UW Women Win 9th Straight Whittier Cup at Crew Classic
April 2, 2000
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - The disappointment of a narrow second place finish in her junior varsity grand final didn't stop Husky women's rower Noelle Anderson, who three hours later stepped up to help the Washington women's varsity eight win its ninth consecutive Whittier Cup in a dramatic come-from-behind victory at the 27th annual San Diego Crew Classic Sunday afternoon. The Husky men's varsity eight lost the Copley Cup grand final to rival California while the men's junior varsity and freshman boats picked up gold medals. Washington's novice women won for the third year in a row and the junior varsity finished second in the closest race of the day.
Anderson, a junior who pulled the stroke oar for the women's junior varsity in their grand final at 11:10 a.m., returned for the Whittier Cup final at 2 p.m., to fill in for varsity three seat Lindsey Horton, who came down with the flu and was unable to row. In the 18 years the women's varsity has raced for the Whittier Cup, Washington has captured 14 gold medals. This year it had to come from behind as Pac-10 rival California took an early lead over the first 1,000 meters, moving up by over a boat length on the Huskies halfway through the race. Washington, racing closest to the shore in lane one, surged over the second 1,000 meters and crossed the finish line in time of 6 minutes, 38.4 seconds over the 2,000 meter course on Mission Bay. Cal crossed at 6:44.2.
"I was confident I could fill in Lindsey's shoes and help the varsity," Anderson said. "I was a little bit tired, but once we started moving, I got my second wind and we started flying. It was great. We started moving and no one could stop us."
"You get open water behind at 1,000 meters, it's pretty easy to throw in the towel and race for second," added Husky women's coach Jan Harville. "These women never were racing for second. They kept their cool and kept attacking."
In the men's varsity eight, the Huskieswere unable to regain the Copley Cup they have won 13 times since 1973 as California successfully defended its `99 title in a time of 5:44.2, nearly a length and one-half ahead of UW at 5:48.5. The Huskies used a solid start to keep the race even early, but the Bears took a length and one-half between the 250 and 750 meter mark and cruised from there.
The junior varsity men won the gold medal after a two year absence from the winners stand, crossing the finish line at 5:56.1, ahead of Wisconsin at 6:00.4. The Badgers had the early lead in the race, crossing the 1,000 meter mark first, one-half length up on the Huskies. With 500 meters to go, it was still Wisconsin with Washington challenging hard. The Huskies took their lead with about 700 meters to go and went on to win by just over a boat length. For three Husky juniors -coxswain Andrew Yeung, stroke Kelsey McDaniel and six seat Jesse Huey - it was their first ever victory over California, the defending champions who finished third (6:01.5) behind Wisconsin.
Washington's junior varsity women provided the closet race of the day, but they were unable to catch Virginia as the Cavaliers crossed the line at 6:39.5 to UW's 6:41.5, snapping an eight-year Husky win streak in the event. Virginia had a four second lead over Washington and Michigan State at the halfway mark and from the 1500 meter mark it was the Huskies and Cavaliers down the stretch.
The Husky novice women started the day with a bang for Washington as they had open water on their field halfway through the race and went on to win their first grand final by over three boat lengths, in 6:46.8, well ahead of California at 6:54.9.
The freshmen men had a restart in their race for the second day in a row, as UC-Davis in lane five crashed into Orange Coast College in lane 6 forcing everyone back to the start line. It didn't bother the Huskies though as they took a length lead at the midway mark. The second half was a two boat race between Washington and Cal with the Huskies crossing in a time of 5:57.6 and successfully defending their title from a year ago. Cal was a length and one-half behind at 6:02.8 and Oregon State was third at 6:10.2.
Washington returns to Seattle to host in-state rival Washington State next weekend, Saturday, April 8 at 9 a.m. on the Montlake Cut.
(QUOTES FOLLOW)
San Diego Crew Classic Sunday, April 2, 2000 Mission Bay (2,000 meter course) Sunny, warm, light tailwind
Grand Final Results
Copley Cup Men's Varsity Eight: 1, California 5:44.2. 2, WASHINGTON 5:48.5. 3, Harvard 5:51.1. 4, Wisconsin 5:57.1. 5, Penn 5:57.3. 6, Temple 6:00.2.
UW lineup: cox: Tim Lewis, stroke: Whit Hammond, 7-Eric Funk, 6-Tim Brislin, 5-Mike Chait, 4-Matt Farrer, 3-Alex Wahnsiedler, 2-Hans Hurn, bow-Matt Deakin.
Whittier Cup Women's Varsity Eight: 1, WASHINGTON 6:38.4. 2, California 6:44.2. 3, Virginia 6:46.5. 4, USC 6:49.9. 5, Michigan 6:51.8. 6, Wisconsin 6:59.7.
UW lineup: cox - Mary Whipple, stroke-Sabina Telenska, 7-Nicole Borges,
6-Rika Geyser, 5-Vanessa Tavalero, 4-Anna Mickelson, 3-Noelle Anderson,
2-Theresa Nygren-Birkholz, bow-Nicole Rogers.
Women's Junior Varsity Eight: 1, Virginia 6:39.5. 2, WASHINGTON 6:41.3. 3, Michigan State 6:47.1. 4, Oregon State 6:56.6. 5, USC 6:57.8. 6, Washington State 7:05.0.
UW lineup: cox-Lara Tilmanis, stroke-Noelle Anderson, 7-Romany McNamara,
6-Kara Nykreim, 5-Erin Becht, 4-Kim Oates, 3-Jenni Vesnaver, 2-Leslie
Rattan, bow-Maggie Seay.
Men's Junior Varsity Eight: 1, WASHINGTON 5:56.1. 2, Wisconsin 6:00.4. 3, California 6:01.5. 4, Yale 6:03.0. 5, Harvard 6:03.9. 6, Penn 6:20.9.
UW lineup: cox-Andrew Yeung, stroke-Kelsey McDaniel, 7-Brendan Patterson,
6-Jesse Huey, 5-John Clark, 4-Chris Hawkins, 3-Doug Adams, 2-Peter
Dembicki, bow-Lucas Alstrand.
Women's Novice Eight: 1, WASHINGTON 6:46.8. 2, California 6:54.9. 3, Michigan 7:00.9. 4, Washington State 7:01.4. 5, Wisconsin 7:04.9. 6, UC-Davis 7:21.8. 7, Stanford 7:32.3.
UW lineup: cox-Anne Hessburg, stroke-Lauren Estevenin, 7-Carrie Stasiak,
6-Adrienne Hunter, 5-Heidi Hurn, 4-Rachelle Rochelle, 3-Tatiana Douttchak,
2-Erin Curry, bow-Jessica Harm.
Men's Freshman Eight: 1, WASHINGTON 5:57.6. 2, California 6:02.8. 3, Oregon State 6:10.2. 4, Orange Coast 6:24.6. 5, UC-Davis 6:29.2. 6, UCSB 6:33.0.
UW lineup: cox-Ryan Marks, stroke-Gavin Grant, 7-Kevin Smythe, 6-Charles
Minnett, 5-John Lorton, 4-Bill Liston, 3-Steve Branstetter, 2-Patrick
Rawn, bow-Jeff Jorgensen.
Washington Quotes
Jan Harville (head women's coach, on the varsity eight win): "I'm really, really proud of this group. You either rise through adversity or you succumb to it. Maybe they weren't quite as together on the start and Cal just went blistering out of there. Our women kept their cool and kept racing until the last stroke.Today, when we had a little bit of adversity in the boat, to have a change in the lineup, then to have a rough start and have to come from quite a ways behind, that takes a lot of guts in my book. It was a big time race out there. Seven of the top nine ranked crews in the country are here. Whatever the draw is, you go out and do it."
Bob Ernst (head men's coach) on the varsity eight race: "Cal was better than we were today. They are more powerful through the water than we are. They just row the boat better than we do right now. They've got some really good athletes, there's no question about that. They are very, very talented. But, I think they are do-able. We have to get better, but they are do-able. We have to step back and look at where we've got the guys sitting in the boat and see if we have the right combination to row the boat comfortably. We are too inconsistent right now. Our guys are too good to not be going faster right now. Theys guys are capable of stepping up. Certainly, Cal is moving the bar up and you can't afford not to be your very, very best when you race them. It's a matter of looking at our personnal and seeing if we can help them get more comfortable in the boat. It's not consistent right now. Sometimes we can go blazing fast and sometimes we stumble over ourselves. It wasn't a terrible row today, but I don't think it was our best row. That's the part that's frustrating."
Mary Whipple (varsity women's coxswain): "There was complete trust today. Everyone was pulling for each other. We knew we could do it. There was no doubt what-so-ever through the whole race. We had a couple shaky moments in the first 500, but there was never any doubt. No fear, no doubt. If someone is up on us, we are going to hunt them down."
Tim Lewis (coxswain, men's varsity eight): "We had a good start and we were right with Cal. Then from about 250 to 750 meters in is where they took a few seats from us. They just sat out there on us. When we took our moves at 500 and 1,000, we were moving back on them, but they were just cruising out there. They had a length, some open water, on us. "We had an okay row. I wouldn't say we had a great row. There is definitely room for improvement. We have to get faster in our second 500 meters. We can definitely hang with those guys."
Whit Hammond (stroke, men's varsity eight): "We had a good start then we hit a little bit of choppy water. That threw us a little bit but I imagine that was across the board. We started to get into our rhythm but just didn't quite hit it the way we planned to, or the way we had practiced. There is definitely more speed in there. It wasn't quite as efficient as we have the potential to be. We were right with them at the start and somewhere around the 400 to 750 meter mark, we were a little flustered and started to let them (Cal) get out on us. Then they sat there and chipped away. I don't think Cal is uncatchable by any means. We definitely have speed to gain, as long as we row a little better. It's just a matter of getting the feeling all together and getting the picture in our minds of how it should be. It never quite got there today. Maybe after the settle, we started to get there, but it wasn't just bam, bam, bam. Instead, we were a little shaky in the chop, through the first gap. We have a lot of potential though.
Jan Harville (on the junior varsity and novice women): "Yesterday we had a strong first 1,000 meters and bobbled a bit in our second 1,000. We had just enough to hold Michigan off to win the heat. Today we had an okay start, struggled a bit with rhythm in the second 500, but settled right down in the second 1,000. Virginia had almost a length on us at 1,000 meters. Today we had a much better second 1,000. I think it's a good statement on what this crew is capable of doing. This crew has a lot of potential to develop. "I was really pleased with our novice women today. That was a really, really dominating performance. It was a great race. It was four heat winners who won theirs races by quite a ways. You go in not really knowing what the competition is capable of doing, how close you are to them."
Fred Honebein (men's freshman coach): "I actually don't watch the races. I just let it play out the way it goes. They wanted to execute in the first 500 and establish a lead and increase as they went down the course. They did and I was happy with the way they rowed. I was a little upset yesterday, after the way they practiced in the afternoon. They were a little shoddy in the way they went about things. We talked about and they went out and showed what they were capable of. The competition was tough. Cal is strong and we knew they would be tough. Oregon State has a good class of athletes as well. The whole season is going to be tough, so this is a good start. We have to take it one at a time."
Anne Hessburg (novice women's coxswain): "From the start, we knew we had great competition. We knew everybody would be jumping right from the start and working really hard and it was going to be tight all the way down. Right from the start, we really poured it on. We had to get out in front from the start. We took the intensity high. Within the first 20 to 30 strokes we grabbed a lead and took it from there. This is amazing. It's overwhelming. I don't think it's set in yet."
Eleanor McElvaine (novice women's coach): "The biggest mistake most people make is thinking that we expect to win down here. They look at our record and think we must be expecting to win. We don't. We have a completely new team, especially in the freshman boat. We have a totally new team every time we come here. We are just as nervous as everyone else. Jan (Harville) would probably say the same thing. Obviously for the novice, we have people who are in their very first race ever. It's so big and it can be so distracting."
Kelsey McDaniel (stroke, men's junior varsity): "It took two years, but we did it. I like it. It's been too long. I can't really describe the feeling right now. It's pretty awesome."
