RIDGEBACKS ROWING TEAM BESTS CLOSE OUT 2007

St. Catherines - UOIT Rowing Crews entered into two days of racing on the weekend, on Friday the OUA Development Regatta was held.  This regatta is for crews who were new to rowing in the current year and for Junior Varsity Crews.

Since there was not an event for Novice in the Men's Cox Four, the Ridgebacks entered an exhibition crew of Rob Doyle, Eric Andres, Anton Gravilov, Andrej Sipaj and Jo Laing.  This crew placed sixth in their heat and did not advance to the finals.  Nevertheless, Coach Laschuk was pleased with the effort.

The Women's Novice eight; Jennifer Oullette, Melissa Sazbo, Jessica Bosse, Laurie Moote, Lenora Makin, Allison Ng, Lisa Harrington, Stroke Elysabeth Reavell-Roy and Valerie Naylor, placed second in their heat and advanced to the finals.  In the finals they placed out of the medal count, but still had their best time of the season for the 2k distance.  Seven, of the eight girls in this crew will be back next year, much to the delight of Coach Godden, forming a nucleus for the Varsity Heavy Women's Four, and the Varsity Lightweight women's four for the Varsity 2008 Women's Rowing Team. 

The Men's Novice Eight; Colin Jeffery, Mike Oramm, Mark Heinein, Rob Nayer, Adrian Baker, Alex Sabo, Kevin Van Rooy, Stroke Rob deVries and Jo Laing, fought a sea-saw battle with Carleton, for third place, just being edged out by two seconds, and eight seconds out of first place.  The time was a personal best for this crew this year.  Coaches Laschuk and Doherty were content with the effort.  This crew will form the basis for the Men's Varsity Heavy Eight for next year, but will lose three due to graduation. 

On Saturday at the OUA Championships, the UOIT Heavy Weight Women Cox Four of Ingrid Piat, Taylan Brown, Rachel Taylor, Amy Dawson and Valerie Naylor, battled it out with strong entries from nineteen other crews. The ladies placed sixth in their heat and finished in twelfth place overall.  Three of these crew members will be back next year which is good news for the program and for Coach Charlotte Hale, who will be coaching the Heavyweight Women in 2008.

For the first time at the Championships, the Ridgebacks entered a light weight men's double crew consisting of; Jake Schwass and Jason Klein-Horsman.  In their first competition ever, they did not advance from their heat, but the experience was invaluable in preparing them for 2008 and 2009.

Also rowing for the first time was UOIT sculler Rachelle Krause, Captain of the Rowing Team, who turned in a personal best.  Coach Millikin was very satisfied with her performance pointing out that Rachelle, currently a sophomore, will be a contender to reckon with in 2008 and 2009.

In the last event of the day, the Heavy Weight Men's Varsity Eight; Jake Schwass, Mike Labriola, Charles Elliot, Tenzin Wangkwang, Mike Bissonnette, Mark Toufanov, Jason Klein-Horsman, Geoff Chadsey and Arlaine Stanley, battled it out with fifteen other crews in four heats.  The crew did not advance but matched their best time to date for this distance.  Coach Laschuk was very satisfied with the efforts of this crew, considering that four of the rowers are in the lightweight category competing at the heavier level.

The UOIT Rowing Coaches; John Godden, Charlotte Hale, Pat Doherty and Mark Laschuk, are very satisfied with the progress of the UOIT 2007 Rowing Team, in this the second year of competition as the program continues to build to a full blown varsity team.  Coach Millikin pointed out that the larger universities have in excess of 20,000 students and have rowing teams numbering in the eighties with crews for all of the events.  The Ridgebacks in the first year, with a much smaller student population, fielded a rowing team of 25 in 2006 and in 2007 fielded 37, including the three cox'ns.

The tryouts and strength and conditioning programs for the 2008 Varsity will commence in December, under the direction of Tom Thekan, Strength and Conditioning Coach, with a strong recruiting drive for new novice rowers.

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**provided by Ridgebacks coach Rob Millikin

Next Action: 2008 Season