Women's Rowing Finishes 2006-07 Season Ranked No. 16
Rowing in the Pac-10 can be a daunting proposition when one considers that all of your conference opponents are coming off of Top 20 seasons. Nevertheless first year head coach attacked the task of building a competitive rowing program within the best conference in the nation with a vigor. In the end the Beavers were left with a bit of disappointment, but truly the 2007 racing season should be considered a great success.
Ford’s Varsity 8+ ended the season ranked 16th in the nation, and although the top 16 boats are invited to the NCAA Championships, the Beavers were left home. Still, OSU’s rowers, boosters and fans can take solace in the fact that the team was peaking at the right time of year, earning its highest ranking of the year in the final poll according to the poll and can also revel in the knowledge that the Beavers were ranked throughout the entirety of the season.
OSU’s season ended at the Pacific-10 Championships where OSU finished sixth as a team, but the Beavers V8+ (consisting of , , , , , , , and coxswain, ) finished ahead of Washington, which was ranked No. 16 going into the race, for the first time since the early 1980’s.
OSU’s women’s crews registered several other impressive finishes during the season including big wins over then-No. 18 Wisconsin and Iowa at the Big Ten Duals, wins at the University of Victoria, and winning the Winchell Cup and the Tammy Crawford Plate against Washington State.
“These seniors did an outstanding job of leading this team,” said Ford. “There was a lot of change and a lot of adversity that the team endured this year and we would not have had the successes we did this season if it weren’t for the senior’s ability to raise the bar and accept the challenge. They are a group of very classy individuals. I have a lot of respect for them as people and as athletes and I am grateful I had the opportunity to work with them.”
OSU’s rowers garnered several awards as the season wound down with Towne, a junior, named to the CRCA West Region first team and to the All-Pacific-10 Conference Rowing team while Leibinger, a senior, was selected as a second team member of the CRCA West Region.
Towne was also among six OSU rowers to earn the title of CRCA National Scholar-Athlete. Joining her as scholar-athletes were senior , juniors , Hanway and Ivey and sophomore .
The CRCA also honored with the West Region’s Assistant Coach of the Year award.
Although the V8+, which was powered by four seniors, enjoyed success in 2007 the future is bright with youngsters including freshmen and both of which earned spots in the Second Varsity 8+ as rookies. In addition, novice rower Diane Lindsley has been invited to attend the USRowing National Team Freshman Camp
“The novice has also been one of the strengths of our team this year. They are the future of the program. It’s been a really good group this year. I’ve been impressed with their work ethic, their ability to handle training and their ability to compete well on race day. The novices are a group of great individuals and I am looking forward to working with them on the varsity squad in the future.”
