Junior Named to Scholastic Honor Roll

Brett- in red top

In November of 2010, Westlake senior, and Austin Rowing Club junior, Brett Mele was named to the US Rowing Scholastic Honor Roll. She is one of 55 student-athletes from around the country to be honored. The scholastic honor roll recognizes high school seniors who have excelled both in the classroom and in rowing. Applicants are ranked based on SAT scores, GPA, and rowing success on the regional level or higher.

Brett started rowing her freshman year in high school and was elected co-team captain her junior and senior year. Her junior year she bowed the JV quad to a Texas State Championship. Her lightweight four went undefeated spring 2010 and won a gold at the Central Regional Championships. In the lightweight double she qualified at Central Regionals and finished 6th in the nation at the US Rowing Youth National Championships.

Congratulations to Brett for her success in the classroom and on the water.

Newest Club Crew at ARC – the OarWhat?

OarWhat? Crew

OarWhat? — ARC’s newest Club Crew — celebrated Rob Johnson’s birthday after their row this week.    OarWhat? was organized by boat captain Ricardo Ramirez in September with members of the August 2010 ITR class.   The crew rows every Monday night at 6:30pm, and is looking forward to their first race at the Winter Warrior in February.

Crew members:  Rob Johnson, Sabine Johnson, Ricardo Ramirez, Kathy Lopez, Coby Musick, Lacy Sawyer, Gaurav Gupta, Kate Frangos,  and Jose Vaquez.  Jack Graham is coxing until the crew is self-coxed, with  Ricardo and Rob  already well on their way to becoming qualified ARC cox’ns.  Gaurav is next to try the cox seat, in the dark these winter nights.   With encouragement from  Coach Patrick Kelly, the crew is developing skills and confidence that are surprising for these new rowers.

Sabine brought hot Gluehwein (German spiced hot wine) and a special German cake she baked for the celebration on the deck.   Usually the crew is on Rainey Street for refreshments after their row.

 

The “Rowing Stones” – our newest Club Crew

The newest ARC Club Crew is the Rowing Stones , formed from the June 2010 ITR Class.   Denise Michael is the boat captain, working hard to pull the crew together and fill the boat.   These enthusiastic new rowers go out on Monday and Thursday evenings at 6:30pm.  Most of them rowed in a novice crew in the Firecracker 500.    Their first official row was Monday, July 5th.

In the photo, left to right:

Thomas Wauahab, George Livingstone, Grace Foster, Kellie Benfer, Samantha Stork, Denise Michael, Patrick Pavlick, Virginia Andrus.  Missing from photo, Tiffany Willett.

Juniors to Row in College

The senior class of 2010 continue a strong tradition of being awarded scholarships to row in college.  Applying early decision, Sara Hyten was admitted to Columbia University.  Jake Martens has selected Syracuse and Susan Bartoletti signed with Old Dominion.  Planning to row for Division 3 programs Emily Glickman and Anna Weinstein-Perez will attend Smith College and Nikki Ulug will row at Lewis and Clark.  Congratulations to all seniors for their success both in the classroom and on the water.

Susan Bartoletti with her mother Karen at the St. Andrews signing day.

Juniors Qualify for Youth Nationals

ARC Juniors raced at the Central Regional Championships in Oklahoma City on May 8-9, 2010.  The Central region is made up of teams from Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Missouri.  Wind, chop and unseasonable cold weather could not stop the juniors from a great race weekend and the qualification of 5 boats to the US Rowing Youth National Championships.

Jake Martens and Forrest Compton continue the season undefeated winning the boys 2x event and earning the first invitation to nationals for the team.  Right behind them teammates Sara Hyten and Caroline Allan qualify their 2x in the women’s event.  The lightweights continue to show their depth qualifying both a girls 2x and lightweight 4+ for Nationals (Ellen Denum, Lucy Ellis, Nikki Ulug, Brett Mele, Avery Ashwill).  Finally Jake Martens qualified a single but will decline his bid and focus on the 2x event.

In non-qualifying events the juniors brought home the medals.  The novice girls finish the season undefeated in the novice 8+ winning the event by eight seconds.  They would also win medals in the novice girls 4x and 4+ events.  Lauren Azuela won the girls 16 and under single event and was the youngest rower in the race.  The 16 and under boys had two boats (Andrew Martens and Philip Johnson) racing in the singles final for a good showing.  They also raced the lightweight boys 2x qualifying for the final as the youngest boys in the race.  Our novice boys continue to show promise in the sweep events with a very close 4th place finish in the novice 4+ event.  It will be exciting to watch our younger rowers race over the next few years!

Coach Barksdale takes a swim

From Competitive Men’s Crew Member Ron Yaw:

As most of you know, ARC has a annual Holiday Erg Challenge every year from Thanksgiving through Christmas.  Many members look forward to the Challenge with giddy anticipation and jump in with unbridled “enthusiasm”.  This year, Charles Barksdale, coach of the Men’s Competitive Crew, threw an additional gauntlet down to each of the men’s crew.  He was going to swim in Lady Bird Lake for two minutes for each person who beat his personal erg total.

At high noon, New Year’s Day 2010, Coach Charles made good on his word.  Three of the men’s crew beat his total of 149,500m.  Vince Perez, Don Kerth and Ron Yaw.  Check out the graceful dive into the lake and the polar bear-like treading water technique.

Most of all, congrats to ALL participants of the 2009 Holiday Erg Challenge!

More pics after the break. (BTW, I don’t feel to badly for Charles, the high New Year’s Eve was in the low 70′s.

Boat christening!

Didn’t get a pic of the Jack Graham but here’s a couple of pic of ARC Club President Elisabeth Gardner christening the new Sykes quad this past Saturday.  Elisabeth has worked tirelessly to ensure the future of ARC, hitting city hall almost daily and using all of what free time she used to have for ARC.  Congratulations!

Soon to follow, a recap on the highly successful Waller Creek clean-up as well as the Free Learn to Row day for volunteers organized by Membership Director Jack Graham.

Crew Spotlight: Competitive Crew Overview

We’ll have some more in depth information later as part of our Crew Spotlight series but for now, here is a general overview of the competitive crew programs from Club President Elisabeth Gardner.

Women’s Semi-Competitive Crew (aka Olympic 2038 Crew)
We are a crew for those who may be new to racing and want to try it on for size. The crew practices three times a week and members are asked to make at least two of the sessions a week on average. Of course rowers are not limited to these practices and it is good practice to go out in 1xs or as part of other club crews. The team builds technique in both sweep and sculling and is a great place to become more comfortable with the two varieties regardless of your skill in either. This is the best time to join regardless of previous experience as we are working on technical basics and building fitness during the winter months. Come on – you know you want to!
How to join: Contact Liz Record
When can you join: Anytime!
Coach: Liz Record – liz@austinrowing. org or at 818-371-4000.
Practice Schedule: Tues/Thurs 6:20-8:20pm; Sunday 9-11am

Amazing video

Hey Y’all, check out this amazing video ARC member Virginia Hoffman made about erging and the Holiday Erg Challenge!

And for a little extra motivation, here’s a video Coach Charles Barksdale sent out to the ARC Competitive Men a few days ago. It’s an entertaining compilation of clips from the last Olympics; I’m always in awe at how efficient and powerful the elite rowers are; reminds me just how far I have to go with my own technique.

Cold Juniors Practice

Even with the chilly weather, the ARC Juniors don’t slack off.  Just one of the ways Junior Coach Jennifer De Haas has built an amazing and winning junior program.  Here are some pics from last night’s chilly practice with the junior varsity girls (BTW, I’d like to apologize in advance for the shaky iphone pics):

Heading west