Men's Crew at Intercollegiate Rowing Championships
May 26, 1999
Corvallis, Ore. - SCHEDULE: The Oregon State University mens varsity eight, ranked No. 14 in the nation, and the freshman eight will be competing in the 97th annual Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championships May 27-29. The three-day event is held at the Cooper River in Camden, NJ.
THE FORMAT: Twenty-one boats make up the varsity eight field. There will be four heat races beginning at 4:36 a.m. PDT with heat 1. Oregon State is one of six boats in heat 1 and is joined by No. 1 California, No. 16 Boston University, No. 17 Navy, Virginia and Georgetown. The winner of each heat advances directly to the semi-finals Friday, while the remaining teams are reshuffled and will row in the afternoons repechages (second chance) heats. The top two from each repechage will also advance to the semi-finals. The championship and consolation races will be rowed Saturday.
REISCHMAN ON THE HEAT: The following are comments from mens Head Coach Dave Reischman: "California is clearly the team to beat at this event, but that is not necessarily a bad thing to have them in our heat. Our heat should be a battle for second place between Boston University and Oregon State. There is no real difference finishing second or third, but the key is to not exert too much energy, because we will likely be racing in the afternoon. We will take second or third, but we wont row are hardest to overtake another boat for a position because it is of no consequence. But, the thing you must guard against is losing confidence in your boat -- you want to row hard, but you dont want to over extend yourself."
REISCHMAN ON THE OVERALL CHAMPIONSHIP: "There are five or six crews clearly at the top of the field -- California is the favorite, with Washington, Princeton, Brown, Northeastern and Wisconsin also being very strong. There is a whole group of boats within three or four seconds after the top six, and we fall into that group. Our goal is to finish in the top-10. We have made some lineup changes, so it will be interesting to see how fast we are. We did row well in practice last week, so I do have confidence in their abilities. It really is a one race at a time deal at these championships. You have to evaluate each race and determine how hard you are going to have to row to get your desired finish."
FRESHMEN EIGHT UPDATE: Oregon State is one of 20 entrants in the freshman eight competition. The format is exactly the same as the varsity eight. The Beavers will be rowing in heat 2 against Drexel, Marist, Penn, and Northeastern.
REISCHMAN ON THE FRESHMAN EIGHT: "Judging from the times of other crews, we are considered the favorite in our heat. If we can win the heat that would be a tremendous advantage for us -- we would be able to rest the remainder of the day and prepare for the semi-finals."
IRA HISTORY: Oregon State began rowing at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championships when Dave Reischman arrived in the fall of 1994. The varsity eights best showing has been ninth at the 1997 event. The team was 15th last year, 16th in 1995 and 10th in 1996.
Mens Varsity Eight (Bow-Stern) B--Sam Bobek, So., Warrenton, OR (Warrenton) 2-Kevin Mann, So., Corvallis, OR (Corvallis) 3-Jon Renholds, Sr., Ashland, OR (Ashland) 4-Joey Hansen, So., Bakersfield, CA (Bakersfield) 5-Scott Fortner, Jr., Rogue River, OR (Rogue River) 6-Matt Anderson, Sr., Aurora, OR (Canby) 7-Patrick OHea, Sr., Culver City, CA (Murphy) 8-Andrew Jackson, So., Corvallis, OR (Crescent Valley) C-Darin Paine, So., Salem, OR (Sprague)Mens Freshman Eight (Bow-Stern) B--Matt William, 6-3, Fr., Portland (Jesuit) 2--Mark Squire, 6-3, Fr., Cove, OR (Cove) 3--David Krebs, 6-1, Fr., Crater, OR (Crater) 4--Mike Davis, 6-4, Fr., Portland, OR (Jesuit) 5--Josh Inman, 6-7, Fr., Hillsboro, OR (Hillsboro) 6--Andy Dietrick, 6-5, Fr., Juneau, AK (Douglas) 7--Travis Hunsaker, 6-4, Fr., Salem, OR (Sprague) 8--Peter Bunce, 6-2, Fr., Gladstone, OR (Gladstone) C--Emmy Gardner, Fr., Springfield, OR (Thurston)
