 50+)
1, Sammamish, 7:07.6 ; 2, Conibear, 7:07.9 ; 3, Martha's Moms, 7:14.8 ; 4, ZLAC, 7:22.8

Women's Eight (Age 30+)
1, Lake Washington, 6:49.1 ; 2, Lake Union, 6:56.8 ; 3, River City, 6:59.5 ; 4, Portland Women's, 7:28.2

Mixed Eight (Age 50+)
1, Sammamish, 6:41.9 ; 2, Corvallis, 6:45.3 ; 3, Mt. Baker, 6:54.4 ; 4, Lake Oswego, 7:24.5

Men's Eight (Age 50+)
1, VCRC, 6:16.5 ; 2, Willamette, 6:21.0 ; 3, Lake Washington, 6:34.5 ; 4, VLRC, 6:47.3

Men's Eight (Age 40+)
1, VRC, 6:10.7 ; 2, PRC, 6:14.0 ; 3, SLRC, 6:24.4; 4, GLC, 6:35.3

Men's Eight (Age 70+)
1, Ancient Mariners "A", 6:23.7 ; 2, Marin, 6:30.5 ; 3, Ancient Mariners "C", 7:28.0 ; 4, Ancient Mariners "B" 7:34.1