Here we go again!

The 2009 racing season kicks off with the annual Class Day Weekend on Friday and Saturday, March 27 and 28. Festivities begin with the VBC Banquet on Friday night and continue the following morning with races starting at 10:00 a.m. It's going to be a huge weekend with some really hot racing.

A great banquet program has been arranged, headlined by our own 2008 Beijing gold medalist Anna Mickelson Cummins and silver medalist Dave Calder. Call your classmates, fill out the registration form you received a week ago or call Katie Gardner at (206) 543-1117. For those of you who receive the newsletter by email, we've made it easy. Just click here VBC Banquet, fill out the form, and you will be registered and paid after a few clicks. However you register, don't delay; this party sells out fast.

On Saturday morning, it's all aboard the Goodtime II for the annual Cruise with Croissants for the best view of the races. After the races, walk back to Conibear for a free Stewards BBQ, the Awards Ceremony, and the official dedication of our newest shell, The Hunter (see the article that follows).

Both the men's and women's races are shaping up as a real dawg fight. The turnaround pulled off by Bob Ernst's charges, and world class athletes recruited by Bob, Michael Callahan, Luke McGee and Nicole Minett make this an impossible set of races to handicap. The coaches will tell you that the senior teams will win but we've talked to some juniors, sophomores and freshmen who have other ideas. Be there to see the action yourself. Each race is going to be close from start to finish.

Many of you have already received notice of the Cruise with Croissants but, if you haven't yet signed up, call Dwight Phillips at (425) 453-6829. Be on top of the action for the full 2000 meters on the Goodtime II, and enjoy coffee, snacks, and the fellowship of other parents, fans and friends. The Coast Guard limits the crowd on the boat to 200 so call Dwight today.

Tristine Drennan and her big contingent of volunteer Stewards will be manning the barbecue grills at the shellhouse after the races so be sure to stop by, get in line, eat heartily, drop a little something into the donation jar, and be there for the awards ceremony. The Hunter dedication will make this a very special party so be sure to be there.

A very special women's eight, The Hunter, will be dedicated on Saturday morning, March 28, following the Class Day races. Joining us for the ceremony will be shell donors Dottie Simpson and her family, representatives from the Athletic Department, invited guests, the coaching staff, and Husky athletes, alumni, families and friends.

Named for Hunter Simpson, former University Regent, extraordinary businessman, and long-time Husky Crew supporter and fan, The Hunter has already earned a place in rowing history.

Empacher manufactured the eight last year in Germany and, in an agreement forged by the Simpson family with the University of Washington and the U.S. Olympic Committee, sent it to Beijing for the 2008 Olympic Games. You may have seen that proud name on your television screens last summer as Anna Mickelson Cummins, Mary Whipple and seven teammates powered the boat to an Olympic gold medal for the United States. Following the Olympics, the shell was sent back to Germany where the Empacher people refitted it and sent it on to the Conibear Shellhouse.

The dedication will be a thrilling and proud moment for the Simpson family and for all the rest of us - athletes, parents, alumni, staff and friends. Be there as we honor the Simpson family, celebrate our Olympians, and inaugurate a new chapter in Husky history.

In 1997, no rowing program in the country was better than the one at the University of Washington. The men's Varsity eight was the fastest eight in the country, and the team swept the varsity, second varsity, and freshman eights at the IRA Championships. The UW women were the best in the country, as well, winning the varsity eight race en route to a team title at the inaugural NCAA women's rowing national championships. Even more impressive is that these two dominating performances came within 48 hours of each other.

This past fall, the achievements of these great Huskies was once again rewarded, as both the men's varsity eight and the women's team from the 1997 season were inducted into the Husky Hall of Fame. Both crews gathered on November 14th to take their place as Husky legends. The men's eight even relived fond memories by taking a shell out onto Lake Washington for an afternoon row before the ceremonies. Later that evening, the crews gathered in Hec Ed to receive their purple Hall of Fame jackets and to tell stories of their days on the Husky Crew.

The 1997 crew joins an elite list of Washington oarsmen and oarswomen in the Husky Hall of Fame. Hopefully, this latest batch of Washington rowing Hall of Famers will inspire the current generation of rowers at the shellhouse to great accomplishments of their own. Congratulations to the Champions of 1997!!!

Meeting the athletes is one of the great rewards that comes from volunteering time down at Conibear because they are an extraordinary group of women and men. Most of us think of Husky tradition as seamless, one class following the last in generally the same fashion, but the level of athleticism and academic achievement has never been higher. These are simply the most remarkable young people you are likely to meet. One of them, Erika Shaw, proves the point.

Erika played a minimum of three sports from the time she was six - including two years on a boy's rugby squad. She majors in biochemistry and is on-track to enter medical school, and in her spare time she dances, paints, draws, competes on the Canadian National Team and dreams about London in 2012. In another year or so, look for her in the other London - the one in Ontario - where she and several of her Husky teammates will compete for seats on the strong Canadian National Team.

Erika was born and raised in Victoria, B.C., where her mother is a land consultant and her father a manager. Her brother, Keith, is on a baseball scholarship at the University of North Dakota and she is hoping to follow him on television one day soon as he burns up the major leagues. Erika attended Claremont Secondary where she was a standout athlete and scholar. She is likely to settle in Victoria when her education and athletic careers are completed, but there is a lot she wants to accomplish between now and then.

In 2005 Erika gold medaled in both the eight and the four at the 2005 BC Championships. In 2006 she competed in Amsterdam with her Husky teammate, Rosie DeBoef, at the Junior World Championships where they placed fourth in the pair. In those same years, she was voted MVP for Claremont Secondary and in 2006 she was named outstanding athlete for Claremont's Sports Institute - all while winning honors in math.

Erika spent her freshman year at Michigan State but transferred to the UW last year and became an immediate mainstay in the women's varsity. Last season she and her teammates won at the San Diego Crew Classic and defeated Navy and Melbourne University to win the Windermere Cup. And she and her teammates won the team second place at the NCAA Championships. Last summer she joined the Canadian U-23 team and placed fourth in the women's eight in Brandenburg, Germany.

She likes the training routine at Washington. "There are more ways to push and test yourself here," she said. "I like way Bob has set it up, and I like the way he seems to be pushing us harder this year." She tells us that the Husky women have what it takes to win it all this year. A second place finish to Yale at the Head of the Charles still rankles. "I really wanted to get those guys" she said, ignoring the fact that the Huskies started that race sixteen spots behind the Yale team. She's going to get another shot at Yale and a host of other teams this spring and we think she and her teammates have a good chance to bring home the national title.

Erika has dreamed of competing in the Olympics since she was twelve. "There are forty women my age in Canada who are in the running so the competition is going to be fierce.

We know she wouldn't have it any other way. We know, too, that she will do what it takes in the classroom to earn a spot in medical school. In fact, we see nothing but gold in Erika's future.

"Winter camp is the most important training we do all year."

Those words came from Bob Ernst emphatically and he followed them with a good argument for the statement. "Think about it," he said. "Because of time lost over the Thanksgiving recess and training restrictions the week before finals and through finals week, five or six weeks pass between the last practice and the start of Winter quarter. Winter Camp gives us a fantastic opportunity to train in the perfect location."

Bob was pleased with the fall training that led to the selection of athletes for the trip. Devoting most of the time to fitness training and strength development, he noted that: "Fortunately for us, Nicole Minett is a great teacher. Two freshmen women rowers and a freshman cox were a part of the traveling squad. We're looking for the top 20 athletes. Period. I'm really happy that she produced some."

Bob, Michael Callahan, and the staff use the time in Chula Vista to reintroduce the athletes to rowing skills rather than work on conditioning. But the camp provides more than skills training, and that is the point Bob makes when he calls the camp the most important training of the year. In the fall, Winter Camp drives pair competition because selection for the traveling squad depends solely on performance in the pairs. "Everyone works hard in the fall in order to make the trip," Bob said. This year 20 women and 19 men plus coxswains traveled south. None are guaranteed a seat in a racing boat but each has a leg up in the continuing competition for one. It always happens that some of those left home will race come spring, but the point still stands: the camp fosters fierce competition in the fall, a warm reintroduction to rowing skills without the distractions of school, and a head start on spring.

"Chula Vista is the best place in North America to row over the last week in December," Bob said, and this year, with a constant 70 degree temperature and flat water, he added, "conditions could not have been better." Chula Vista is a planned community with lots of bike trails in addition to the Arco Olympic Training Center, and the teams make use of it all. The teams turn out three times a day with each workout being 60 to 70 minutes. Two of the sessions are on the water in pairs and eights, and one is on bicycles. The men use racing bikes, the women mountain bikes, and, as you might guess, everything with these crews turns into competition.

Coach Colin Sykes, who knows a thing or two about coaching national champions, took some magnificent photographs of the trip. Check out those here and look for a few more at http://www.huskycrew.org.

Isabelle Woodward, a four year honors student from Ballard High School, was born with purple and gold blood. The Husky connection goes all the way back to her great grandfather who maintained an office on the University of Washington campus in the 19th or early 20th century. Her grandmother graduated from the University in 1915, and her parents, Ann and David, and all of her aunts are alumni as well. Her older sister, Amanda, graduated in 2007 and is engaged to a University of Washington Medical School student.

Isabelle said that her parents applied no pressure on her choice of college but we suspect that the conversation on the subject around the Woodward dinner table was brief and to the point. And the University of Washington is the better for it.

At Ballard she put aside the xylophone, bells and her trombone - all of which she played - to apply for the lead drum major position. The band leader was concerned that, at five feet three inches tall, her fellow musicians wouldn't be able to see her, but she learned to reach higher than anyone and won the spot two years running.

Winning is just part of Isabelle's makeup. She became involved in the Future Business Leaders of America and was voted vice president for Washington's west central region. In addition, she was a Rotary scholar.

Isabelle is a junior coxswain this year majoring in International Business Administration and Near East Studies. Even more than the Husky legacy issue, she was attracted to the U.W. because of its academic reputation and its "phenomenal business school." This honors student envisions a career in international business and to add emphasis and direction to that goal, she is studying Arabic. We were curious about the challenge of that choice and she explained that it is a "very logical language," unlike a romance language in that its vocabulary and grammar are fixed and clear. "Believe it or not," she said, "I compare it to doing math."

A high school friend who had rowed at Green Lake talked Isabelle into walking on at the University. She didn't race much her freshman year but, as in all things she undertakes, she learned quickly and moved up. Last year she began the season as cox of the women's second varsity but was moved to the four where she led her team to an undefeated season and gold at the Pac-10 Championship. Moved to the varsity eight after that race, she missed her teammates in the four (and also the national championship they won), but found a true home in the eight during a thrilling semi-finals race at the NCAA - "an incredible race" she said.

Isabelle prides herself in having learned how to work with lots of different people, and finds being a cox a good place to apply her serious, perfectionist nature. "The cox job," she said, "helps rowers do what they do better than they think they can do it. I love that part of it." And we love that she found a home at Conibear where she belongs.

The Husky women have made a remarkable comeback on the national scene under the guidance of Bob Ernst, Colin Sykes, and Nicole Minett.

Coming off a disappointing fourth place finish at the Pac-10s last spring, the Huskies were surprised and thankful to receive an invitation to the NCAA tournament. Upon hearing the word, they rededicated themselves to getting the job done properly. When they arrived at Rancho Cordova, they were relegated to an "also-ran" showing by prognosticators from both coasts and places in-between. But they surprised everyone with a second place team finish. And the four captured the national championship, preserving Colin Sykes long run as the county's premier fours coach.

All Huskies were pleased to find that the NCAA performance wasn't a fluke. At the Head of the Charles last fall, the women's varsity started in the twentysecond position and threaded its way through the Charles River traffic and crossed the finish line second behind Yale (who started in sixth position) among collegiate crews.

So what about 2009? The women haven't let up; in fact, Bob, Colin and Nicole have them training harder and smarter. This year, they are thinking nothing but first place, and we believe they have an honest shot. The first chore will be success in the Pac-10 which Ernst calls, "the hardest, most competitive conference by a mile." California, Stanford (with two Olympians), and USC will all be strong, he says, and Washington State will be "a huge challenge." Then, if the Huskies succeed in the conference, they will face Yale, Princeton, Brown and Virginia at the national championships, any one of whom could win it all. "It's not going to be easy this year," Ernst says, "but these women are up to the challenge if they stay focused."

It is clear to anyone who visits Conibear these days that Rowing News magazine got it right when they claimed: "Washington is back."

The 2008 crews will be a tough act to follow. The guys winning the Ten Eyk trophy (symbolic of the best overall team at the IRA regatta) for the second year in a row and the women's second place finish at the NCAA regatta once again establishes our University of Washington team as the BEST in collegiate rowing!

We have lofty goals. The varsity men will not be content with anything less than winning their event at the IRA, and they have the athletes to do it! California will be here on April 25th for our annual duel regatta, and the guys will see what Mike Teti has conjured at Cal.

It has been years since the women have defeated Cal and hoisted the Simpson Cup in victory. We have a very challenging spring schedule and must work hard to develop our racing skills in order to be ready for the racing season. The Pac-10 has grown to be the toughest rowing conference in the country, and it would be exciting to move up in the standings and be invited back to the NCAA regatta to see if we can climb up one more notch.

I have never observed more excitement, passion and enthusiasm around the boathouse. Our staff has recruited some of the best and brightest athletes from the Northwest and the world to row at Washington. It is very special to be here every day. We have a dedicated and talented crew that is relentless in its quest to make Washington #1!

The most exciting weekend in my tenure at the University of Washington was in 1997 when our women's crews won the inaugural NCAA Team Championship! It was the first NCAA championship won for the University of Washington in ANY sport. The day before, the men SWEPT the IRA regatta by winning the varsity, JV and frosh eights for the first time in over fifty years!

It was great to have these special Huskies back on campus, going for commemorative rows and being recognized by the University as REALLY extraordinary. These former athletes have their own families now and very successful careers and they traveled from all over the country to celebrate their unique athletic achievements.

The athletic department treated our rowers very well and awarded them all with a smart purple blazer indicating their new stature as members of the Husky Hall of Fame. We will certainly have more Huskies honored similarly in the future! My dream is for the athletic department to find a bigger facility to host the next banquet - at least if they have rowers as inductees. If you have any suggestions that will make this event even more special, please let me know.

Please support our annual fund drive. Times are tough for everyone and we ask you to remember that our exceptional program runs on money as well as tradition, enthusiasm and hard work! Any help you can give us is greatly appreciated.

See you all at the races!

At 6' 1", Adrienne Martelli was a natural for the basketball court at Curtis High School in University Place. She was not only well placed but was voted captain by her teammates. Not so obvious an athletic choice, however, was cross country running. In typical fashion, she applied herself and was named the most improved cross country runner in her senior year. In fact, she was named the most outstanding female studentathlete of her senior class at Curtis. Think of it as a companion award to her position as Editor in Chief of the high school yearbook. Together, they describe a multi-faceted woman who will carry on the traditions of Husky rowing.

"I always wanted to go to the University of Washington," Adrienne said when we spoke to her. "In the 11th grade, I got a packet from the UW rowing team and it seemed like a perfect fit for me." At first she found the training routine physically and mentally exhausting. Currently, she lives in a house near Green Lake with four other girls, all of whom rowed for the UW. Only two of the group still row, a comment, perhaps, on just how demanding the life of a student-athlete can be.

In her freshman year, she found that the sport truly was a great fit for her. She nailed down a seat in the top novice eight and capped victories over Oregon State, Washington State and Cal with a silver medal at the Pac-10 Championships. Last year she rowed the bow seat in the four. She and her teammates finished the season undefeated, won gold at the Pac-10 Championships, and ended the year by winning the NCAA Championship.

Adrienne is winning in the classroom, too. She is on a five year program as a biology major headed for medical school. Although rowing is exhausting, it is well-planned, she said, leaving her tired but with enough energy to sustain her academics. The five year schedule has given her enough breathing room to attend the U.S. National Team Freshman Camp in 2007 and the U.S. Club National Regatta last summer where she and teammate, Alison Browning, won gold in both the elite and intermediate pair events.

Yes, there is probably a national and international future for Adrienne but first lets concentrate on that Class Day race and the 2009 racing season. Heads up, you other classes, Adrienne threw it down. "This year," she said, "there will be no equipment malfunction. The juniors will win Class Day."

Our new novice coach, Nicole Minett - a pedigreed Husky and new only in the sense that she is new to the coaching staff - knows a thing or two about rowing well and rowing fast. A Toronto native, Nicole rowed for Washington from 1998 through 2001, and helped her team win four consecutive Pac-10 crowns. In 2000 she won at the Henley Royal Regatta and the following year won All Pac-10 honors. In 2001 and 2002 she rowed for the Canadian national team, competing in World Championships in 2001 and the World University Games in 2002.

Nicole coached at the University of Wisconsin for four years, winning several Big 10 titles with her novice squad. She led her team to an undefeated season in 2005-06, and placed fourth at the NCAA championships in 2007. She and her husband, Charles Minett '03 - a standout Husky rower himself and both captain and commodore of his team, are expecting their first child.

Bob Ernst said of Nicole: "She's passionate about Washington rowing and she is an excellent teacher. She gets along with her athletes; she knows when to pat them on the back and when the opposite motivation is needed. We are very lucky she is here."

We spoke with Nicole recently and posed a few questions.

HRN: How did you pick the UW originally?

NM: I was a sculler in a club of lightweights and I was looking for a strong team, so I sent out packets to the leading rowing schools. Eleanor McElvaine called and I came running.

HRN: What led to your success at Washington?

NM: Fear! I couldn't believe how good the team was when I arrived. Then I thought: hey, the school is paying the bills, I'd better get to work.

HRN: You succeeded magnificently. Why?

NM: Eleanor, first of all. She taught me what it means to be a Husky so I have huge respect for her. Then Jan Harville; she was simply the best of the best.

HRN: What leads to individual success in the coaching system you impose?

NM: My athletes know that no one is entitled. Everyone has to do the work. I take a cue from Eleanor and try to instill a passion for the sport, a love. Then, like Jan, I teach them to row well - to row skillfully and smart and hard.

HRN: Why have athletes taken so well to your approach?

NM: I pay close attention to them and take nothing for granted. Every day I go to work full of enthusiasm, knowing I have a responsibility to the tradition of the program.

HRN: What goals do you have for the future in addition to winning?

NM: I would love to have every alumna be part of the program. I would love for every one of them to come down and be part of what we are building.

Speculation and rumor on this question ebb and flow like the tide. At the flood stage presently, the issue is on the minds and lips of most men's rowing coaches and some athletic administrators. Who cares besides them? You should. No matter what happens, it will have a major impact on our men's rowing program.

Let's cover a little background first. Several decades ago, American colleges and universities launched a magnificent and successful program to promote women's intercollegiate athletics by recognizing and underwriting a full spectrum of intercollegiate women's programs, including women's rowing. Generally, the goal was to balance the ratio of women to men participating in intercollegiate athletics with the ratio of women to men in an institution's student body.

The effort created an incalculable positive change for women and for our sport. Women's programs exploded across the country, opening a new avenue for education and competition for thousands of young women. And happily, most schools have achieved something close to that parity they sought.

But the success came about with complications. At the beginning, the schools that comprise the NCAA understood that it would be difficult, perhaps impossible, to balance their programs with so many male athletes participating on football teams. Those involved in the initial design resolved the problem by leaving men's rowing programs outside the authority of the NCAA and, thus, unrecognized as an intercollegiate sport. Regardless of the ethical questions inherent in that decision, it served a greater good at the time. But, like so many decisions of expediency, this one is producing unintended consequences.

While women's rowing is thriving, many men's programs are under-funded, are maintained at a club status, or have been eliminated. Now some men's coaches, seeing financial and competitive advantages in NCAA recognition, have been speaking out for inclusion. But the devil, as always, is in the details.

A simple question of scholarship limits is a great example. Women's rowing programs may now grant a maximum of 20 full scholarships but, if men's rowing becomes a NCAA sport, there is no guarantee that men's scholarships would be allowed and, if they were, how many. The numbers issue has as many perspectives as there are programs, most argued to give a program a competitive advantage.

We are fortunate at Washington to have strong support from our Athletic Department, the University's administration, and our alumni. Our program is vibrant, our athletes exceptional, our alumni supportive, our history enviable and our future bright. But that status gives us the responsibility to help lead the conversations to a resolution that works best for the sport, and we want to assure you that our coaches and our athletic department are part of the discussion. We will revisit the subject when and if the conversation moves beyond speculation. Look for updates in your Husky Crew Newsletter.

We haven't yet profiled a true freshman but we are pleased to do so this month by introducing you to a magnificent Australian athlete, Veronica Tamsitt. She hails from Sydney and joins a growing contingent of great athletes attracted from Australia and New Zealand to the University of Washington.

When we talked, we forgot to ask whether she or her twin brother was born first, so she is either the second or third oldest of four children in the Tamsitt family. Her older brother is 20 and a student at the National University of Australia; her twin brother is currently in the army but will be attending university soon; and her younger sister is a 17 year old high school student. Veronica's father teaches law at the National University of Australia and her mother is the chief executive of a consulting business in Sydney.

Veronica attended the Canberra Girls Grammar School where she participated in water polo, field hockey and music. She sang in the choir and, for the last five years, played guitar - classic rock, we were told. She didn't bring it along with her to Seattle but may ask her parents to bring the guitar when they visit. We're told the Tamsitts love to travel and will likely be here for the Windermere Cup, so be sure to listen for Australian accents at the races and introduce yourself when you come across them.

Veronica spent two years in an eight in high school and then moved to the pair. She competed in the World Junior Nationals in the summer of 2007. It was a fascinating experience for her because the races were held on the Beijing Olympic course - before the Chinese cleaned up the air for the Olympics. Her boat took second in the B finals and had the sixth fastest time. And they got their fill of smog. At Washington, Veronica is majoring in oceanography, combining her love of science and the ocean. So far she has found herself a bit better prepared than many of her classmates and the class work a bit less daunting than she had anticipated, but that is likely to change when she hits upper division courses. Meanwhile, it relieves her of the more typical anxiety faced by freshmen in balancing class work with the rigorous training schedule.

She was one of two freshman rowers and a freshman cox who made the travel squad for Winter Camp and stated that she 'loved the experience.' Training at Washington is somewhat different than what she experienced at home where most of the work was done on the water and ergs used only for testing. It wasn't unusual for her to log 100 kilometers a week in training back home.

So far, Veronica has seen little of Seattle but the University of Washington campus. She is living in a dorm at present but may move to an apartment or house next year. She walks and takes the bus to get around, and is thinking that it might be time to pick up a bicycle in order to see more of the city. Meanwhile, the racing season is approaching quickly and she looks forward to testing herself against some great West coast competition.

It's not over until the end of the month but we have an indication of the alumni and friends support the teams can count on for the year. As predicted, the results this year are down a little but there are linings in those dark clouds. You continue to be strong supporters of your rowing teams. That's a major part of our strength and we thank you for it.

Beginning this year, we are recognizing your financial support in these pages. Check out the donor page that follows. It includes all donors between September 1 and February 28. If you contributed to the program and you don't find your name, let us know. We want to give everyone proper credit. If your name isn't included because you haven't sent a check, do it today. Send it to Bob Ernst, University of Washington, P.O. Box 354070, Seattle, WA 98195.

Published by the Washington Rowing Stewards four times a year in October, January, March and June. Editor: John Wilcox Production Manager: Katie Gardner.
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Washington Rowing Stewards
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2009 Varsity Boat Club Banquet
and VBC Induction

Friday, March 27th, 2009

Conibear Shellhouse

6:00 - 7:00 Reception

7:00 - Dinner and Program

Honoring our 2008 Husky Olympians

Make checks payable to the Washington Rowing Stewards and mail them to:
Washington Rowing Stewards, Attn: A. Forney, 601 Union Street, #3600, Seattle, WA 98101.