CMU Rowing is once again selling the quintessential item of romance to Carnegie Mellon love birds for Valentine's Day; Red roses. Available all week long for pre-order and for sale starting on Friday in Carnegie Mellon's University Center, these hand picked flowers will surely bring confidence to the shy, love to the enamored, and gratitude to everyone else. Make sure you properly say "I love you" to that special someone with roses from crew!

The Tartans ended their fall season strongly this past weekend at the Head of the Occoquan in Fairfax, Virginia. The grueling 6,000 meter course is marked by four major turns that, when taken well, can make the difference between placing ahead or behind of a competitor. The winding river is considered one of the most challenging courses in the country. In addition, the weather wildly ranged from windy at points to drizzling rain, making warming up difficult for rowers.

However, our adept coxswains and rowers navigated the course expertly to make their mark in the regatta. As womens' coxswain Gabbi Coloyan (CIT '12) put it, "The [Occoquan] course was definitely the most challenging course I've ever coxed, but the girls in my 8 and 4 were able to power through the turns. The girls in the 4 were especially able to crank on the power, and we were able to beat Pitt." The women made a strong showing, with the varsity womens' 4+ placing 10th of 31 boats, and the 8+ making aggressive times.

Among the other victories included the Varsity Mens' 4+, coxed by graduate student Bryan Cheung and rowed by juniors Sean Lubner, Justin Perry, Jonah Coste, and Edward Burns, to finish with a time of 18:50.0733, earning themselves 5th place out of 31 boats. Mens' Captain Justin Perry was optimistic about the race, noting "our fifth place finish was an improvement from last year, and a good way to end the season. Now we know who is still ahead of us, and that will be our motivation to train all winter."

For the novices, the Head of the Occoquan marked their first competitive race outside of scrimmages, and every exhausted novice rower managed to walk away from the weekend with smiles on their faces. The novice mens' 8 pushed strongly to pull far ahead of rivals University of Pittsburgh and Duquesne. The womens' 8s roughed out the race to finish with a respectable time of 23:52.5733. Dmitriy Yakubov (Architecture '13) said of his 8, "The race felt really good. We were in good shape and we held our own against the other crews. There is room for improvement and our time could be better, but at the end of the day, I believe everyone in that boat gave all they had to give, and that's what matters the most." Although the mens' 4+ earlier that day were marred by collisions, they clearly pulled it back together for their 8.

As always, team parents were in full force to deliver cupcakes ("slow" food) and fruits ("go" food), along with their support. As the race was held on Halloween, many race officials and team members showed their holiday spirit by bringing along wigs and costumes. The overall atmosphere was definitely competitive, but lighthearted as well - qualities that mark the most fun of regattas.

Although we close our fall race season with this race, the team will be having a scrimmage with Duquesne and UPitt next Saturday at Washington's Landing, right here in Pittsburgh on the North Shore. We hope you'll be able to come by before we head into our rigorous five-month winter training season.

See full race results here: http://bit.ly/1dS44L

The end of the Spring 2009 racing season was marked by outstanding new personal bests, team-wide successes, and as always, a somber farewell to our graduating senior rowers.

Fresh from the victories at Knecht Cup and an exciting Spring Carnival weekend, the team captured an unprecedented number of medals at Governor's Cup in Charleston, West Virginia. The weather was hot and sunny, with only a gentle cross headwind - perfect conditions for dozens upon dozens of exciting 2K, 1K, and dash races. Carnegie Mellon took first place in finals of six of the nine events, blowing past competition such as Case Western Reserve, Duquesne, Virginia Tech, Miami, and John Carroll University. At the end of the day, the team claimed the Governor's Cup with the most overall team points. For full results, visit the host school's website: http://snurl.com/l8unl

But of course, the racing season always culminates with the Dad Vails National Rowing Championships in historic Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The team entered a total of 5 boats, of which proudly included 2 novice boats. The Womens' Varsity Pair and Mens' Varsity 4+ both progressed to semi-finals from heats; even the Novice Mens' 4+ bested 34 other boats from across the nation to secure a place in the semi-finals. Although the Mens' Varsity 4+ missed finals by a single place, the Womens' Varsity Pair progressed to finals, and in a thrilling finale, secured a bronze medal nearly half a year in the making. For all the other Carnegie Mellon competitors, it was an rewarding experience to be in a competitive environment unlike any other in the world. Powerhouse Timing provides the full Dad Vails race results here: http://snurl.com/l8umu

Our senior rowers this year included Elliot Beltzer (MCS), Brian McGraw (H&SS), Danielle Millett (SCS), Judith Vogel (MCS), Natalie Weir (MCS), and Chris Herlich (H&SS). Each senior had his or her own rich accomplishment to call their own this year, whether it be a pairs medal at Vails, first place finishes at Murphy Cup, or even the satisfaction of a semi-finals qualification at Dad Vails. Their impact on the team will not be easily forgotten, and the Carnegie Mellon Rowing Club is proud to welcome them to our ever-growing association of rowing Alumni.

The 2008-2009 rowing season is one for the books, but with ever-growing interest in rowing at Carnegie Mellon, the team looks forward to more talent to build upon the successes it's made this season.

On the weekend of the 10th, the crew team toughed out two full days of the Knecht Cup in Camden, NJ. Even with over 50 schools in attendance - ranging from Bucknell University to University of Wisconsin - the team recorded three solid performances on the Cooper River.

On Friday, most of the team's boats raced in preliminary and semifinal rounds, which included all combinations of pairs, 4s, and 8s. Every round, even the preliminaries, were heated races to watch: in a couple races, the team's boats edged out its competition within the last 100 meters. Many boats progressed to finals on Saturday.

Whereas the weather was extremely cooperative and refreshing on Friday, Saturday brought with it torrential rains and cold winds that prevented the rowers from performing at their best; the novice men's 8, stroked by freshman Chris Burchhardt, grappled with frigid temperatures and horizontal rains, but managed to victoriously earn a silver medal. The women's pair, rowed by Judith Vogel and Natalie Weir in the Oliver Sung, continued their winning streak from Murphy and UAA's by placing second. And to round off the victories, the women's varsity 4 also took home its own silver medal.

Despite the harsh weather, which still gets in the way of practices, the Carnegie Mellon Crew team is performing spectacularly this season. Our next race is in Charleston, West Virginia: the Governor's Cup, on April 25th. We hope to see you there!

Also, expect to be receiving a Rower's Oar from the team very soon!

The weekend of March 28th and 29th we had our first races of the spring '09 season. On Saturday we traveled to the Schuylkill river in Philadelphia, PA for Murphy Cup Regatta. Both novice and varsity had a good showing, entering multiple boats in several races. The men's varsity lightweight 4+ consisting of Seniors Brian McGraw and Elliot Beltzer (coxswain) and sophomores Justin Perry, Sean Lubner, and Ed Burns had an excellent race, taking first place in finals with a time of 7:02.2.! The men's novice 4+ also had a good race taking 4th place. On the women's team we took 1st, 2nd, and 4th place in the varsity pair event with Seniors Natalie Weir and Judith Vogel placing first and Juniors Megan Larcom and Alyssa Fogel placing second. The women's varsity 8+, stroked by sophomore Hilary Baribeau came in 3rd in their event.

On Sunday we competed in the 6th annual UAA Championships on Lake Arthur in Moraine State Park, PA. The weather caused some difficulties with the start of the regatta being delayed an hour and races occurring in cold, rainy, and windy conditions. Despite this, notable placings include the women's varsity pair of Natalie Weir and Judith Vogel taking 1st place, and the men's varsity lightweight 4+ placing 3rd.