University of Massachusets Athletics
Minutewomen Set For 2003 Season
March 25, 2003 | Women's Crew
March 25, 2003
Following the Atlantic 10 fall championship, the Heads of the Charles, Connecticut and Schuylkill, the outlook for the 2003 Massachusetts women's crew team's spring season is again filled with optimism.
UMass looked very strong against its A-10 opponents during the fall, with both the varsity and lightweight varsity eight's making good runs at Boston's Head of the Charles regatta. The varsity passed four crews on its way to a program-best 20th-place finish and the lightweights finished a respectable 13th in that division. The Head of the Charles featured many national team and club crews from around the world as well as the best collegiate crews from the United States and Canada.
The Minutewomen prepared most of the fall in singles and pairs honing in on their small boat skills. Ninth-year Head Coach Jim Dietz has indicated that the extra work in the fall has paid big dividends in his program's success.
"The modus operandi has become 12 to 14 women showing up in the afternoons for additional sculling lessons," said Dietz, who has guided his team to seven consecutive Atlantic 10 crowns. "This is what will take UMass back to the highest level of our sport." Massachusetts will once again focus its attention on retaining the overall A-10 team championship in the spring which includes "nine event" categories. Having won three major championship regattas in 2002 (A-10, Dad Vails and Avaya) the Minutewomen have tasted success and liked the dish.
With last season's victorious novices moving up to the varsity program for 2003, the pressure will be on returning first boat seniors Colleen Banfield, coxswain Megan Mastropolo, and captain Anna Talucci, who spent the fall in a single nursing an injured shoulder back to health. Talucci hopes to work herself back into the varsity eight for the spring.
Other returning 2002 varsity eight athletes, juniors Katie O'Brien, Lauren Cromwell, and Hayley McGrath, each have the strength and capability to compete again for a spot in the top boat. Lea Jakobsen, who represented the Danish National Team at the Under 23 World Championships this past summer, returns as part of the top crew's "engine room." Senior Carrie Hellstedt, the very powerful five seat from last year's novice eight, will be there to help her.
Returning juniors from last season's junior varsity eight-plus, Kate Bonner and Ann Roberts, will be joined by returning sophomores Leslie Day, Faith Harkins and Naomi Rudov to put pressure on the varsity and "keep people honest," noted Dietz. Liz Eleftherakis, the stroke of last season's novice eight, sat out the fall season due to injury and is expected to be back in competition for the second boat this spring. Joining the crew for their second season from the UMass swim team are Christen Dexter, Lauren Rowell and Lizzy Boyle, who jumped out of the pool and into the boats doing double duty during the fall and should be sitting solid with the team this spring. All three got their "feet wet" last spring and went on to row this past summer for Barnstable, West Side and Norwalk rowing clubs.
Coach Dietz is still unsure if he will prioritize the JV or lightweight eight for the spring. Senior Mila Gorzkowski, juniors Lindsay Hayward and Laura Hutchinson, all of whom were part of the Atlantic 10 and Avaya Championship crews in 2002, will be back on the water and could be solid contenders for either crew. Last fall that trio was joined by Cleo Buster, Kim Roy, Christina Tamilio, Njeri Kershaw and Karen Coletti to form a light eight.
Incoming freshmen Mette Andersen (Denmark) and Catherine Gariepy (Canada) could be players with the ability to impact either the varsity or novice crews this year. They have already shown the seriousness of their preparation with strong ergometer tests that catapulted them up to the varsity eight and light eight-plus for the Charles. Coach Greg Kruczynski seems very optimistic with the 50 novice women who were persuaded to "walk on" to the team last fall. "They are all showing up and making the commitment to the team," said Kruczynski. "I expect that we will be racing at a very high level this spring."
Hopping in the coaching launch for the 2002-03 season will be full-time assistant coach Katy Ostertag, who hails from Indiana. Ostertag is completing her master's degree in exercise science and with that knowledge will be a great asset to the program. The team also welcomes back UMass rowing alum Molly Wallace, '99, who will be assisting the team while she studies for a master's degree in education. The Minutewomen will open the spring season in a March 29 meet against Boston University and Syracuse on the Charles River, then travel to Kingston, R.I., for the Patriots Cup Regatta on March 30 against longtime New England rivals Rhode Island, Connecticut and New Hampshire. Coach Dietz feels confident that if the level of training and competition continues at this favorable rate, UMass could be looking at its eighth straight Atlantic 10 Championship title.
"We have a long road ahead of us to climb back up to the NCAA Championship, but we are moving in a positive direction," said Dietz, who directed the UMass program to runner-up finishes in the Championship eight in both 1996 and 1997. "We have the history in the sport and now we are starting to get the women we need in our program to continue our conference success and return the program to the NCAAs," he added.
The team of 65 women will also be competing at the Kenect Cup Regatta in Camden N.J., on April 12-13. "This is a great regatta," said Dietz. "We have the ability to race several times in different boats in this two-day classic. The women will learn a lot about racing on that weekend.
"The bigger regattas are more fun," he added. "They allow for more racing and give us an opportunity to prepare for the A-10 Championships. We like the atmosphere of competing against many college and university crews and more events to participate. We like team championships where all boats count. We are truly a team sport!" And, a sport looking to continue its domination of the Atlantic 10 in 2003 with an eighth consecutive team championship.