University of Massachusets Athletics
2011 UMass Rowing Season Preview
March 11, 2011 | Rowing
March 11, 2011
AMHERST, Mass. - With a successful fall season and subsequent cold winter in the rearview mirror, the UMass rowing team looks ahead to its 2011 spring season, one in which the Minutewomen will be on a quest to capture their 14th Atlantic 10 conference title. The Minutewomen were knocked off by Rhode Island at last year's A-10 Championships for only the second time in program history, and will be on the hunt to reclaim the league crown in April.
Massachusetts is led by 2010 National Rowing Hall of Fame inductee and seven-time Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year Jim Dietz. Dietz, currently, in his 17th season at the held of the squad, likes what he sees from his team heading into the spring season. "I think that the level of the squad is the highest it has been in the past three or four years," Dietz said. "We have some real athletes, and we are really looking forward to racing this year. I think it is going to look good for the conference championships later in the spring."
Dietz is assisted by Alex Binkowski and Laura Simon, who enter their sixth and seventh season with the team, respectively. Simon is a former coxswain for the rowing team, and competed at the NCAA Championships in 1997 and 1998. Also assisting the Minutewomen this season are Peter Brown and Andrea Morand.
The 2011 UMass Minutewomen:
This season's roster sports 20 upperclassmen, including 11 seniors and two graduate students, who hope to use past experiences to lead their younger teammates to consistent success. Seniors Liz Euiler and Samantha Schnoerr will serve as co-captains for the 2011 season. Schnoerr, a coxswain, and Euiler are two of the seven returning members from last season's Varsity Eight boat.
The UMass Second Varsity Eight also returns several key members from last season's lineup, including seniors Carly Payne (coxswain) and Kelsey Schachter. Joining them is junior Emily Boucher, who raced at the 2010 Under 23 World Championships in the Lightweight Single Sculls over the summer, and Megan Donovan, a 2010 Atlantic 10 All-Conference First Team member.
Joining the veterans are 20 freshman rowers, who will compete in various novice boats throughout the season.
The Schedule:
UMass will begin the 2011 spring season with a scrimmage against the Coast Guard Academy on March 19 at the Connecticut River. From there, the Minutewomen will head to Kingston, R.I. for the Yankee Cup, a regatta that the team finished second at last season. A new addition to the season slate, Colgate, will travel to Amherst for an April 2 date with the Minutewomen at 8 AM, again on the Connecticut River.
Massachusetts will then begin a string of three straight races in Camden, N.J., beginning with the two-day Knecht Cup, where junior Emily Boucher won the singles event last season. UMass will remain in New Jersey for the 16th Annual Atlantic 10 Championships on April 16 on the Cooper River. The 2011 conference championships will be the second season that only the Varsity Eight, Second Varsity Eight and Varsity Four boat finishes will count towards the final team standings.
After competing with Holy Cross in Worcester on April 23, the Massachusetts Lightweight Eight will look to defend their 2010 first place finishes at the Dad Vail Regatta (May 13-14) and USRowing Collegiate Championships (May 23-24).
Recapping The Fall Season:
UMass had a busy schedule during the 2010 fall season, competing from early October through mid November. The duo of Megan Donovan and Tory Gordon got the Minutewomen out to a fast start, finishing second in the double at the Head of the Housatonic (23:18.351). The team then made its way to Boston for the prestigious Head of the Charles Regatta, which saw Emily Boucher take seventh place in the Lightweight Singles with an official time of 20:22.396.
The Lightweight Eight continued its strong finish from last spring with a win at the Head of the Fish along with first place finishes from the Double and Lightweight Four, as well. Massachusetts competed once again on the Charles River in Boston for the Foot of the Charles to close out its fall campaign, as the Lightweight Eight took seventh with a time of 13:47.10.
Here is the transcript from Head Coach Jim Dietz's Preseason Interview:
Coach Dietz On The Team's Winter Training Trip To Deland, Florida:
We were on the water most of the day during our trip to Deland, rowing two or three times per day. It was a ten-day training trip and we used this to really gear the team up for the spring season. A lot of our more experienced novices have moved up to the varsity boats in anticipation for the spring season. We really boated some of our top boats while we were down there, and I'm really looking forward to the spring season. We got back on the Connecticut River during the second week of February, and have been dodging ice flows and flooding rivers, but that's part of being an outdoor sport. We're excited. We are going to be here during Spring Break, and we'll be rowing twice a day throughout this semester's break.
On The Boat Dedications To Wendy Wilbur and Michelle Whitcomb Borkhuis:
Those women were part of our original squad when we became a varsity sport back in 1996. They went on to row for the United States, winning medals at four World Championships between the two of them, I believe. They were really high level athletes, and it shows what local girls from Massachusetts can do when they have a mind to be successful and go to the top of their sport internationally.
Coach Dietz On The Upcoming race against the Coast Guard Academy:
We'll be coming off a high intensity week of training over Spring Break for the first competition against Coast Guard. We go into that first race pretty tired, and the coaches are just looking for consistency across the board. I think that the level of the squad is the highest it has been in the past three or four years. We have some real athletes, with four of the walk-on novices who never rowed before coming to UMass are really good athletes coming out of other sports like swimming, track and field and basketball. So we are really looking forward to racing this year, and I think it is going to look good for the conference championships later in the spring. The emphasis has changed within the conference: it's only three boats that are going to count towards the final team standings, so the only three boats that we are really focusing on are the first eight, the second eight and the four.
On This Season's Lightweight Eight Boat:
The Lightweight Eight will be training as a group just once or twice a week because the top end of the Lightweight Eight are in our first two eight boats. Emily Boucher and Megan Donovan are the outer pairs of our Varsity Eight while Liz Euiler and Chelsea Wakeham are the stern pair of our second boat, and they will be mixing in with some of the other gals to make up that Lightweight Eight later on. But for beginning of the spring season, the focus is on the openweight events.
Coach Dietz On The Strong Atlantic 10 Teams This Season:
I think Saint Joseph's will be strong again in the Varsity Eight, but I'm not sure what their depth is like as you move down to the second eight and the four. Rhode Island will be strong, as well; we saw them when we were down in Florida. They have a lot of good athletes in that program, so I would say that Saint Joseph's and Rhode Island are the teams to watch