ROWING
UB Varsity Eight has a score to settle
By Amy Moritz -- News Sports Reporter
Updated: 05/01/08 9:16 AM
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- The University at Buffalo eight, from left, coxswain Sher Briggs, Tara Rudkoski, Bridget Yannes, Alana Sharpe, Britanny Aiello, Melina DiCosimo, Cathleen Streicher, Lauren Sexton and Kelsey Tretter.
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It was their best finish ever at the Knecht Cup.
The University at Buffalo women’s rowing team sent six boats into the grand finals of the races in Camden, N. J., and the Varsity Eight boat had its best showing ever — a second-place finish.
But the Bulls are ready for a rematch.
UB finished in second place, a little more than eight seconds behind winner Bucknell.
Back in Camden for the ECAC Metro Championships this Sunday, the Varsity Eight boat is ready for another race against Bucknell. The Bulls will compete against 10 other squads in what amounts to the team’s conference championship since the Mid-American Conference does not sponsor women’s rowing.
“Our attitude and our work ethic is just great right now,” said Varsity Eight coxswain Sher Briggs. “We’re really looking forward to getting a chance to row against Bucknell again after taking second to them at the Knecht Cup.”
Granted, competing against Bucknell is no easy task. The Bison, which won its third Patriot League title, is ranked nationally and received an at-large invitation to the prestigious Eastern Sprints.
Still, Buffalo is quietly building its own program of note. There have been solid finishes this spring, including a third place for the Varsity Eight boat at the San Diego Crew Classic. The program also won 10 of 11 races during its lone home meet of the season — a double dual with Eastern Michigan, Connecticut and Colgate.
“We feel we’ve turned a bit of a corner,” said UB coach Rudy Wieler, who took over in the program’s third year of existence in 2003. “It’s been a seven- year process but we’re seeing better recruits. We have a very young team and that makes it more exciting in some ways. You don’t always know what to expect but in the end it’s starting to come together.”
The foundation for the Varsity Eight, which includes four sophomores and two juniors, was laid in previous seasons as UB’s novice and junior varsity boats enjoyed wins in big races learning what it takes to be a successful crew.
“As girls come into the varsity boat from other crews, we know what it’s like to win,” said junior Bridget Yannes, who was in the Second Varsity Eight boat that last year won its second straight Coleman D. Boyland trophy at the Dad Vail Regatta in Philadelphia. “We have experience and we want to bring that to the Varsity Eight boat.”
Learning how to win races is part of the equation while offseason training has been another key component.
Actually, Yannes corrects any assumption that the winter is their “off” season in between fall regattas and the spring season.
“Oh no, that’s our hardest season,” Yannes said of the winter. “We work our hardest in the winter doing running, training in the weight room and working with an ergometer, which is a rowing machine.”
Better conditioning has led to better results and to better competition within the team.
“We have four seniors who were in the Varsity Eight boat previously who aren’t this year,” Wieler said. “That’s because of a lot of things, including injury, but that shows the depth we have where others can step it up. There’s definitely more intensity in our winter training and that’s where some of our results are coming from.”
The ECAC Metro Championships this weekend serve as the ad-hoc conference championship for the Bulls and several other schools that are not in a rowing conference. Buffalo will complete its season at the Dad Vail Regatta on May 9-10 in Philadelphia.
