SI Varsity Men’s Crew Takes First at US Rowing National Youth Invitational
By Paul Totah
June 13, 2005
In a dramatic come-from-behind finish, the SI Varsity Men’s Crew took first in the nation at the US Rowing National Youth Invitational at Cincinnati’s Lake Harsha June 12.
The victory comes on the heels of the team’s third-place finish last year and eight years after SI crew’s first-ever national championship in 1997.
The coach and rowers credited the victory, in part, to the strong headwinds and thunderstorms that plagued the lake that weekend. “Rowing on Lake Merced, we’re used to horrible conditions,” said senior Michael Tate. “We felt confident rowing into the headwinds. You can throw anything at us and we’ll do fine.”
Head Coach Tom O’Connell wasn’t as optimistic at the 1,000-meter mark during the final race, when SI trailed in fourth place. His spirits picked up at 500 meters when SI climbed into third. For those last 500 meters, the SI boat sprinted ahead to win by three seats. “After the race, several coaches told me they had never seen a team row through the last stretch as strong as our guys did,” said O’Connell. “That’s indicative of how the boys rowed all year.”
SI took first with a time of 6:30:36, followed by Cincinnati Junior Rowing Club at 6:31:59 and Marin Rowing Association at 6:33:89. Other finalists, in order, were Mt. Baker Rowing and Sailing Center, St. Paul’s School and Lincoln Park Juniors.
SI qualified for the meet by taking first in the US Southwest Junior Regionals in early May in Sacramento, beating Marin and Lincoln Park.
Earlier in the season, the ’Cats did not fare as well as it faced club teams that compete all year. An injury also contributed to the slow start, with junior Derek Johnson out for the first few races. Once Johnson returned to his boat in April, the team went undefeated.
Both Johnson and fellow teammate Michael Gilson ’06 were selected to compete in the US Junior National Rowing Camp at Princeton for a three-week try-out, and the two went there directly from Cincinatti. If selected for the national team, they will compete in Germany later in the summer against the world’s best high school and club crews.
The other members of the varsity eight are Andrew Liotta ’05 (coxswain), Michael Snyder ’05, Gregory Malman ’05, Nick Lucey ’07, Tim Larson ’06, Alex Simon ’05 and Michael Tate ’05. Liotta will cox at Yale next year and Malman, Snyder and Simon each plan to row in college at, respectively, Gonzaga, Brown and Cal.
Tate credited coach O’Connell with motivating him and his teammates by “never letting us be satisfied with any one victory. After we won the state title, he told us to celebrate for two days and then get back to work. And that’s just what we did.”
This victory adds to the long list of laurels won by SI crew over the years, including two third-place finishes in this national competition for the women’s crew in 1999 and 2000 and an Olympic silver medal won by Sebastian Bea ’95 in the Sydney games.