Club Crew excels in fall regattas, eager for spring season

In its paramount competitions of the fall semester, the Head of the Lafayette and Head of the South regattas, the University of Richmond club crew team excelled at unprecedented levels.

At the Head of the Lafayette Oct. 28, in Norfolk, Va., the club's eight-man and eight-woman boats finished first among all boats that rowed the five-kilometer loop. The club's four mixed boats of two women and two men each finished in the top five among all mixed boats, the best of which beat a boat at the masters level.

At the Head of the South in Augusta, Ga., Nov. 9, the team rowed in similar five-kilometer races of four-person and eight-person boats, but against more clubs with more talent. Only the club's four-man boat made any podium position, with a second-place finish among 16 participating boats. But the progress of each of the 30 members of the team was evident, said senior Eric Grasso, who rowed in that four-man boat with fellow senior Charles Hancock as the stroke, who is the pace-setting rower.

"Charles and I have been in a competitive boat since our freshman year and taken it seriously," Grasso said, "but each semester, the entire team has been steadily getting more competitive."

In these head races, which Richmond partakes in only during the fall semester, start times are staggered. This means teams do not actually start together or race to cross the finish line first, but in the least amount of time from their respective starts, said senior Nathan Rockwell, who rowed in the eight-man boats. In head races, teams are allowed to build power and speed before the official starting line, much like auto races, he said.

"In the spring, we do two-kilometer races called sprint races," Rockwell said. "Those are the ones where everyone lines up across and starts at the same time. It's a whole different feel--more intense, an all-out brawl."

Winter training for the spring sprints began Monday on indoor electrical rowing machines, Grasso said.

"Winter training will continue next semester until about March, and then over Spring Break, we go to Florida to first get back on the water," Hancock said. "After that, we'll be in the water until the end of the semester."

Grasso said all of the club's boats would be in excellent positions to finish near the top of their respective sprints for each spring regatta. The head races of the fall are merely tune-ups for the sprint races of the spring, which are more important based on the talent and prestige of the regattas, Rockwell said.

This success has come without a coach because of the club's student leaders, including an executive board that is elected each November and meets each Monday to plan practices and budgets with the rest of the team, Rockwell said. The team needs a coach inherently dedicated to fostering a more competitive environment and continuing the team's ascent, but Grasso has led practices as a captain this semester, with directions to improve technique through specific drills, Hancock said.

These practices take place on the James River at Rocketts Landing near Dock Street, from 4:30 to around 6:30 p.m. each weekday, Rockwell said. Hancock said the everyday practices had drawn him to rowing by the everyday routine it set. He had rowing experience from his high school club, as well as UCLA and Stanford camps between his junior and senior years of high school, he said. But only one or two rowers per class have had experience before joining the Richmond club. Rockwell said he had not had experience but had been drawn to the idea of getting away from campus every day and being on the water, as well as the demands of an ultimate level of teamwork. Grasso said he had been just like Rockwell in those regards but had also joined to stay in shape.

"That's the neat thing about college rowing," Grasso said. "Even the best teams have athletes who have never rowed before. But learning the sport has been great. I've rowed at two other clubs and plan to row more. I feel like the sport was meant for me."

Although leaders of the club try to ensure that each member rows at each regatta, including novices who race against solely other novices, participation can be expensive, with dues of $225 per semester, Rockwell said. Apart from travel and registration fees, dues go toward boat maintenance, which is more expensive than it looks, he said.

"The majority of strength in rowing comes from legs," Rockwell said. "The seats move, so you drive with your legs and pull with your arms. One of those moving seats is $125."

Other expensive parts of each boat include speakers, a headset and a coxbox, all of which the coxon of the boat uses to motivate the other rowers, Rockwell said. The coxon also steers the boat and reads a small magnetic bar that shows the stroke rate of the boat, so that the coxon can inform his teammates of their speed, he said. The Richmond Sport Club Council supplies significant funding for crew as a championship club to cover much of these costs, as well as to enhance the program, Grasso said.

"Crew really just fits here--it's the River City," Grasso said. "Since the cuts of the men's soccer and track teams, I've thought we really needed varsity women's rowing here, and I would like for a men's program to piggyback off that. UVA is the top Division I women's crew team every year.

"To have U of R battling with them would be a neat dynamic, especially with how Rocketts Landing is growing. To have a permanent boathouse in the basement of a new building at Rocketts Landing and that presence would be a great asset to the university."

As for the future of these three rowers in the sport, each said he would like to continue after graduation in May, even though few alumni of the team had continued to row thereafter. But Grasso said alumni had rowed so well in the club's annual alumni races that some of them must have continued rowing.

This type of gathering and the team's daily support of each other quickly led to Grasso referring to crew as his family on campus, he said. Rockwell said the club was certainly looking for more novices to join the family.

Contact reporter Zak Kerr at zak.kerr@richmond.edu