University of Massachusets Athletics
2004 UMass Women's Rowing Team Outlook
March 16, 2004 | Rowing
March 16, 2004
For the past eight years, the UMass women's rowing team has won the Atlantic 10 team championship and has been one of the top programs in the East. This season head coach Jim Dietz and the Minutewoman crew expect big things with so many returning athletes.
Five women return from last year's varsity eight that won the Atlantic 10 and ECAC championships, the Dad Vail Regatta, and concluded the season by winning the Henley Women's Regatta in England. The returning rowers include Katie O'Brien at stroke, Lizzy Boyle in the seventh seat, Lea Jakobsen in the sixth seat, Lauren Cromwell in the fourth seat, and Catherine Gariepy rowing in the bow.
The UMass crew has a tremendous amount of depth as many rowers return from the second varsity crew, as well. Newly elected Captains for the 2003-2004 season are Kate Bonner (stroke) and Carrie Champigny (coxswain) of the second varsity team that also won the Atlantic 10 Championship, Dad Vail Regatta, ECAC Championship Regatta and concluded the season making it to the semifinals at the Henley Women's Regatta in England. Faith Harkins, Hayley McGrath, Laura Hutchinson, Faith Miller and Stephanie Hopf will be applying pressure to make the first boat line up for this spring. Lauren Rowell, who was also on board for the second varsity in 2003, returns to the crew roster in time for spring season after leading the UMass swim team this fall and winter. Two other swimmers, Megan Pittman and Aimee Bourassa, rowed in last year's novice four and will join the crew this spring.
It was a busy return to the river this past fall with over 60 returning athletes plus seven recruited athletes joining the Minutewoman crew. Tracey Altamura, Maria Arcari, Hannah Brewster, Jamie Dicke, Ellen Maskrey and Jacqueline Tuell all had a successful head race season. Experienced freshman coxswain Kristina Ferraro led the new novice to several wins in a very productive introduction to UMass rowing. Assistant coach Greg Kruczynski, in his fifth year at UMass, has indicated that this is his most technically proficient novice crew ever.
MollyWallace '99, in her second year as a graduate assistant for the Minutewomen, will be guiding the varsity lightweight women. Njeri Kershaw, Katie "Moose" Oberlander and Karli Provost will be the experienced part of this crew and had much success this fall in the coxed four with Hutchinson.
Naomi Rudov and Kate Grogan spent the summer sculling at Community Rowing, Inc., in Boston and have come back with added skill and determination to move up into the varsity boats. Lindsay Hayward, who is coming off knee surgery, returned in time for winter training in Tampa, Fla.
Returning from last year's novice squad will be Katie Berger, Katie Freeley, and Melissa Stewart. They are all very strong according to Dietz, and will be vying for the second varsity eight in the spring along with senior Ann Roberts and incoming transfer Gabrielle Papineau from Ottawa, Ontario.
Katy Ostertag is entering her second year as an assistant coach at UMass and has over 30 walk-on novice women, who have been learning the art of rowing for the first time at UMass. "They have made a strong commitment to the program since they started. I expect good things from these women in the future," said Ostertag. Ostertag is being assisted by Carrie Hellstedt '03, who rowed in last year's varsity eight and is now a graduate assistant for the Minutewomen. "These walk-on women are still the lifeblood of our UMass program, and without them there is no team," insists Dietz.
The emphasis this past fall was again on sculling. Small boats every day, and on weekends the women jumped into the eight after they had at least one sculling race completed at each regatta. This formula proved successful with the Minutewomen having there best finish ever (19th) in the championship eight at the Head of the Charles. The Minutewomen also posted wins in the Head of the Textile, Head of the Connecticut and Head of the Fish Regattas. "The modus operandi has become 12 to 14 women showing up in the afternoons for additional miles in their singles," said Dietz, who has guided his team to eight consecutive Atlantic 10 crowns. "This is what it will take to keep UMass in the top 25 teams in the country."
Having seen most of the competition during the preseason, the team looks confident for another Atlantic 10 team championship. With nine events at that championship anything can happen and the team will have to keep focused through the winter.
The season will open on March 28 with the Yankee Cup Regatta in Kingston, R.I. Here all the New England state schools will vie for the Yankee Cup. The 2004 season will also see the Minutewomen facing strong programs from Columbia, Syracuse, Rutgers and Brown. UMass had two runner-up finishes at the NCAA Championship in 1997 and 1998, and coach Dietz feels that his team is moving back in the direction of a return to the NCAAs.
