Men's Crew Heads To IRCs
May 23, 2000
SCHEDULE: The Oregon State men's crew will take a varsity eight and a freshman eight to Camden, N.J. for the National Intercollegiate Rowing Championships on the Cooper River Course June 1-June 3.
OSU RANKED: The OSU varsity eight is ranked 16th in the May 17th Collegiate Rowing Coaches Poll.
LAST YEAR: OSU was eighth at the IRAs, their best finish since the IRAs became the national championship in 1995. The four years prior to last, OSU finished 15th, 9th, 10th, and 16th at the IRAs. OSU has competed at the IRAs in all six years of Coach Reischman's tenure at Oregon State.
FORMAT: Twenty-four varsity eight crews will compete in four heat races with six boats each. The winner of each heat advances to the semi-finals, while the remaining crews are reshuffled to row in the repechage (second chance) heats. The top two from each repechage will also advance to the semi-finals (top 12 boats). The Grand Final (places 1-6) and Petite Final (places 7-12) are held after the semifinals.
REISCHMAN ON THE CHAMPIONSHIPS: "It's pretty hard to gauge expectations. I think any time you go into a race with pre-set expectations, you risk having those expectations either limit you or destroy you if you don't live up to them. So our approach is to take it one race at a time, and to make sure that we're performing to the highest level possible in each of those races.
"(The heats) are seeded, so it's going to be pretty tough to win our heat. Our strategy in the opening heat is to place as high as we can and spend as little energy as we can. What that means is we're going to race it out and if coming into the last 500 meters we've got third solidly locked up, we're going to stay in third and try not to spend any extra energy, but also not give our place away. That helps in how they feed the repechages. You get in the reps and then you have to get in the top two to make the semifinals, and that's the first goal. The first goal is to make it into the semifinals and make the top 12.
"There are a lot of fast crews out there. The Eastern Sprints were held this weekend, which is the other major championship besides the Pac-10s in rowing, and there are a lot of fast crews out there. The standard of men's collegiate rowing is high."
OSU COACH DAVE REISCHMAN ON THE COOPER RIVER COURSE: "It's the same course they're going to race the NCAAs (women's championships) on this year, and I think it's one of the better courses in North America. I really enjoy racing there. The venue is set up well so coaches can watch the full 2,000 meters of the race. So from that standpoint, it's an exceptional venue. It can get windy, but they're fair winds, unlike some other courses. If the wind comes, it usually comes as a straight tail-wind, and everybody gets the same conditions."
LINEUPS: VARSITY EIGHT - B- Sam Bobek, 2- Dan Willey, 3- Mark Squire, 4- Joey Hansen, 5- Josh Inman, 6- Kevin Mann, 7- Scott Fortner, 8- Andrew Jackson, C- Emmy Gardner. FRESHMAN/NOVICE EIGHT - B- Dan Hough, 2- Steven Hyde, 3- Mike Riffle, 4- Max Coast-Vogt, 5- Tyler Smith, 6- Ryan Dillon, 7- Brian Sinkbiel, 8- Erik Dresser, C- Kara Patteson.
IRA VARSITY EIGHT ENTRIES: Oregon State, Brown, BU, California, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Marist, Michigan, Navy, Northeastern, Pennsylvania, Princeton, Purdue, Rutgers, St. Joseph's, Stanford, Syracuse, Temple, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin - 22 entries.
LAST ACTION: Oregon State, ranked 18th at the time, took third in the varsity eight race with a time of 5:46.3 at the Pac-10 Championships May 14 on Lake Natoma, near Sacramento. The 5:46.3 is the varsity eight's fastest time of the spring. The JV eight finished third with a 6:46.8, and the freshmen eight took third as well in 6:13.1. OSU's varsity four finished in 7:08.3 to finish fifth.
SPRING FORWARD: A look at OSU's best times of the spring so far: VARSITY EIGHT - 5:46.3 (at Pac-10s, Lake Natoma course, 5/14), JV EIGHT - 5:55.17 (at Opening Day Regatta/Windemere Cascade Cup, Montlake Cut, 5/6), VARSITY FOUR - 6:46.17 (at Opening Day Regatta, Montlake Cut, 5/6), NOVICE EIGHT - 6:00.18 (vs. Stanford, Lake Vancouver, 4/15). Note: Lowest times are not necessarily representative of best performances, as course conditions are a considerable factor in how the times turn out.
COACHING STAFF: Dave Reischman is in his sixth year at Oregon State after coming from Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash., where he was the Director of Rowing and Head Men's Crew Coach. During his tenure at Gonzaga, Reischman brought the program to varsity sport status and guided two varsity crews to the Grand Finals at the Pacific Coast Rowing Championships. In 1991, his varsity took fourth and qualified for the Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships in Syracuse, New York.
In the summers of 1993 and `94, Reischman was a coach for the United States National Sculling Team. In `93 he was in charge of the Men's Single Sculler that competed at the World Championships in the Czech Republic. He was an assistant for the men's and women's squads that competed at the 1994 World Championships in Indianapolis.
A native of Silvana, Wash., Reischman attended Arlington High School and graduated Summa Cum Laude from Gonzaga in 1987 with a degree in Computer Science. He then served a one year coaching internship at Harvard University. Just prior to his position at Gonzaga, Reischman was the Freshman Coach at the Florida Institute of Technology. His crews finished second and third at the Dad Vail National Championship Regatta.
In his five years at Oregon State, the Beaver men have finished third in the Pac-10 Championships and have been invited to the Intercollegiated Rowing Association Championships in Camden, New Jersey. The program has continually improved its talent and depth under Reischman, and finished as high as eighth at last year's IRAs.
Matt Imes is in his third year at Oregon State University after joining the program in July of 1997. Imes came to Corvallis from Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash., where he served as the Freshman men's coach for three years. he guided his team to a pair of fifth-place finishes at the Pac-10 Championships, and a fourth-place finish at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships in the Freshman Four.
Imes' coaching experience also includes assisting at the 1998 Men's Nation's Cup Pre-Elite Camp in Elkhart, Ind. He also was an assistant coach at the 1999 Pan American Games.
Imes, who served as a two-year graduate assistant coach at the University of Wisconsin, is a U.S. Rowing Level II certified coach.
The Wisconsin native lead the Oregon State Freshman Eight to a third-place finish at the 1999 Pac-10 Championships.
Imes competed on the collegiate level at the University of Wisconsin from 1988-91, earning a varsity letter in 1990. He was a member of the IRA's Men's Varsity Four title team in 1990. Imes earned a degree in history in 1994 from the University of Wisconsin.
