UST Scores Big at North Star Challenge

The University of St. Thomas ended their fall 2009 racing season with victory  Sunday at the North Star Challenge on the Mississippi River. The team entered boats into all 11 brackets, clinching top three medals in 10 races. This performance earned St. Thomas the points trophy for the regatta over Michigan Tech, St. Johns and five other teams. 

The University of St. Thomas novice team earned fourth place in the Women’s Collegiate Novice 4 out of nine boats entered in the bracket. The Women’s Collegiate Novice 8 earned the team a second place finish, beating out St. Catherine’s University and the College of St. Ben’s. 

The novice men’s team also placed strong at the regatta. The Men’s Collegiate Novice 8 placed third in a competitive race against Michigan Tech and Lawrence. In the Men’s Collegiate Novice 4, St. Thomas earned second and third out of nine boats after entering two boats into the competition. 

The varsity women’s team was victorious in the Women’s Collegiate Varsity 8, winning first place over Macalester, St. Cloud State, Michigan Tech and Lawrence. The Women’s Collegiate Varsity 4 race also proved a success, earning the team first and fifth place for two boats entered in the bracket of 12.

Continuing the successful regatta, the men’s team won first place in the Men’s Collegiate Varsity 4, which had eight boats entered to race. The team also entered into the Men’s Collegiate Varsity 8, earning second place over Lawrence and Iowa State. 

The North Star Challenge also provided the opportunity to compete in mixed boats, which are raced with men and women together. St. Thomas entered into the Mixed Collegiate Varsity 4, winning first place out of the eight boat bracket. The team also entered into the Mixed Collegiate Varsity 8 which won first place, beating out six other boats by a minute. 

The University of St. Thomas clinched the points trophy, ending the fall season on a high note. With such a victorious performance, the team will enter winter training with success in mind for the spring season.

UST Crew in the News

The University of St. Thomas Crew Team was recognized on the UST news site Tommiemedia.com this week. Tommie Media is the University’s leading source of news on campus.

St. Thomas Impresses at Head of the Charles

Among crews from Yale, Harvard, Brown and others, the University of St. Thomas rowing team raced well at the Head of the Charles regatta in Boston, Mas., this Saturday. Finishing strong at the world’s largest regatta only promises good things for the team’s spring season. 

The men’s team entered into the Men’s Collegiate Four bracket with crews including the University of Michigan, University of Notre Dame and Wheaton University. Seniors Kyle Smisek and Dima Koshevy were veterans to the course, while junior Brandon Deml and freshman Sean Kern were new to the boat. Junior Gina Dolski was also a veteran to the complicated Charles course, having been the coxswain the previous year as well. With high hopes from the season so far, the boat finished strong in eighth place out of 38 boats. Such a high finish ensures the men’s team a spot in the regatta next year. Excited from an excellent race, the team behind the men’s four is looking forward to a competitive spring season. 

Changing their bracket from previous years, the women’s team entered the Collegiate Women’s 4 race on Saturday. Typically the team has raced in the Collegiate Women’s 8 race, but the change of scenery only proved to help them finish strong among highly competitive teams. The women finished well as 16th out of 29 teams, racing against Marquette University, Dowling College, Georgia Tech and others. Junior Danielle Assie and sophomore Catherine Portmann filled the stern, while seniors Kristi Kruppiak and Maya Brandl raced in the bow. Sophomore coxswain Kristen Lee impressed in her first race on the complex Charles course. The Charles results only bring excitement to the women’s team, who promise to stay competitive in the spring season. 

The Head of the Charles proved to be a launching point for both the men’s and women’s teams for St. Thomas. The most notable highlight from the regatta was a moment outside of race results, proving the University of St. Thomas crew team is more than a team of men and women, but a family. While the women raced by strong, the men’s team and coxswain stood on the shore cheering them through the finish. This display of camaraderie was noticed by the race announcer and the University of St. Thomas was recognized as an example of true team respect and togetherness. 

The team has one last fall head race this weekend, the North Star Challenge, on the Mississippi River on Sunday. Following that race the team will begin winter training in preparation for the sprint season this spring. The University of St. Thomas finished strong at the Head of the Charles and promises to stay competitive through out the spring season.

UST Crew Remains Strong at Head of the Rock

This past Sunday, Oct. 11, 2009, UST Crew travelled to the beautiful Head of the Rock regatta in Rockford, IL. Despite the frigid morning, the rowers managed to place 14th out of 54 teams in the overall team points category! Taking medals home for the team, were rowers in the Men’s Open 8+. Finishing in second place, the varsity men swept down the course with the aid of two alumni rowers, Jim Portmann and Calloway VanEpern. The women’s team finished strong in all entries and missed taking home a medal in Women’s Open 8+ by 3 seconds. This year’s new novice rowers also joined the varsity team in their first regatta. With strong efforts from the novice, the future of this team looks bright.  

Congrats to all the rowers on their great accomplishments!

UST Rows to Strong Finishes at the Head of the Mississippi Regatta

This Sunday, UST Rowing headed out for its second regatta of the season at the Head of the Mississippi in Minneapolis.  Highlights of the event were a win in the Men’s Open 8+ (Gina Dolski, Kyle Smisek, Brandon Deml, Dima Koshevy, Sean Kern, Eric Rudd, Martim Quayat) over the Minnesota Boat Club and a second place finish to the University of Minnesota in the Men’s Collegiate 4+ event (Gina Dolski, Kyle Smisek, Brandon Deml, Dima Koshevy, Sean Kern).  The men’s four will race against the University of Minnesota one more time at the Head of the Rock Regatta next weekend to see if they can close the gap against their friendly cross-town rival.  The Women’s Collegiate 4+ rowed to an impressive third place while Dima Koshevy captured the same placing in the Men’s Open 1x.  The team next heads to Rockford, Illinois for the Head of the Rock Regatta for the largest collegiate regional regatta of the year.  The novice team will join the varsity rowers for their first regatta of the season.

UST Men Dominate Small Boat Events at the Head of the Des Moines

UST Rowing captured three gold medals and two silver medals this past weekend at the Head of the Des Moines Regatta.

The men’s collegiate four (Dima Koshevy, Brandon Deml, Kyle Smisek, Sean Kern, Gina Dolski) opened up the action with a strong second place finish to the University of Minnesota.  They’ll face of again for a rematch this weekend at the Head of the Mississippi.

Dima Koshevy hopped right out of the four and into the men’s collegiate single event where he took the gold.  Not far behind was Martim Quayat who took the silver and secured a UST 1-2 finishin the event.

Kyle Smisek and Brandon Deml teamed up in the men’s collegiate pairs race and blasted the field by almost a minute to take home second third gold of the day for the team.  Freshmen Eric Rudd and Sean Kern also rowed the event to an impressive fourth place finish coming in only 14 seconds behind Iowa and Minnesota.

In the men’s collegiate double, Dima Koshevy and Kyle Smisek stormed the course to capture yet another gold medal while Eric Rudd and Martim Quayat came in a strong fourth in the club event.

By winning every collegiate small boat event and coming in second in the collegiate four, the UST men are off to a great start this fall.  The next race is the Head of the Mississippi on October 4th in Minneapolis.

Fall 2009 Learn to Row Sessions

Practices

Learn to Row Orientation – Saturday, September 19^th

Session 1

10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Session 2

12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.

* Meet a varsity member at the arches ½ hour before each session to walk to the boathouse!

Learn to Row Practices – M-F September 21^st – October 2^nd

Session 1

4:15 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

*Meet a varsity rower 3:50 pm at the arches to walk down to the boathouse!

Session 2

5:00 p.m. – 6:15 p.m.

*Meet a varsity rower at 4:30 pm at the arches to walk down to the boathouse!

Dues

Learn to Row Practices – $50

Fall Dues (to be paid after Learn to Row) – $100

*Please write checks to UST Crew

 Questions?

Please contact Kristi at kmkruppiak@stthomas.edu with any additional questions!

UST Crew Fan Page on Facebook

Do you have a Facebook account? Then become a fan of UST Crew. Check out our new fan page which will have updates of University of St. Thomas rowing events and news!

UST Crew Fall Recruitment 2009: Be Part of the Tradition!

Want to be part of the University of St. Thomas Crew Team? Maybe you don’t know how to row or even know what “crew” is! Well that’s ok! Crew isn’t just about rowing backwards really, really fast but is also about a tradition and family of friends that practices, races, and has fun while doing it. Want to learn more and possibly hop in a boat? Come to our Fall Recruitment Meeting in Koch Commons Fireside Room, September 17 at 7:00pm. Meet some current members, learn about the sport and team, and find out when ‘learn to row’ begins!

If you want to learn more or chat with a current UST rower, e-mail Alyssa at aaglawe@stthomas.edu.

UST Rowing Places Two Boats in Grand Finals at Dad Vail Regatta

This past weekend, the UST Rowing team rowed through challenging conditions to place the men’s varsity four and the men’s varsity pair into the grand finals. This marks the second consecutive year in which the men have achieved this accomplishment. The men’s four rowed a tough race and was with the race leaders at the 1,500 meter mark, but were unable to hold off Dowling, Dayton and Emory and rowed to a strong fourth place finish (in a field of 54 schools). The men’s pair rowed to a fifth place finish (in a 26 boat field). The women’s varsity eight, varsity four and lightweight four rowed great races but were unable to overcome the tough competition to make it into the semi-finals.

This likely marks the end of the season for UST Rowing as the ACRA National Championships coincides with spring commencement. Congratulations to all members of the team on a great season!