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2014

Shocker Rowing Earns 22 ACRA Awards

Our entire season is built around performing our best at the ACRA national championship regatta. The honors and results from this year’s competition were the culmination of a year’s worth of hard work and dedication.

“I am very proud of what all of our student athletes accomplished this year and the individual recognition bestowed upon several of our athletes is a clear acknowledgement of their efforts,” Calvin Cupp Head Coach.

Not only was Shocker Rowing recognized for our competitiveness on the water but also for our academic excellence. Excelling in the classroom is tough and to be a student athlete while doing this is even more impressive.

The high point of this recognition was placing five student athletes on the women’s All-American roster. There are only twenty-seven women recognized, we placed 2 on the 2nd team and 3 on the 3rd team. Our five selections were the most of any ACRA school in the country.

2014 All-American Teams
2014 Academic All-Americans
2014 All-Regional Boats and Regional Coach

2013

2010-2011

June 7, 2011 / 3 WSU Rowers Make All American Teams

Boulder, CO – The American Collegiate Rowing Association (ACRA) announced winners of the All American boats. Three Wichita State University rowers made boats: Rebecca Denny ’13 made the 2nd team boat, Chelsea Chavez ’11 made the 3rd team boat and Freshman Kelsy Thompson made the Freshman boat.

The winners of the All American boats were picked from the regional winners of which WSU had 5 winners. Joining Denny and Chavez for Regional Winners were Malcolm Johnson ’12, Christian Kindel ’13 and Sydney Fish ’13. From the 50 Regional winners for each gender, 27 were chosen to make the First, Second or Third boat. 2,000 meter testing scores, performance of their crew (with most
consideration on ACRA results), career racing results, accomplishments within their team,
individual performances and the coach recommendation were the factors used for decisions.

Chavez made the 2nd Team Boat in 2010 and Denny won a spot on the 2010 Freshmen boat.

The Freshmen boat lineup is not chosen until after ACRA Nationals, which this year, were May 28 and 29. The boats are made from coaches’ recommendations and the student-athletes are judged on similar criteria as the All American boats with large consideration given to ACRA results.

Thompson, a recruited Volleyball, Track, Basketball and weight lifting high school athlete from Haysville Campus High School, started rowing in August 2010 with WSU. She quickly made the top novice boats her fall semester and by spring was rowing in the women’s varsity eight that placed 7th overall in the nation.

Adam Taylor ’14, Marlo Griffith ’14, Eli Copas ’13 were also nominated for the Freshmen Team Boats.

5-30-2011 / Shocker Rowing Repeat Gold at Nationals

Gainesville, GA – Wichita State Rowing takes Gold for the second year in a row at the American Collegiate Rowing Association Championships (ACRA) in the Men’s Double. The Women’s Varsity Eight placed 7th and the Men’s Varsity Eight beat long time rivals Texas and Colorado after losing to them earlier this season. Racing took place on Lake Lanier, the site of the 1996 Olympic venue.

In their Men’s Double heats, Malcolm Johnson’12 and Adam Taylor ’14, easily took the lead over UNC, Bucknell and Michigan. In the other heat, Washington University had a close time to WSU, so the final looked to be a tight race. However early in the final race, Johnson and Taylor took the lead and never let any of the other boats catch them; they finished with a time of 7:10.5.

Throughout the season, the Women’s Varsity Eight had been ranked nationally in the top 10, starting at 10 and slowly climbing to 8th in April. In their heats, WSU faced Grand Valley, UNH and UC-Santa Barbara, Ohio State and Vanderbilt. The women needed to place in the top three to move to the Grand Final. Despite a well fought race, they were edged out of 3rd by UCSB to finish with a time of 7:11.4 to UCSB’s 7:10.1. Grand Valley would later finish 2nd and UNH 3rd in the Grand Finals.

In the Petite Final, WSU was closely followed by Ohio State who tried to make a move with 500 to go, but the Shockers remained in their early lead and made a brilliant sprint at the end to finish with a time of 6:57.0.

Shocker Rowing took all 47 of its athletes, one of the largest teams represented at the ACRAs. WSU also raced in the Men’s Single, Women’s Novice Four, Men’s Novice Four, Women’s JV8 and Men’s Lightweight Four. All boats posted their best times of the season.

WSU Rowing returns to the water in August to start its 2011-2012 season.

5-26-2011 / ACRA Rowings Regional Winners Announced

Boulder, CO – The American Collegiate Rowing Association announced its regional winners for Coach of the Year and All American Rowers. Shocker Rowing had 6 winners this year of 10 nominations.

Malcolm Johnson ‘12 and Christian Kindel ’13 won for the Men’s Plains region. Chelsea Chavez ‘11, Sydney Fish ’13 and Rebecca Denny ’13 were Women’s Team winners. Head Coach Calvin Cupp was also the Plains Region Coach of the Year winner for the Women’s Team.

9 Athletes are chosen from each region. The student-athletes must row in the top boat and are also graded according to his/her 2000 meter erg score, career racing results, accomplishments within the team and the coach’s recommendation. Coaches were selected among peers for improvement from last year’s racing, quality of racing and results.

The team is headed to Gainesville, Georgia for the ACRA Championships on May 28 and 29. Johnson will race in the Men’s Double, the event in which he won gold last year. Kindel will race in the Men’s Varsity Eight, he is a second year rower.

Chavez, a 4th year rower, will race in the Women’s Varsity Eight along with Denny and Fish, both second year rowers. The Women’s Varsity Eight has been ranked among the top 10 all spring season and goes into the Championships in the number seven spot.

Cupp has been at the helm of the team since 1999; this is his first time receiving the award.

On Saturday, May 28, First and Second Team Boats will be announced from the Regional Nominations as will the Coach of the Year.

5-16-2011 / Rowing team heading to National Championships

Shocker Rowing is preparing for the American Collegiate Rowing Association (ACRA) National Championships. The ACRA will take place May 28 & 29 in Gainesville, GA on Lake Lanier. Lake Lanier was the host site for the 1996 Olympic rowing races and is one of the best race courses in the country.

Last year the Shockers returned home with two medals which included one gold in the Men’s Double Scull (M2X). Malcolm Johnson returns to the event with for a shot at the repeat gold. His partner, Allen Strickler, graduated in 2010 so he is teaming up with Adam Taylor who is a top rowing recruit for the Shockers from Australia.

The Shockers return to the Men’s Varsity 8+ event and have their sights set on improving on their first place finish in the third level finals. This crew is young but strong and aggressive. Kaila Kiser, varsity coxswain will lead the crew on their quest for a higher finish. She will be supported by a strong and experienced core of upper class rowers who include William Calderwood, Christian Kindel and Morgan Snell.

The Varsity Women will step back onto the larger stage this year with their return to the Varsity 8+ event. Over the past two years the women have been a top crew in the Varsity 4+ event and with the increased size of our women’s squad we are going back into the main event. This crew is anchored by a core group of forth year rowers who all know what it is like to row in the Grand Finals of the ACRA’s: Chelsea Chavez, Melissa Koehn, Erica Kuhlman and Stephanie Lillie. This crew has attracted much attention as they have been ranked in the top 10 nationally most of the spring and currently hold the 9th place in the ACRA poll. There are over one hundred and sixty ACRA member schools.

For the first time at the ACRA’s the Shockers will be entering the Women’s Second Varsity 8+ event. This shows how much the team’s depth has improved as not many programs can field this event. This crew is led by four upper class women: Laura Calhoun, Sydney Blanton, Hope Patterson and Rachel Wullenweber.

Our Men’s Lwt Varsity 4+ is led by Ryan Hollingshead and Francis Nguyen. This is a quality crew and we expect them to challenge the field of competition at nationals.

The Shockers will also be competing in the Men’s Novice 4+ and Women’s 4+. All of these are strong crews who will represent Shocker Rowing well on the national stage.

4-10-2011 / Omaha, NE

Wichita State Rowing wins the men’s and women’s team points trophies at the Upper Midwest Rowing Championships.

Every athlete medalled. Teams at the event included: Colorado State, Iowa, Iowa State, Kansas State, Oklahoma City University, Nebraska, St Thomas, St Cloud, and host Creighton.
This is the first year in the event’s 16 year history that WSU women have won the women’s team trophy. The men have won the trophy the past 3 years and also in 2007.

The women started putting points on the board early in the day with a win in the women’s eight against Creighton, St Cloud and St Thomas. Creighton, a DI rowing team, has often been fierce competition for WSU’s women’s team and were the Upper Midwest women’s team winners in 2010. Other events won by the women were the Women’s Varsity Four(s), Novice Four and Lightweight Four. Towards the end of the day, it came down to the last two women’s events (the WN4B and LtwW4); at this point Creighton and WSU were close in points, wins by Creighton in the last two events would have meant a tie for the women’s trophy. But the WN4B took third and the lightweight four cinched the win to put the team points for WSU at 150 to Creighton’s 117. St Thomas took third with 28 points.

The men took first by dominating the field in numbers, with a roster of 22 men (and 27 women), but also through good racing. The men took first in the Men’s Varsity and Lightweight Fours and 2nd and 3rd in the men’s Varsity eight race in addition to seconds in other races. WSU had 128 points to Oklahoma City University’s 91 and Kansas State’s 48. The men saw their best competition from Oklahoma City who placed first in the men’s Varsity Eight and beat WSU’s 2nd place boat by 1 second. The team will race OCU again on April 30 in OKC. The novice men’s eight will be seeking revenge for their lost today to KSU after having beaten them in the last two meetings.

Wichita State Rowing races at home on April 16 against Nebraska and win honor former Shocker Rower and Volunteer Assistant Coach Angie Johnson who passed away in 2010 with a boat dedication.

2-2011 / Boy Scouts Challenge Shocker Rowers to Race

Feb 12, 2011 – Wichita, KS. WSU Rowing’s 3rd Annual Shocker Sprints Indoor Rowing Race has a new challenge race. Local Cub Scout Pack 506, Den 2, Webelos I of Wichita have challenged Shocker Rowers to a 200 meter race. As the racing is computerized, the 8-12 year olds can be given a handicap to make the race a fair one. Four of their scouts will race as one boat against four Shocker Rowers.

Indoor racing which takes place on rowing machines lends itself well to handicapped racing. On the water, the boy scouts could be given a lead, but how much of a lead is difficult to assess given wind and water currents – and that’s if the boy scouts knew how to row a rowing boat. Learning to row a boat takes time. Anyone can easily jump on a rowing machine to row or race and handicaps can be easily managed.

“The Boy Scouts will start racing and probably 10-20 seconds later, we will start the Shocker Rowers,” race organizer and WSU Assistant Rowing Coach Tori Breithaupt explains. “The efforts of the rowers appear on a screen that is magnified so that spectators can tell how far behind the Shocker Rowers will be when they start racing. It will be very exciting to watch because you can see the ‘play by play’ on the screen and get close to the racers to cheer them on.”

This is the first year that a Boy Scout troop will compete. “We’re excited for the new challenge; it will add a new fun race to an already exciting event schedule,” Breithaupt says. “Outdoor racing has the beauty of the rowers moving in sync, but it’s difficult to watch all of the race as the boats start 1.25 miles away. The indoor race is computerized, all in one place, very loud, very infectious – you can't help but want to cheer on those racing.”

Events at Shocker Sprints include the 2000 meter races, 500 meter races and the team 1000 meter race. The 2000 meter is for anyone who wants to measure his or her fitness. Collegiate rowers race 2000 meters, for them this race is a chance to measure their early spring conditioning. In the team 1000 meter races, four athletes compete as one boat against four other athletes – similar to the boy scout challenge.

The 500 meter races are an easy distance that anyone can do. There are prizes for the best WSU Student and Best WSU Faculty/Staff racer among other categories. This event is free.

Shocker Sprints takes place February 12 from 9-2 at WSU’s Heskett Center. Admission is free.

Coach Breithaupt will also hold clinics for those wanting to know how to row on the machine. Those dates are 9th from 5:15-5:30 and 8th from 12-12:35. These clinics are also free, even for non WSU persons.

11-11-2010 / WSU Rowing Signs its First 2001 Rower

Katie Mullins of Lenexa, KS is the first to sign with Shocker Rowing for the 2011-2012 season. Mullins, a senior at Shawnee Mission West High School, is part of the Kansas City Rowing Club. She recently took two Bronzes at the Frostbite Regatta in Nov and a silver at the Head of the Oklahoma in Oct.

“Katie has a tenacity I really like,” says her KCRC coach, Jenn Jewett. “She has a willingness to try anything and make it work.” Indeed at the Head of the Oklahoma she had only rowed the rec single for about 20 minutes before jumping into the race in which she medaled.
Shocker Rowing recently won both the women’s and men’s varsity eights and fours and was second in the novice eights at the Frostbite Regatta on Nov 7, 2010. WSU is striving to gain more speed come spring and next fall and having recruits of Mullins’ caliber will push the Shockers in the right direction.

Mullins will pursue a major in science or engineering.

Hometown: Lenexa, KS
Side/Sculler: Sculler. Starboard when sweeping
Sports experience: Scholar athlete, Sunflower League School softball, JCGC summer softball, Olathe Fall softball, Schoolgirls Golf team, Kansas City Rowing club junior crew
Other: Biotechnology, NJROTC (rank:ensign/ O-1), Honor Roll
Personal: Parents: Rob Mullins and Elaine Mullins, Brother Austin Mullins
Why rowing? Began rowing in the summer after Junior year and fell in love with it.
Why WSU? Has the science/ Engineering I would like to pursue, great location, beautiful town. First time I saw WSU race was at the Sunflower State Games over the summer and was really impressed with the team.

10-04-2010 / WSU Rowing to Race the US National Team

Rowing competitions do not draw crowds like football, basketball or baseball…on a regular basis. Oklahoma City is working to change that this weekend (Oct 9-10) at the Head of the Oklahoma. The racing this weekend will include spectator friendly features such as a jumbo-tron of the racers for easy watching, racing at night that is illuminated with lights and lasers, family activities and world class rowers such as the US National team.

Amid all this activity, will be WSU Rowing. Chelsea Chavez ’11 and Erica Kuhlman ’11 who placed second at the Head of the Des Moines in the women’s double will challenge 4 National team boats, Kansas University, Oklahoma University, and rowers from Canada among others in this 23 competitor event. Rowing is one of the sports in which college athletes such as Chavez and Kuhlman can race against those who have competed in the Olympics; how often does the WSU tennis team get to play against Rafael Nadal or Serena Williams?

The WSU men will also see some fast racing in the men’s eight event in which National Champion teams, Harvard and University of California-Berkeley will be racing. Oklahoma City helped fund the travel for these schools to attend this regatta so that Midwest teams could race against some of the best teams in the country. The East and West coasts have had rowing programs since the 1800s in locations such as Boston and Oakland; it wasn't until the 1970s that Wichita started a rowing program. It’s much easier for Harvard to find lots of competition not only on its home waters, but even within 1-4 hours away. Midwest teams must travel several hours to find competition and of course the best is a several day journey.

WSU will bring its own foreign flavor to racing this weekend as Adam Taylor ’14 from Perth, Australia competes in the men’s novice eight, men’s double and men’s junior single. Taylor who has been rowing since he was 14, was Champion Boy his senior year in high school and set a course record at the Head of the River.
WSU Rowing returns to its home waters on the Little Arkansas River in Wichita on November 7, 2010 for the Frostbite Regatta.

For more information contact:
Tori Breithaupt, Assistant Coach WSU Rowing
Tori.breithaupt@wichita.edu or at (316) 978-3465

9-20-2010 / Shocker Rowing Season Starter September 25

Wichita, Kansas (September 20, 2010) - Wichita State University Rowing will have its first races of the 2010/2011 season on Sept 25, 2010. The varsity rowing team will travel to Des Moines, Iowa to race in the Head of Des Moines. Meanwhile, the Novice team will be racing in Wichita on the Little Arkansas at 10:00 AM at Riverside against Oklahoma State University.

At the varsity race, the Shockers will be rowing eights and fours in both men’s and women’s boats, as well as doubles. In addition, Malcolm Johnson, ‘12 will be racing in the single. “The varsity team is expected to compete and do very well this weekend,” according to assistant coach Tori Breithaupt. Competitors will include Iowa, KU, KSU and Drake.

Ryan Hollingshead, ’11, of Wichita will race at bow seat in the men’s eight and four in Des Moines. An exercise science major, Hollingshead spent the summer training in Austin, Texas with the University of Texas rowing team.

Of the Novice squad, all but one, are walk-ons, never having rowed before this fall. Ashley Grubb, ’12, of Ozawkie, KS, was a Neosho Community College softball player who took up rowing to have a physical outlet in college and try something new. She is expected to row 3 seat in the women’s four.

For additional information please call Tori Breithaupt at 316-978-3465 or email Tori at tori.breithaupt@wichita.edu.

 

2009-2010

7-1-2010 / Shocker Rowing Says Goodbye

On Tuesday, June 29th around 4:00 p.m. Angela Johnson was killed in an automobile crash. Angie was in her second year working as an assistant coach after rowing for four years. She was the 2007 & 2008 Oarswoman of the year, a 2008 ACRA All-Regional Rower, winner of numerous Sunflower State Championships and a Dad Vail Semi-finalist. More than any of these she was a great teammate, compassionate coach and a steadfast supporter of Shocker Rowing.

I was blessed to have her as both an athlete and a coworker. She was the kind of athlete that coaches love to coach and the type of assistant that makes the head coach better. On top of all of that she was a person of character, integrity and conviction. I was proud to have her as a friend.

Our program’s support and thoughts go out to all of her family, teammates and friends in this time of mourning. Services are planned for Saturday July 3rd at the Grace Lutheran Church in Spirit Lake, IA at 10:00 a.m.

On July 10th starting at 5:00 p.m. in Wichita, Kansas there will be a memorial row and remembrance gathering in Angie's honor.

You can RSVP on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=126122100763116

Other details will be posted as they are arranged.

I am available for anyone to contact me for any reason and at any time in regard to Angie. (316) 371-7513

In loving memory of Angie,
Calvin Cupp
Head Coach

5-2010

Oklahoma City, Ok – WSU Rowing wins its first Gold Medal at the ACRA Nationals. WSU Rowing has been attending the American Collegiate Rowing Association Nationals since its inception in 2008. ACRA Nationals were attended by 48 teams from across the US. This year WSU also took the bronze in the women’s double.

In its first year at ACRAs, WSU had one boat make it to the grand finals. Last year the team put four of its five boats in the Grand Finals, with three placing 5th and one taking bronze in the women’s double.

Malcolm Johnson ’12 and Allen Strickler ’11 were the 2010 men’s double’s rowers. On Saturday, they were first in the time trial and first in their afternoon heat. Several of the events at the ACRA had time trials to help establish lane placement. The conditions were 15-30 mph winds from the south or across the course making lane six a more difficult lane to row in than in lane 2. Therefore, winners in the time trial were given the faster lanes in the heats and finals.

On Sunday’s final, Johnson and Strickler’s biggest competition came from Oklahoma City University, a school that focuses on its sculling events. Right at the start, WSU took the lead by a boat length. The other boats in the field were surpassed by the front two boats early in the race. Each time OCU made a move, Johnson and Strickler would make a counter move to keep the 2nd place boat at least at its stern deck. WSU kept this lead throughout the race to the finish line.

Stephanie Lillie ’11 and Erica Kuhlman ‘11’s bronze medal performance in their double had a less satisfying conclusion because the two were not allowed to race the finals. On Saturday, the two placed third in the time trial. No heat was necessary because there were only six boats in the event, all of which would race in the Grand Final on Sunday.

On Sunday, WSU and the other women’s doubles, locked into the stake boats for the start, but the winds made the five attempts at a start futile, so the race organizers called the race and sent everyone down the course at a crawl instead of at race pace. The team then had to wait for the ACRA board to decide whether medals would be given to the top three time trial finishers, which ultimately they did.

“We would have liked to have had the chance to challenge for first or second in a final,” said Kuhlman, “but it just goes to show how important every race is – that if we hadn't rowed competitively in our time trial, we wouldn't have the bronze.”

Other highlights from the weekend include two nominations to the Regional All American team. Peter Fast ’10 and Chelsea Chavez ’11 were nominated with 3 others from WSU and ultimately chosen for their competitive erg scores (individual performance on the rowing machine), winning records in the boats and their history of having rowed the varsity boats all season.

Eight Academic All Americans were chosen from WSU. These student-athletes have a GPA of 3.5 or higher and will be at least of junior standing by fall. Peter Fast, Lisa Burns, Sarah Meier, Isabel Villaneda van Vloten, Malcolm Johnson, Brittany Norris, Stephanie Lillie and Ryan Hollingshead made the list.

WSU nominated 4 Freshman All Americans; the winners will be selected by May 28.

This year, WSU raced a men’s varsity eight which placed first in the C Finals, a Novice Women’s Eight which was 6th overall, a varsity women’s four that was 7th/17 from the time trials and heats, but who was not allowed due to windy conditions to race the final, a men’s single which was first in its B final and a second men’s double and JV Men’s Eight.

4-24-2010 / WSU Wins 4 Out of 5 Races Against Oklahoma City University and Central Oklahoma

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Very windy conditions prevailed on Saturday making the races long but good practice for the WSU crews as OKC’s site will be the course for the ACRAs (Nationals) on May 22 and 23.

The most exciting races of the day were varsity women’s four and men’s varsity four B. In the varsity women’s four, rowers Melissa Koehn, Chelsea Chavez, Erica Kuhlman and Stephanie Lillie with coxswain Lisa Burns had just rowed in the varsity women’s eight and lost to OCU. They knew going in that OCU would be fast as OCU is a program with heavily recruited athletes. After the initial few strokes, the boats were neck in neck, and then stroke by stroke WSU gradually gained on the OCU women beating them by 13 seconds.

In the men’s varsity four B race, the real race was between the varsity men and novice men, both boats who easily beat the OCU boat. The novice and varsity boats had raced the preceding weekend with the novice men beating the varsity until the novice had a collision with a bridge post before the finish line. This weekend, the varsity made sure they took an early lead and kept it despite determined efforts by the novice to close the gap.

This weekend the team travels to Topeka for the Great Plains Championships on May 1. The varsity men look forward to challenging Washington University who beat WSU early in the season. The varsity women will once again race KU, a rivalry that has been ongoing for the past 3 years. The novice women look forward to challenging the Creighton women with whom this season they are 1-1. The novice men’s lightweight four will see SIRA champions Washington U. At the Upper Midwest the novice lightweight four raced in the varsity four and beat everyone except WSU’s varsity boat.

4-13-2010 / WSU Rowing Takes First and Third in Team Points Trophies

Omaha, NE – April 11, 2010
WSU Rowing won the men’s team point trophy and the women placed third at the Upper Midwest Championships. Teams from MN, IA, NE, and KS were present.

Having won the men’s team point trophy last year, WSU was determined to repeat again this year. It appeared that St. Thomas University from Minneapolis could give WSU a run but WSU’s boats kept medaling and racking up the points. The coaches were also very pleased with the women earning third place overall, they had not been in the top 3 standings for some years.

This semester WSU has three men’s eights, the varsity eight and two novice eights. The coaches decided to challenge the novice eights by rowing them in the varsity eight event. Each heat had 5 boats and all three WSU 8s made it to finals. Once at the finals, WSU Varsity took 2nd to OCU and the Novice Men’s Eight, rowing as WSU-B, took third narrowly inching out Kansas with a time of 6:47.38 to 6:47.89. K-State was 5th. OCU 6:20.17 and WSU-A 6:25.54.

The women’s pair of Chelsea Chavez and Melissa Koehn took gold beating Creighton, St. Thomas and the WSU-B boat. Chavez and Koehn were initially hesitant to row the technically challenging event given that most of practice time is spent in eights or fours. But clearly these two were up to the task as they took an early lead and kept it through the finish line.

The lightweight men’s fours was also an exciting race. WSU entered two boats, one from the varsity and one from the novice in this varsity event. WSU-varsity had an easy lead the whole race, but the novice boat was neck in neck or behind St. Louis much of the way until the last 500. At this point coxswain Lisa Burns commented that St. Louis was getting tired and grunting, “’they are giving up, let’s keep pushing on thru.’ I didn't even realize that we (WSU) could finish one and two – I was just focused on the other boat (St. Louis) and beating them.”

Manhattan, KS – April 10, 2010
WSU also won the Sunflower State Championships, although it is a bitter win as only one event took place. The remainder of the events had to be cancelled for safety reasons.
WSU won the women’s novice four with a time of 6:53.6, KU 7:37.1 and KSU 7:42.8 and took back the novice women’s four trophy from KU who had won it last year.

WSU races April 17 at its last home event for the Tornado Alley Sprints against OU and Nebraska. Races start at 9 AM on the Arkansas River downtown.

Overall Point Standings-Upper Midwest Sprints

Mary Jean McGaughan Memorial Men's Award
1st - Wichita State - 90
2nd - Oklahoma City - 36
3rd - Kansas State - 34

Roberta Ray Becker Memorial Women's Award
1st - Drake - 109
2nd - Creighton - 70
3rd - Wichita State - 39

3-25-10 / WSU Rowing Takes on Two CUa This Weekend at Home

WSU Rowing races Colorado University and Creighton University at home Saturday, March 27, starting at 8:30 a.m. until 10 a.m. The races will take place on the Arkansas River downtown between the Lincoln Street Dam and the 2nd Street Bridge.

Colorado and Creighton both have excellent teams and WSU looks forward to the competition. Colorado started their spring season racing Texas. CU’s men’s varsity eight beat Texas who beat WSU; with this in mind, the varsity men have been preparing for a tough race. Texas novice men beat both WSU and Colorado last weekend, but WSU beat Colorado in the fall. Again, the team is excited to face off with CU. Head Coach Calvin Cupp commented, “The men are looking forward to a chance to race one of the better teams in the region, CU placed well at ACRA, so we know they will be fast.”

Creighton will bring its NCAA women’s team. They recently raced against University of San Diego posting times in the varsity women’s four and novice women’s eight that are similar to what WSU women have been racing. Cupp said about the women’s racing, “CU women’s four beat our 4 at ACRA’s last year (3rd place to 5th). Our women excited to line up against them again. We enjoy racing Creighton because they are high quality completion.”

Spectators can watch anywhere along the Arkansas River. Staging for the teams will be next to Gander Mountain.

Home Regatta: March 27th
Arkansas River, downtown Wichita
Wichita State U. vs U. of Colorado & Creighton U.
Start Time Event Lane 1 Lane 2 Lane 3
8:30 a.m. Women Novice 8 CU UC WSU
8:45 a.m. Women Varsity 4 WSU CU  
9:00 a.m. Men 1 Novice 8 UC WSU  
9:15 a.m. Women Novice 4 CU WSU  
9:30 a.m. Men 2 Novice 8 WSU UC  
9:45 a.m. Men Varsity 8 UC WSU  
10:00 a.m. Women Varsity 8 WSU UC CU

8 = boat of 8 rowers, one coxswain; 4 = boat of 4 rowers, one coxswain

1=first, 2=2nd; Lane 1= western most lane

WSU= Wichita State U. . UC=University of Colorado . CU=Creighton

If there is lightening, the races will be delayed until it is safe to race.

3-8-10 . WSU Rowing Signs First Recruits of 20120-2011 Season

Wichita State Rowing is pleased to announce the addition of Claire Cox and Ashley Brown, both of Derby, KS, to its 2010-2011 squad.

Cox is a cross country and track runner for Derby High School. She earned her varsity letter as a freshmen in both seasons and was the captain her senior year for the cross country team. “She was a great motivational leader for the squad,” Coach Eldon Edwards commented.

Brown is a swimmer, a sport she has been pursuing for the last nine years. She went to State in swimming for the past three years and Division II’s with the Wichita Aqua Shox. She’s also in the National Honor Society and a mentor.

Both commented that they love WSU’s campus, the location and school and look forward to attending.

Cox and Brown officially signed at their high school on Friday March 5, 2010. In attendance were parents, friends and the student-athletes’ spring sport coaches.

Collegiate rowing is one of the few college sports that requires no experience, hence recruitment of non-rowers. However, when recruiting Assistant Coach Tori Breithaupt looks for student-athletes who have experience dealing with wins and losses, the organization it takes to be a student and an athlete, and leadership skills. “Our recruited non-rowers will not lead by their knowledge of the sport,” Breithaupt says, “but how they bring intensity to a race or practice, how they bring a can-do attitude. We look forward to these qualities in Ashley and Claire.”

Shocker Rowing kicks off its spring season on Saturday March 13 with a scrimmage against the Washington University, MO in Natchitoches, LA. The team will train in LA for spring break, with scrimmages against KU, Northwestern Louisiana State and OCU. They will end the week with races against U of Texas, Baylor, AT&M, and Rice in TX.

Ashley Brown
High School: Derby
Hometown: Derby, KS
Sports experience: 9 years swimming, went to State 3 years, went to Division II with Wichita Aqua Shox
Other: I am in NHS, NAHS and a mentor.
Personal: parents Janet Miller and Doug Brown, Brother Chris Brown
Why WSU? I love the campus, the location, the size and everything about it.

Claire Cox
High School: Derby High School
Hometown: Derby, Kansas
Sports Experience: went to Cross Country Nationals, varsity letter Fresh, Soph, Jr, Sr in cross country and track
Other: I coach Special Olympics track and field
Personal: Parents Brian and Jennifer Cox, Erin and Quentin Cox
Why WSU: I Like everything about WSU, the campus, the school, the location. It’s perfect for me.

11-23-09 / Shocker Rowing looks for new home

The Wichita State University Rowing program is in search of a new home along the river.
Because of damage sustained during the severe hail storm this summer to some facilities, BG Products Inc. will no longer be able to provide boathouse facilities to Shocker Rowing effective Dec. 31. The maintenance operations facility was damaged and will need to move to the space currently occupied by Shocker Rowing.

This ends an eight-year arrangement in which BG has provided a home for Shocker Rowing with river access and facilities.

"It's unfortunate that we will no longer be able to use these facilities, but the support BG has shown Shocker Rowing during the past eight years has been tremendous," said Calvin Cupp, head crew coach. "In 2001, BG stepped forward during a transitional time for Shocker Rowing and provided warehouse space for equipment storage and river access."

In 2006, BG moved Shocker Rowing to the current BG Products Boathouse at 300 W. Indianapolis. This facility included shell storage for the entire fleet of shells for both Shocker Rowing and the Wichita Rowing Association, kitchenette, restrooms with showers, lobby and meeting area. This boathouse also was the base of operations for all WSU home spring races.

WSU is in the process of pursuing several promising options that will meet both the immediate short-term and long-term needs of Shocker Rowing and the rowing community as a whole.

Shocker Rowing has a roster of 47 student-athletes this fall. Earlier in spring, four of five crews made the grand finals at the ACRA (American Collegiate Rowing Association) national championships.

Shocker Rowing hosts three or four home regattas each year.

Shocker Rowing is a supporting group to the Wichita Frostbite Regatta that brought about 800 rowers from several states to Wichita in November.

# # # # #
Contact: Calvin Cupp, (316) 978-5285 or calvin.cupp@wichita.edu.

11-18-09 / All Boats Medat at Marathon, Three Course Records Set

November 14, 2009
Natchitoches, Louisiana

Shocker Rowing raced three mixed eights at the marathon rowing championships and all three medaled.

The event is 26.2 miles long on the Cane River. Conditions were calm, with some chop depending on which way the river turned.

Mixed eights require at least 4 women rowers and 4 men rowers. The coxswain can be either sex.

In the varsity mixed eight event, Shocker Rowing took first and second places beating St. Louis University and Texas A&M –Galveston. The first place eight rowed the event in 3 hours 5 minutes and 33 seconds, which set the course record. The second boat was 3:20:45. WSU also holds the third fastest time for this event set in 2004.

The novice mixed eight also set a course record rowing with a time of 3 hours 20 min 32 seconds beating Texas A&M-Galveston and Tulane. WSU holds the third fastest time for this event as well set in 2004.

Of note, Assistant Coach Tori Breithaupt raced representing Wichita Rowing Association. She and her doubles partner also set a course record in the mixed 2x.

10-06-09 / Shocker Rowing Stellar Start to Season

WSU Rowing returns from Oklahoma City where the team raced 15 boats at the Boot of the Oklahoma Oct 3. Of the 15 boats, 8 brought home medals.

The Boot draws teams from the Midwest; powerhouses like Tulsa, Kansas and Texas NCAA women’s rowing programs and on the men’s side Harvard, Texas and Oklahoma City University. Last year the men’s varsity four placed 6th, this year they moved to 2nd after initially being penalized and forced to take a 30 second penalty which would have put them in 4th. Texas Crew’s boat that won the race, complained that WSU did not cede way. However, after examining the facts, the officials concurred that WSU was pinned by other teams on the course and could not cede way to Texas and the penalty was dropped. The men’s four then went to take Gold in the night 500 meter sprints.

The varsity women raced in a new event to WSU fall rowing, the women’s doubles. In a field of 16 boats, some of them part of the Oklahoma City High Performance Center, Erica Kuhlman and Chelsea Chavez placed 9th and Stephanie Lillie and Melissa Koehn 10th finishing ahead of some NCAA programs. Lillie of Ottawa, KS, said “The race went well; it was the first time we have raced in a double and my first time in bow seat.” Bow seat is responsible for navigating the course, not an easy task considering rowers do not face the way they are going but look backwards. Of the upcoming Frostbite race (Nov 1st), Lillie commented: “I’m excited to see how we improve in the 2xs and really looking forward to the fours against KU Club team. We’ve had a long time rivalry with KU, going back and forth who wins. I wish Frostbite were now, but am glad we have time to prepare.”

Without much rest, the four women then jumped into the Women’s Collegiate Fours event and placed 19th/29, an improvement from 24th last year. The women’s teams must face NCAA programs that have budgets 3x that of WSU. Against teams that compete in WSU’s league, WSU placed 3rd of 8.

The novice women also had fantastic races. The women’s eight brought home bronze and were 45 seconds back from first place an improvement of nearly a minute and a half from 2008. The novice four women took silver beating Tulsa’s NCAA boat. These results for the novice women bode well for strong racing at the Frostbite Regatta and racing against league rivals Colorado and Washington University and which team heads into winter training on top.

The novice men were first in the eight and four last year and again repeated these results. In the men’s novice four, the B Boat moved from 3rd last year to 2nd this year. Said Michael Stacey of Hutchinson, KS, “I feel we could have done a little better as we thought the event was 5000 meters, not 4000 meters, but still feel we did fantastic considering most were new to the four. Of all the sports I’ve played, I’ve never taken a medal in our first time in it. It was very exciting – passing the other boats – looking at them physically exhausted, when we felt like it was second nature – it was a real motivational booster. I’m now determined to win against Colorado and Iowa at Frostbite.”

The second men’s novice eight lost third by one second which is always a frustrating loss as one second can be the push of a button on the official’s timer. Also racing for the Shockers were Allen Strickler in the men’s open single and Malcolm Johnson in the lightweight single. Johnson finished 3rd and Strickler 7th of 11 coming off shoulder surgery and should be ready to add speed to the men’s four and eight come Frostbite.

09-29-09 / Shocker Rowing Heads to the Boot

Fall rowing races are typically called Head Races, and are a time trial event. The Head of the Oklahoma can not take place in its usual venue this year due to construction so the race has moved locations and names (now called the Boot of the Oklahoma), but will still occur in Oklahoma City, OK.

Shocker Rowing is sending its fleet of 47 athletes to compete in 13 events on October 3, 2009. Expected to place well will be the men’s collegiate four that placed 6th last year and the men’s novice 8 and 4 boats that placed first last year. Malcolm Johnson will also race in the men’s lightweight single race, his first single race as a Shocker Rower.
New events for Shocker Rowing at this regatta will be the women’s doubles. Chelsea Chavez, Erica Kuhlman, Stephanie Lillie and Melissa Koehn have been gearing up on their steering and racing strategies for this race on the very challenging Little Arkansas River course. The easier to steer Oklahoma River course should not pose much of a problem but the two boats will face a field of 19 boats against some NCAA powerhouse programs.

Lindsay Mills ’13, from Derby, KS, a walk on this year for the team will be racing as a coxswain in the Men’s Novice Four event, she is looking forward to: “getting a first race under my belt, really knowing what the real rush of a race feels like, and seeing all of the [other] teams.”

Jason Gorman, ’12, Wauwatosa, WI, also a walk on is looking forward to: “rowing my first ever race and this being my first time in Oklahoma. I’m also the only person [on the team] from WI, it will be an experience to have warm weather at such a late date.”

8-12-2009 / WSU Rowing Ready for Fall Season

Shocker Rowers head to the water August 20th to start training for fall races which start Sept 26th at home versus OSU. “I’m excited for rowing to start,” Erica Kuhlman ’10 says of the season. Kuhlman spent a year ‘abroad’ at Humboldt State in CA, so she knows how wonderful it is to get back to the Arkansas River. “I think we have a great team spirit, everyone is connected.” Also excited for the season is 2nd year WSU rower, Malcolm Johnson, ’12, “I’m looking forward to beating a lot of people,” and not just any team in particular “everybody.” Johnson spent the summer rowing in a single, coaching juniors in sculling, and came in first at the Capital Sprints in D.C.

Other home events include the Frostbite Regatta Nov 1 and new to this year, Class and Alumni Races on Oct 17. Shocker Rowing will also travel to OKC on Oct 3 and on Nov 14 to Louisiana.

Wichita State Rowing will have 9 returning women and 11 returning men. Rower Allen Strickler ’12 enters his fourth year (2nd as a WSU rower) and is looking forward to the Frostbite “even though it’s a small race, I enjoy [racing] smaller boats at Frostbite because I know the course well and it’s a challenge for everyone else.” Strickler, a Wichita native rowed as a junior on the Frostbite course, he then spent his first two college years at OSU “I’m also looking forward to the scrimmage against OSU, even though I’m on other side.”

These 20 athletes will be joined by 6 new WSU rowers who have rowed previously. Going into the summer, the team knew it had 4 recruits joining, 2 more were added over the summer. Sam Bernston hails from Tulsa, Oklahoma where he rowed for Tulsa Juniors. Laura Calhoun comes from Los Angeles, CA where she rowed with LA Rowing Club but has also rowed in D.C. for the Thompson Boat Center. “Both are very competent rowers with great racing skills, we’re really excited to have them join our program,” commented Assistant Coach Tori Breithaupt.

Laura Calhoun

High School: Grant High- Class of 2007
Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
Rowing Experience: 2 years of high school rowing experience in Maryland. I rowed for Bethesda Chevy Chase High and Thompson Boat Center while in Maryland. I have been rowing for Los Angeles Rowing Club for about 9 months, where I was the captain of a women's lightweight 4+.

Position: Port- Mostly stroke.

Honors & Awards: Dean’s List and honor society at Glendale Community College.

Personal: Janet Calhoun (mother). Born in Cleveland, OH. Grew up in the Washington D.C area. Now living in Los Angeles. Little fact about me is I have lived in five states (Kansas will make 6) and have visited thirty states. My goal is to see all fifty states before I die.

Why WSU: WSU combines rowing and a degree in Forensic Science. Looking forward to spending the next several years at WSU.

Sam Berntson

High school: Edison Preparatory High School

Home town: Tulsa, OK
Rowing experience: four years
Position: Starboard and sculling

Honors and awards: Lettered in rowing all 4 years
Competed in Juniors National Championships, 2006, 2007
Medaled in many regattas throughout high school
Leadership Council of Tulsa Rowing Club Juniors
Tulsa Rowing Club Juniors King Oar Award 2009

Personal: Parents are Elizabeth, and David Berntson, one brother
Participated in French Immersion School since Kindergarten. Have visited France twice, once with my family and once as an Exchange Student in 8th grade.

Why WSU: WSU has a great engineering program that I am excited to participate in. WSU has a great rowing team that has been very successful in recent years. I'm looking forward to having a great season rowing for the Shockers!

2008-2009

6-1-2009 / WSU Rowing Signs Third Local Recruit

Wichita State Rowing signed Sydney Fish to its 2009/2010 roster. Fish, a 2009 graduate of Wichita East high school joins two other local recruits, Sydney Blanton from Trinity Academy of Wichita and Grant Milford of Maize High School.

“We just ended the 08/09 season finishing 5th in the country in the novice men’s four,” said Assistant Coach Tori Breithaupt. “Of this boat, two were former high school rowers: Malcolm Johnson and coxswain Isabel Villaneda van Vloten. If we can do so well with two former rowers, I’m really excited to see what four experienced novice can do for the team.” (The fourth is red shirt Kevin Sossa ’12).

Fish has been a part of the Wichita Rowing Club for 2 years where most recently she placed first in the women’s junior double at 09 Great Plains Regatta. She was also the gold medal winner at the 2009 Shocker Sprints in both the 2000 meter and 500 meter junior women’s events.

“Sydney has the athletic mentality we’re looking for,” said Head Coach Calvin Cupp, “she understands what it means to be a student-athlete, how to balance athletics and academics. I’m looking forward to her leadership on the women’s novice team.”

High school: Wichita East High School
Home town: Wichita, KS
Rowing experience: two years
Position: port and starboard, sculling
Honors and awards: National Art Honors Society member... letterman in high school swimming... first place in novice 2k and 500m at Shocker Sprints Indoor Regatta
Personal: parents are (mother) Marty Fish, and (father) Dave Fish... two brothers, also attending WSU... Captain of the Wichita Rowing Association junior team with Coach Brian Adamson... four year swimmer on East High team with coach Joe Hutchinson and competitive swimmer for 12 years... advanced placement English, art, chemistry, and US history student...majoring in geology at WSU
Why WSU: WSU is a top notch school and I’m very excited to start there this fall. I’ve been offered many opportunities, both academically and athletically, that are very generous and exciting. I’ve had a great chance to get to know the coaches this year through the closeness of the WSU rowing team and the Wichita rowing association, as well as much of the team. By learning about all of these folks and already having friends in the team and coaches, I can say I’m going to have a blast on the team next year and learn a lot!

6-1-2009 / Three WSU Rowers Make All American Team

Kimberly Calaman was awarded third team All American, Peter Fast was a Regional winner and Fast and Lisa Burns were Academic All Americans of the American Collegiate Rowing Association (ACRA).

Coaches of the 150 member organization could each submit 5 women and 5 men candidates. From these nominees, 9 student-athletes were recognized from each region. After the conclusion of the National Regatta on May 24, the regional officers chose the All Team Americans. Calaman and Fast were chosen for excellence in 2,000 meter testing score, career racing results, accomplishments within the team, individual performances and the coach recommendation performance of the crew, with most consideration given to the ACRA results.

Fast and Burns were awarded 2nd team Academic All American, the awards going to junior or senior athletes who have a cumulative 3.7 GPA or higher.

5-26-09 / Wichita State Rowing Medals at Nationals

Oak Ridge, TN…WSU Rowing medals in the women’s doubles and advances three boats to the Grand Finals at the American Collegiate Rowing Championships (ACRA), the best team effort in WSU Rowing history at a National event. Not only was the racing fantastic, but Student-Athletes Peter Fast ’10 and Kim Calaman ’10 were awarded All American honors at the regatta, an award given to athletes who have been in the top boat all season, have great sportsmanship and leadership. The athletes are nominated by the coaches and selected by the ACRA committee. Fast and Lisa Burns ’10 were honored as academic All Americans, rowers who have a 3.8 or higher.

The ACRAs are the National Championship for non-athletic department sponsored rowing programs in the US. Teams come from both coasts and the midwest. WSU always looks forward to ACRAs because the level of competition is so high. “During this season, WSU has often taken off leaving its competition behind, at ACRA’s we know we’ll be challenged all the way down the course,” said head coach Calvin Cupp.

Rachel Cartwright ’09 and Carlie Miller ’12 took the Bronze medal in the women’s doubles, third to Kansas at 2nd and 1st place Oklahoma City University. “Going into the race we felt really confident and ready,” Miller said. The double is a sculling event, in which each rower has two oars instead of the one oar in the sweep events. Most collegiate rowing takes place in the fours and eights (sweep events), but a few programs such as WSU feel that offering both sculling and sweep rowing to its student-athletes affords them more racing opportunities and an overall better quality experience. Said Cartwright, “I was happy to be able to see how I could do in something completely different.”

WSU’s three fours all placed out of their heats and semi finals to advance to the Grand Finals, where all of them took fifth place.

The men’s varsity and novice fours each needed to finish in the top 4 of 6 in their heats on Saturday May 23 to advance to their afternoon semi finals. The novice men placed first and the varsity men second.

The afternoon semi finals posed more challenging competition and requirements, each had to be in the top 3 of six to advance to Sunday’s Grand Finals. In their semi, the novice finished third to Ohio State and Grand Valley.

Said Sam Smith ’10 of the men’s varsity four, “We knew Dayton would be ahead, and Sonoma close, our main goal was to stay ahead of UCLA – they have a good program and even though we had beaten them in the heats, we knew they would pick up more speed.” The close pushing of UCLA helped WSU to be third over the finish line.

The women’s fours requirements for advancing to the finals were more challenging in some regards. In the morning heats, the first place boat automatically advanced to the grand final and the others re raced in the afternoon. The University of New Hampshire had the lead from the start followed by WSU but both were beaten over the finish line by a late charge from the University of Colorado.

In their semis, the same requirements existed: finish first to advance to grand finals. Going into the semis, the women felt very confident, “We stayed long, constant and positive, “ said stroke Melissa Koehn ’11. The women rowed an 8:03, 10 seconds faster than the second place boat, easily sending them to Sunday’s Grand finals.

Going into the finals, “we felt nervous, knowing we needed to race better than we ever have. We stepped it up and had a good race, even though we didn't medal, but I’m really looking forward to next year. In the boat, the rowers were all 2nd year rowers and the coxswain a first year. Next year, we will be more experienced as most program’s varsity boats have third and fourth year rowers.”

In the varsity men’s four final, “we had a good laugh at the start line as we looked across at the other athletes who were all larger than us. We’re a mismatch of height and weight, but somehow we make it come together,” said 3 seat Peter Fast. Height is a benefit in rowing as 6’5” Fast knows, but with only four varsity men, Fast has to follow 6’0” Jimmy Fast stroke for stroke or the boat doesn't go.

The varsity men were particularly pleased with their time of 6:52.0, their fastest of the season and two seconds faster than last year’s best.

The ACRAs ends the 08-09 season for the Shockers, by far one of its best seasons. “We won the Upper Midwest, won the state championships, and won the Midwest Championships, this is first time we have won all three in addition to putting four boats in the Grand Finals at a National Championship,” said head Coach Calvin Cupp.

5-09-2009 / Wichita State Rowing Wins Governor's Cup at Sunflower State Championships

Wichita State Rowing takes first in every event except the novice women’s four to win the Governor’s Cup at the Sunflower State Championships.

The traveling event hosted by WSU this year was meant to take place on the Arkansas River with the finish in front of the Douglas St bridge so that Riverfest runners and participants could watch the racing and the staging would occur from the BG Products boathouse, home of the Shocker Rowers. Unfortunately, the Arkansas River’s discharge was at 9,000 cubic feet per second, making it far too dangerous for man powered boats to attempt to navigate, let alone race against and finish faster than at a snail’s crawl. Normal flow is around 500 cubic feet.

Fortunately, Wichita area rowers have been rowing from the shores of the Little Arkansas for several years and so the three teams loaded their boats on trailers and headed to Riverside for racing in Riverside Park. The current was still fast, but raceable. The course was shortened from its normal 2000 meters to 1300 m to be able to race on a straightaway, otherwise a turn would give the inside lane an unfair advantage.

WSU Women’s Varsity Four was the real delight of the day, taking the win from Kansas who had beaten them last weekend in Topeka. Coxswain Lisa Burns, rowers Kacie Laha, Kim Calaman, Melissa Koehn and Stephanie Lillie finished the race in 4:04.7 to KU’s 4:10.1 and KSU’s 4:39.8. “I’ve been racing these girls {KU} since last year where they came in third to our fourth last year at Nationals,” commented Lillie. “I really wanted to hand them a win…Finally.”
WSU’s novice women’s four also had a surprise ending. Novice rowers can only compete as novice their first year of collegiate rowing. WSU only has four novice women, one of them, Eva Spare, has been injured until two weeks ago, so the rowers have not been able to compete together. With little practice time together, the four was not expected to do well. They started the race in the lead, and unfortunately dropped to KU who finished in 4:10.9, but WSU still finished ahead of KSU, 4:25.2 and 4:32.7.

WSU men’s boats all brought home gold, as was expected, having beaten Kansas and KSU several times earlier in the season.

The team now spends two weeks at home gearing for Nationals on May 23 and 24.

5-04-2009 / All WSU Rowers Medal at Great Plains Regatta in Topeka

The Great Plains Regatta on Lake Shawnee in Topeka, KS saw intense racing by WSU Rowing especially in the Men’s Varsity events and women’s eight, with each and every Shocker rower sporting a bronze, silver or gold medal on the bus ride home.

The Men’s Varsity eight, four, pair and lightweight four all took first place. The novice men’s lightweight four, mixed four and women’s pair also brought home the gold for the Shockers. Also placing well were Malcolm Johnson and Allen Strickler in the men’s double who placed 2nd in a 7 boat race. Johnson and Strickler have not rowed the 2x all season and this was Johnson’s 7th race of the day and Strickler’s 4th. The women’s eight has all season long been making great strides, Saturday saw the Shockers beat all of the regional club programs and finish behind Drake and Creighton, two fully funded NCAA athletic programs. The women’s varsity four beat Creighton’s B boat which had two weeks ago easily beaten WSU. The Shockers placed 4th overall out of 9. The women’s team was also able to race a women’s novice four, the first of the season, with Eva Spare off the injured list. Hannah Schell, Kelsey Corrigan, Spare, Carlie Miller and cox Lisa Burns placed third in this event.

The novice men finally had some good competition from Midwest teams. After having beaten Iowa at the Upper Midwest, the Hawkeyes were determined to beat the Shockers and unfortunately did in the men’s novice eights and four events. “Being beaten can be a good training tool,” Assistant Coach Tori Breithaupt said, “especially when we assess what we could have done differently and practice to be stronger next time. At the National Championships, we know we are going to face very stiff competition, we need every blip and bump in the season we can get. If we’ve already handled being behind after 500 meters then we know what we need to do to take the lead again. If all season long, we’re always in the lead, this doesn't give us as many opportunities at different race strategies.”

The Shockers host KU and KSU at home this weekend and head to National Championships on the 23rd and 24th of May.

4-29-09 / WSU Rowing Hosts KU and KSU on Big Arkansas River May 9

There are a few sports in which Wichita State, the University of Kansas and Kansas State University are able to compete against the other two schools all at the same time; rowing is one of them. All three school’s rowing teams will race in the Sunflower State Championships in Wichita on May 9, 2009 at 9-11:30 a.m.

The races will take place out of the BG Products Boathouse on the Arkansas River. The start line will be just north of the Lincoln Street bridge with races concluding by the Hyatt. Viewing can be seen anywhere along the river or from the Lewis St. bridge. Spectators are welcome to park at the BG Boathouse and view from the boathouse’s banks where refreshments are available and race play-by-play can be heard.

Wichita State Rowing has been competing against KU and KSU since WSU’s crew inception in 1975. While WSU has won the Governor’s cup (all around trophy) in recent years, WSU has not dominated every year.

WSU goes into this year’s races having already beaten KU at the John Hunter Regatta in the men’s novice eight, men’s and women’s varsity four events. WSU was faster than KSU at the Upper Midwest in the same events. One event that will be hotly contested is the women’s eight and novice women’s four events in which all three teams’ speeds are equitable.

In years past, there has been an alumni event. Kansas rowers interested in racing other alumni should contact WSU Assistant Coach Tori Breithaupt. 978-3465

Special to this regatta will be a boat naming ceremony at 10:30 AM. Boats are given names for people who have contributed to the program; for example, one of the boats is named the Giovanni Bancheri in honor of former WSU Rowing coach John Bancheri who lead the team in the 1980s. The new name is being kept a secret until the 9th.

4-26-2009 / WSU Rowing Takes Men's Team Trophy Second Week in a Row

Wichita, KS- This Saturday the WSU Rowing Team competed in the Midwest Intercollegiate Rowing Championship, Tulsa, OK, where the WSU men took the Men’s team award a second week in a row (the Upper Midwest Team Trophy was won last week), while the women fought against some of the fastest crews of the nation.

The Midwest Intercollegiate Rowing Championship, is a regatta for rowing teams without a distinct rowing conference; Drake, Creighton and WSU represent the Missouri Valley, Tulsa and SMU, Conference USA and the University of Oklahoma City, the NAIA. This year was Wichita State’s first appearance in the competition.

The men won the team points trophy by placing first in the Novice 4+, Varsity 4+, and Varsity 8+ events. The men's eight of coxswain Alfredo Ortiz, and rowers Jimmy Sharp, Malcolm Johnson, Clint Simmons, Peter Fast, Sam Smith, Paul Houston, Brandon Manuel, and Allen Strickler finished the race with the fastest time of the day of 5.52.

“I was glad to see that they raced fast and hard, especially given to the poor water conditions,” Assistant Coach Tori Breithaupt said. The rowers had to battle against 7-8 mile currents and wind gusts of 20 mph. The current was so strong the race course was shortened to 1500 meters instead of the standard 2000 meters to prevent being pushed against bridge pillars.

In the Women’s Varsity 4 event , (coxswain Maggi McKibben, rowers Kacie Laha, Kimberly Calaman, Melissa Koehn, and Stephanie Lillie) advanced from heats to the petite final where they took second place with a time of 8:12. The JV women’s four also placed second with a time of 8:47 (coxswain Diana Troung, rowers Daphne Sierra, Carlie Miller, Hannah Schell, and Rachel Cartwright).

“We’re pleased to see that the women’s boats are getting faster every race, early in the season they were 1 ½ minutes behind Creighton, that time has decreased to 25 seconds and the men continue to pull out fast times,” Breithaupt said. “ We are looking forward for good quality racing and challenging competition next weekend in Topkea at the Great Plains Regatta.”

May 9th the WSU Rowers will host KU and KSU at home on the Big Arkansas. Races start at 9 AM and can be viewed from the Riverwalk.

4-22-2009 / WSU Rowing Signs Two Local Recruits

Wichita State Rowing is pleased to announce the addition of Grant Milford of Maize High School and Sydney Blanton of Trinity Academy High School in Wichita to its 2009-2010 squad.

Milford, a 6 yr football player and Blanton, a 7 year swimmer, both began rowing this winter for the Wichita Rowing Association with coach (and former WSU rower) Brian Adamson ‘92. Blanton, impressed with the Barton School of Business at WSU, knew that she wanted a team experience in college, but WSU had no swimming team. “I discovered that a lot of swimmers take up rowing as a second sport. I began in January rowing for Wichita Rowing Association to see how I would like it and I really enjoy it,” Blanton said.

“We’re really excited to have picked up Sydney,” said Head Coach Calvin Cupp, “having more student athletes that know what rowing is, is a huge boon to our program. Sydney is excited to come be a student athlete and contribute to the program we’re trying to grow. It’s also really nice to have two local kids with rowing experience who are coming to row for their hometown college.”

Milford picked up rowing because he thought it looked like a great sport and now loves the experience and workout. The Shocker coaches were immediately impressed with Milford’s race results at the Shocker Sprints Indoor Rowing In February 2009 where Milford placed first among junior (high school) men and second in the 500 meter open category beating several college-aged athletes. The coaches approached Milford and were pleased to learn Milford was already interested in WSU because of its renowned engineering program.

Both athletes have been offered scholarships by WSU Rowing. Milford will officially sign at 10:45 AM Friday April 24 at Maize High School. Blanton was offered the Don and Lee Wadsworth scholarship named in honor of the Wadsworths in honor of their generous contributions to WSU Rowing.

Milford and Blanton will join red shirt athlete Kevin Sossa on the novice squad next year. Sossa ’12, an engineering major, has been with the team since January 2009. “This is a great investment on Kevin’s part and we’re really impressed with the technical and physical progress he has made,” said Assistant Coach Tori Breithaupt. “Being a red shirt shows a lot of character and determination to be as prepared and experienced as he can, Kevin can be a good role model to the novice rowers and an example for other red shirt rowers could use in future,” commented Coach Cupp.

Most of the rowing team is and will continue to be walk-ons, but having three student-athletes with previous rowing experience will help drive WSU Rowing to future success. Much of the current Shocker wins can be attributed to the leadership of Malcolm Johnson ’12 and Isabel Villaneda van Vloten ’12, both former rowers.

Sydney Blanton
High School: Trinity
Hometown: Wichita, KS
Rowing Experience: port, starboard and sculling
Other sports: 7 years swimming, 7 years soccer, 9 years basketball
Major: Business-Entrepreneurship
Awards and achievements: National Honors Society (11,12); Headmaster's Honor Roll (9-12); Missouri Valley Swimming All-Academic Team 2006-2007, 2007-2008; Sedgwick County Zoo Volunteer Service Award Summer 2007; Varsity Swimming lettered (9-11)
Personal: parents Gary and Althea Blanton. Father is a WSU alumnus.

Student signing to WSU Rowing TeamGrant Milford
High School: Maize High School
Hometown: Maize, Kansas
Rowing experience: port, starboard and sculling
Other sports: football 6 years, track 2 years
Awards and achievements: Sedgwick County Scholarship, General Academic Scholarship
Major: Computer Engineering
Personal: Parents Rocky and Leisa Milford, both WSU Alumni, siblings Kelsey and Brock

Kevin Sossa
High School: Andover Central
Hometown: Andover, Kansas
Rowing Experience: Red Shirt WSU Rowing
Position: Port or Starboard and sculling
Major: Engineering
Personal: David and Martha Sossa sister Jasmine
Awards and achievements: lettered in track, wrestling and football, football Bi-District Champions
Sports: 3 yrs football, 2 track, 2 in wrestling
Why WSU Rowing: “Can't imagine doing anything else!”

4-20-2009 / Wichita State Rowing wins the Men’s Team Championship Trophy at Upper Midwest Collegiate Sprints.

Both the men’s varsity and novice eight take first place in their races to help put the team over Nebraska, Kansas State, Iowa, St. Thomas and the University of Kansas in Omaha, Nebraska Sunday April 19, 2009 at the Upper Midwest Collegiate Rowing Sprints.

The men’s eight of coxswain Alfredo Ortiz, rowers Jimmy Sharp, Malcolm Johnson, Clint Simmons, Peter Fast, Sam Smith, Paul Houston, Brandon Manuel, and Allen Strickler started the day for WSU with an easy win in their 8s heat. The rowers then raced in several other events before finishing the day with a 3 boat length win of 4:28, the second place boat, Iowa finished 17.6 seconds behind WSU and .2 seconds in front of 3rd place KSU.

Going into the Men’s Eight Final, WSU knew St. Thomas would have a fast start and good speed. St. Thomas’ four won the Dad Vails men’s four championship in 2008 and those rowers were back on the water. “Even though we knew that St. Thomas was the ‘better’ boat, we knew that we had to get out and get the job done in order to win the team point trophy,” Brandon Manuel commented, “we were told that St. Thomas would have a very fast start, when we saw that we were ahead at the beginning of the eight, this gave us great motivation.”

The hardest part of the day for many of the men’s rowers was pacing themselves. Manuel and Johnson both raced in 6 races that day, 5 for Simmons and Houston Strickler, Ortiz and Sharp in 4, and 3 for the others. In each of the early races, the boats were commanded to get ahead and if ahead by open water, to take the rate down. Several teams are known for starting slow and finishing with a fast sprint so it’s not an easy task for the WSU rowers to get ahead and see a boat creeping back on them and have the courage to take it slow. Despite pacing themselves, the lightweight, novice A and men’s varsity four A all took first place. The men’s varsity four B took second by .08 to Oklahoma City University.

The men's novice eight also had several boat lengths of open water over their competitors finishing with a time of 6:12.58, Nebraska was second, 16.29 seconds behind. KU finished third.

The women’s team brought home their first medals of the season with a third place win in the women’s varsity four and the women’s eight placed out of their heat to go to the grand final where they finished sixth.

WSU heads into next weekend's races in Tulsa, Oklahoma excited to test how much speed they have been gaining over the course of the season, particularly the women's eight. At the Texas Invitational, WSU women's eight lost to Central Oklahoma by 45 seconds. This weekend, WSU lost to UCO by 3 sec, who had lost to UCO by 10 seconds on the previous weekend. Most teams aim to get faster over the course of a season, but gaining 30 to 40 seconds on a competitor is a huge task. Furthermore, the WSU lineup has not changed over the course of the season, whereas UCO and OCU have had depth to cull from in order to feed the fastest lineup of the weekend.

WSU Rowing Medals in Five Events, Fourth in the Other Three

Wichita State Rowing heads away from the John Hunter Regatta bearing medals in 5 events and fourth in the remaining 3. The regatta took place on Lake Lanier, Georgia, home of the 1996 rowing Olympic events. WSU headed into the regatta coming off strong racing in March and were eager to test their speed against fast east coast teams such as Emory, Georgia Tech and Georgia.

WSU definitely caught the attention of the east coast who might not have known who we were until the Novice Men’s Four took a gold with open water early in the day over NC State, Georgia Tech and others. The boat of (cox: Isabel Villaneda van Vloten ‘12, Clint Simmons ‘12, Paul Houston ‘12, Brandon Manuel ’10 and Malcolm Johnson, ‘12) finished with a time of 7:25 and were the fastest time of any of the 24 men’s novice fours of the day.

Johnson, Villaneda van Vloten and Manuel, then jumped in the Men’s Novice Eight and helped that boat to a bronze medal losing only to Emory and Georgia Tech with a time of 7:10.

But the racing was not over for Johnson and Manuel, who went straight from the eight to the men’s lightweight four with three (Alfredo Ortiz ’10, Jimmy Sharp ’10, and Allen Strickler ’10) of the varsity four men who had just finished their race. Lightweight men must average 155 lb, with no one being over 160 and the men weighed in 0.1 lbs under the limit. The Four fought hard all race but could not beat Emory whose racers were fresh finishing their first race of the day.
The varsity men’s four and varsity women’s four both placed out of their heats, 1st and second respectively to go to finals. The men’s four finished third overall of 17 boats with a time of 7:16 and the women finished 4th of 18 boats with a time of 8:35.

Other medalists of the day were the men’s novice four B who finished third with a time of 8:10.
WSU Rowing nows heads into two weeks of solid training before heading to Omaha, Nebraska for the Upper Midwest Championships.