No. 12 Men's Rowing Begins Spring Season In San Diego
April 1, 2004
CORVALLIS, Ore.- -
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The Oregon State men's rowing team opens its spring season this weekend at the San Diego Crew Classic, which runs Sat-Sun., Apr. 3-4 on the 2,000-meter Mission Bay course.
The field includes three top-10 teams (as ranked by the USRowing preseason poll), as well as other teams ranked in the top-20.
The Beavers are opening the 2004 spring season with their highest ranking ever (12th) in the USRowing poll.
They are fresh off a ninth place finish in last year's Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championships and are poised for another great season.
"We're excited to get going after a long winter," said head coach Kjell Oswald. "We'll get a good sense of how we stack up against a good field this weekend - it'll be a good test.
"Cal and Washington are very fast again this year, so we'll have a chance to gauge our speed against some of the fastest boats in the country."
Oswald is also excited about returning nine letterwinners.
"We have a pretty young group this year, so they'll get an early taste of what rowing at the varsity level is all about."
The Beavers will send three boats to the competition, including varsity, junior varsity, and freshman/novice eights. Here's a look at OSU's race schedule:
Saturday:
VARSITY: 8:00 a.m., Heat A
JUNIOR VARSITY: 10:20 a.m., Heat B
FRESHMAN/NOVICE: 9:30 a.m., Heat C
Sunday:
VARSITY: 11:40 a.m. Petite Final or 2:00 p.m. Grand Final
JUNIOR VARSITY: 10:30 a.m. Petite Final or 12:40 p.m. Grand Final
FRESHMAN/NOVICE: 8:10 a.m. Petite Final or 11:00 a.m. Grand Final
The lineup for OSU's varsity eight boat is (C - Coxswain, S - Stroke, B - Bow): C - Dylan Moro, S - Ben Vigil, 7 - Chris Callaghan, 6 - Jordan Trimmer, 5 - Adam Wing, 4 - Matthew Wisbeck, 3 - Norman Wentworth, 2 - Vic Follen, B - Ryan Schanno.
JV Eight: C - Janna Billiter, S - Dan Scholz, 7 - Travis High, 6 - Conor Bullis, 5 - Jay Schamber, 4 - Nick Besson, 3 - Bryan Turner-Gerlach, 2 - Greg Everett, B - Alex Rice.
Freshman/Novice: C - Lindsay Conners, S - Ben Moser, 7 - Drew Eyster, 6 - Ben Sherrett, 5 - Mitch Ridge, 4 - Adam Carlton, 3 - Damien Koehler, 2 - Andy Ornberg, B - Paul Long.
The Beavers placed third in last year's Copley Cup at the Crew Classic with a time of 6:09.39, behind Washington and winner California.
THE COACHES: Kjell Oswald is in his second season as the head coach of the Oregon State men's rowing program after serving the previous two years as an assistant under former coach Dave Reischman.
Oswald joined the Oregon State staff in August of 2000 after a coaching internship at Princeton University, where he worked with both the varsity and freshman programs.
"Kjell has been a huge part of the success Oregon State has had in men's rowing over the past two seasons," OSU Athletic Director Bob De Carolis said of Oswald's hiring. "Through his work as an assistant, Kjell has demonstrated the capabilities needed to be an outstanding head coach."
As an assistant at OSU, Oswald's freshman boats placed 10th at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association national championships in 2002 and eighth the year before.
Prior to his internship at Princeton, Oswald coached the Lakeside High School (Seattle, Wash.) girl's varsity crew to a fourth-place finish nationally in 1999. Oswald guided Lakeside from fourth in the Northwest Region when he took the helm in 1995 to first in 1999.
Oswald rowed collegiately at perennial powerhouse Washington from 1993-94, but his career was cut short by a back injury midway through his sophomore year. He began coaching the following season.
Oswald also spent time interning with the U.S. National Team, and he brings a wealth of recruiting savvy to the program in addition to his coaching ability.
Oswald graduated from the University of Washington in 1996 with a bachelor's degree in history and an emphasis in the history of science.
Steve Todd joined the Oregon State men's rowing program as the assistant coach in the fall of 2002 after a one-year stint at Georgetown University, in Washington, D.C., where he served as the men's freshman coach.
Todd's primary responsibilities at OSU are developing the incoming novice walkons and recruits, as well as assisting with the development of the varsity squad.
"Steve brings an intensity to the freshman program," OSU head coach Kjell Oswald said. "The freshmen who make it through the first year under Steve's guidance will come to the varsity program with a much better grasp of the work ethic we're looking for. He has tremendous knowledge of racing at the highest level of our sport."
Prior to coaching at Georgetown, Todd was an intern coach and boathouse manager at the University of Washington for two seasons from 1999-2001.
As the assistant freshman coach during that time, and helped guide the freshman boat to the Intercollegiate Rowing Association national championship in 2001 and a silver medal in 2000.
Todd's collegiate rowing career included helping Washington's varsity eight earn medalist honors in 1998 and 1999. As a member of the junior varsity in 1997, his boat won the IRA national championship and the Huskies swept all three major races at the IRAs. He rowed for Washington from 1996-99.
Todd's boat and the Washington crew also won the Pacific-10 Championship in 1997.
In the same year, Todd competed in the Henley Royal Regatta in the Temple Cup event.
A native of Kirkland, Wash., Todd graduated from the University of Washington in 2000 with a degree in Speech Communication with an emphasis in organizational and small group communication.
