Best of the West:
Women’s light-eight crew team
preparing for nationals, again
Ami then (here were eight. And a coxswain, of course. Well, a
light-eight and a coxswain, to be exact
At the Dexter reservoir, their solitary boat glides across the
smooth water, eight oars pulling in unison. And a coxswain calling
out instructions
Their coach. Dave Baugh, riding in what he calls their "Jetson's
coach launch," yells through a megaphone about glide, pace,
drive, catch, and recovery.
And the Club Sports women's light-eight crew team rows on
through their morning workout, motivated by their dedication - to
each other and to their goals.
Earlier in the vear, the team goal was to win the Pacific (.oast
Rowing Championships. They did that, becoming the first boat to
win an eight-oar event at the Pac- 10s for Oregon. In exchange, they
earned the right to go on to the National Collegiate Rowing Cham
pionships on June 13-14 in Cincinnati. Ohio
Now, only two goals remain for the team: training to win the na
tional title and earning enough money just to get to the race.
"(Raising money for the trip) is a team thing, as opposed to each
individual having to raise any certain amount." Baugh says.
In the next three weeks, the team will need to raise between
$3.()()()-$4.000 to help pay for traveling and living expenses
Team members will be soliciting donations from various
businesses and alumni through letters and personal contacts. They
also hope to get some sponsors who may be able to get their names
or logos on the team's boat while they am at the national meet,
which will be televised by ESPN.
At Oregon, crew is part of the Club Sports program, and they
receive only about $7,000 from Club Sports in addition to money
they raise themselves. Meanwhile, one of the strongest crew pro
grams in the west, the University of Washington, operates with a
traveling budget alone of about $79,000. says Baugh, who was a
coxswain for the Washington program for four years.
While the Washington program is considered to lie a perennial
powerhouse, the Oregon light-eight team has become a dynasty, of
sorts, in its own right.
Women's light-eight crew team: Teresee Hukari. Kris Sternberg. Sasha Stone. Temsae Itujncich.
Lisa Woodworth. Kitty O'Doherty. Marge Ktiehn. Gayle Johnson. Robin Hendricks.
last year, the Oregon light-eight boat finished second
at the Pac-10 meet and earned a berth to the national
regatta where they lost to Radcliffe.
Five of the eight rowers from last year's boat have
returned this year, including three rowers who have
been in the boat for three years. In addition, only one
rower is a novice, and all of the other rowers have bet
ween two and four years experience.
Although the team members say the national meet
"was in our minds a lot earlier this year just because we
knew that we had enough returning people so that we
could be a good boat," this year's trip to nationals may
be most important to seniors Teresae Hukari and Gayle
Johnson, both of whom have been on the light-eight
women's boat for three years.
"It's our last shot." Hukari says. "It’s pretty impor
tant," Johnson adds.
But besides being their last shot, the two also feel this
may be their best shot at winning it all.
"This is the first time we have raced together for the
whole season without changing the boat.” Johnson
says. "The last two years, we just kind of put a boat
together for nationals and then took that over there "
To go along with the team's experience this year.
team members .nay their first-year coach has also helped
them a great deal.
Baugh, a recently-graduated Oregon law school stu
dent. in addition to having rowed with the Washington
team, also coached a women's masters crew in Seattle
before coming to Oregon.
Baugh is the first coach in recent history to have
come from outside of the Oregon crew program. Usual
ly. the volunteer coaches are people who have rowed at
Oregon.
"|ust having Have out was really encouraging
because he helped us a lot from the beginning," say
members of the team "It is the first time we have had as
knowledgable a coach as him. He's a great coach."
But while praise for Baugh flows freely, he also freely
returns it. claiming this team has yet to peak
"We definitiely haven't peaked in terms of what we
can do, so we have three weeks to find out exactly what
we can do." Baugh says.
"They're definitely more dedicated because there are
just the nine of them and there are no subs to replace
them yet they know they have to keep working hard."
Baugh says. "Like I said, rowing by themselves, they
have a lot of savvy. For about a month, they have been
rowing good, and I still don't think they have peaked
yet,”
At their peak, the team hopes to out its liest time of
7:20.2 over 2,000 meters to about 7:1!» at the national
meet. Hut that won’t l>e very easy: at the national regat
ta. they will have only one shot at it.
“It's kind of scary to think we ll be going all the way
over them for one race,” the team members say. Their
race will be on Saturday, May 14, at 2 p.m.. Eastern
time. "We'll go all the way over there just to race for
eight minutes.”
“The Eastern crows aro good, especially in the
lightweight classification," Haugh says. "I can’t really
make a prediction because I haven’t seen the other
crows row, but we'll be in there. I just know from their
attitudes and such that if it's close, they'll take it
They'll either get blown away or they'll take it."
Anyone interested in going out for crew noxt year
should contact the Club Sports office in the basement of
the EMU. A meeting for all those interested will be
scheduled for early |une.
Story & photos by Allan Lazo