Dual Season Approaches and Everybody's Got Cabin Fever:

HW Men's Review

As the snow gently falls in Philadelphia following a rare 45 degree February day the heated stares of rowers and coaches towards the frozen river seems almost enough to unthaw the last little bit of ice that stubbornly clings to our dock condemning us to yet another sweaty day, week, or month on the erg with the music turned up and uni tops pulled down. But in the interest of optimism and likely my own sanity, I choose to think about the exciting collegiate racing to come this spring. From freezing Providence to sunny Sacramento, crews will blitz through the Montlake cut, and battle on Lakes; Natoma, Mendota, Housatonic, and Carnegie among others. These miniature regattas will shape the dramatic crescendo that is the Eastern Sprints and IRA Regatta and I love every second of it. Winning the early battles, finding kinks in the armor, appearing invincible, training through races, rowing in terrible water, feeling them out, touching the fire, and sending a message... Despite the faults of the Collegiate rowing system, Dual races make for good entertainment.

After last year's dramatic double, winning the IRA and the Eastern Sprints, Wisco will surely have the proverbial target on their back. They showed well at the Charles finishing 2nd overall in the champ four, trailing only the national team boat. Their V8 finished 4th among colleges in the Champ eight before being assessed significant penalties. A long winter will surely mean a notoriously brutal indoor training season for the Badgers and they will hope to blow the dust off against Michigan and Stanford in early April. They will also face a surely renovated BU team lead by new Head Coach, Tom Bohrer in Wisconsin on May 3rd before their Eastern Sprints title defense on May 10th. Reportedly the race to watch will be their duals with Stanford and UW on April 17th .

The team that everyone will be watching this spring starting with the San Diego Crew Classic on April 4th is Mike Teti's California Golden Bears. Third place finishers at last year's IRA Regatta and 4th place finishers at the Head of the Charles make it difficult to guess what the Bears will look like in their first dual race on April 26th as they charge up the Montlake Cut vs. UW. Their official unveiling will come at the San Diego Crew Classic on April 4th.

UW will travel to the San Diego Crew Classic with the best fall season record, winning the Head of the Charles Champ Eight, defeating Brown by just over a second. Their schedule is riddled with tough match ups; facing Cal, Wisco and Stanford in April.

Stanford has a crazy dual schedule facing UW, Oregon State, and Wisconsin in preceding days from April 17-19th. In May they will test their mettle Vs. Cal before their run up to the IRA. They'll hope to improve on last year's fifth place finish.

Columbia last year? Who woulda thunk it? After defeating Yale in their Dual on the Housatonic, the Lions made the Grand Final at the IRA and Eastern Sprints finishing 6th in both. From all I can find, it seems that Columbia has not placed in an event at the IRA since 1964 when their Freshman 8 placed third, so to find the podium in Sacramento this year would be a momentous occasion for the organization. They will open on March 21st against FIT in Florida, and face Rutgers, MIT, and Holy Cross before ramping up for this year's Child's Cup (vs. Princeton and Penn) in Princeton. They will follow that regatta facing Yale, Penn, BU, Syracuse and Navy in their run up to the Eastern Sprints.

Cornell will knock the ice off in Ithaca with a new Director of Rowing in Three Time Lightweight IRA Champ, Todd Kennett and their is a hope of a culture change that could vault them from the Petites to the Grands. They will participate in the Ithaca College and GW Invite before their first dual vs. Syracuse and Navy. One of the more intriguing match ups of the year will be the Cornell/Princeton/Yale Dual on April 25th in Ithaca, which Princeton won last year.

After a difficult season last year Yale will try to climb back up the ranks in hopes for an IRA medal. They were impressive at the Eastern Sprints falling short of a medal by 4 seconds after suffering a tough loss to Columbia during the dual season but finished 3rd in the Petites at the IRA. They will hope to avenge last year's loss to Brown at their season opener on March 28th in Providence.

Brown opens at Yale and faces BU before traveling to San Diego for the Crew Classic. They will then face Harvard, Northeastern, Dartmouth and Princeton before the EARC Sprints. After an impressive 2nd place finish at the Head of the Charles, Brown will look to find the Grand Finals this year at the IRA.

You would be mistaken if you forgot about Harvard. After one of the more difficult seasons in recent memory the Crimson failed to make the Varsity final at either the Eastern Sprints or the IRA Regatta. However, their 1F, 2F, 2V, 3V and 4V placed in the top 2 in every event they entered at the Eastern Sprints and their Freshman went on to medal at the IRA Regatta. They will have their unveiling at the San Diego Crew Classic before facing Brown, MIT, Princeton, Navy, Penn, and Northeastern in April and early May. In any case, we will know if Harvard is back by the time they get the EARC Sprints.

Northeastern seems like the team always flying under the radar. After finishing fourth at the IRA last year they came 5th at the Head of the Charles (4th among colleges) ahead of Cornell and Yale. They will face Harvard on May 2nd and Brown on April 18th.

All in all it brings a warming smile to my face to think of the magnificent drama that is about to unfold this spring. With new coaches at Cal, Cornell, and BU who knows what to expect.

Greatest Races: Week 28

In 2005 a Cal Berkeley and St. Joes graduate sat together in Gifu, Japan as the U.S. Representative for the Light Weight Women's 2x. No U.S. woman had medaled in that event in over 5 years since Sarah Garner and Christine Collins won bronze at the Sydney Olympics in 2000. Trained in Philly under the tutelage of Ted Nash, from stroke number one, Rynee Hykel and Julie Nichols threw themselves into the task of attacking the field with a solitary goal. These two trail blazers forged the path for lightweight women at Penn AC and would not be denied a medaled.