Whitewater
challenge
See Page 4
Sports Supplement
October 3, 1984
* Renaissance on the water
Each weekday morning this fall, the
boats of the University crew teams will
slip into the calm darkness of Dexter
Reservoir. An hour or more later, when
the rowing workout is finished, the sun
will finally be coming up over the
eastern hills.
“We are doing something a little more
absurd than the average person does,"
admits veteran rower Mark Wolfe.
What these men and women do is row
four- and eight-person boats, or shells, in
perfect unison for an exhausting mile
plus while under the direction of a
smaller person — a coxswain.
But absurd as getting up at 4:30 a.m. to
row seems to be, this hasn’t slowed the
growth of crew from a faltering EMU
club sport into a popular and successful
one.
“The first year 1 rowed (1981) we had
barely enough women to fill an eight
(-person boat), "says women’s team
member Anne Donahue. “The second
year we had just under two boats and,
last year, we had four boats of women by
spring,"she says.
This year, a crew orientation meeting
attracted about 170 people — half men
and half women.
Since the men’s team began in 1967,
with the women’s team joining in 1976,
the crew team has undergone a recent
renaissance on the water as well as
swelling in popularity.
“We’re good support for each
other,” says Donahue, “with
the guys cheering for us and us
cheering for them."
In 1982, after purchasing a four-person
racing shell, the men’s heavyweight four
team won the Pac-10 championship.
They went on to compete in the na
tionals at Indianapolis, says head coach
Mike Holcomb.
“In 1983, we purchased a racing eight
and the women’s light eight (130 pounds
and under) cleaned up at the regionais,”
Holcomb says, “and then they went on
to take third at the nationals in Seattle.”
At the nationals this summer, the
men’s elite four brought home a silver
medal, Holcomb says.
The purchase of these modern
lightweight boats is partly responsible
for the success of the crew teams, says
women’s coach John Widder. "It was a
real turning point for us.”
Because crew is a club sport, the team
receives no money from the athletic
department. Its official funding comes
solely from a $7,000 incidental fee
stipend.
“We have a boathouse, equipment (the
eight-person shell cost $7,700), travel
and insurance expenses, so we have to
supplement that with fundraising.”
Widder says.
Crew team members sell hats, pick up
garbage after athletic events and conduct
a Row-a-Thon in December to supple
ment their funding.
This year, the team hopes to have
several light and heavyweight crews in
both the men’s and women’s teams.
Drawing from the 170 crew hopefuls
and the over 20 returning experienced
rowers, the team will train on the water
this fall. The team will compete
regattas at Corvallis and
Seattle’s Green Lake.
December and January
weight training and condition
ing. Those team hopefuls who
are left in the spring will make
Continued on Page 3
up the men’s and women’s
teams for the nine spring
regattas.