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The team has started its official training for the spring season this week and all things point to unprecedented success for the program. The varsity and novice squads are stronger than in any other year and the practices to date have been marked by very good intensity. The team will test its training at the Minnesota Indoor Rowing Championships in Rochester, MN on February 18th.

It has been quite some time since this site has been updated. Over January, a revision will occur and everything will be brought up to date. If you have any questions about the team, please e-mail tpjohnson@stthomas.edu.

4/3/06

UST opened the spring season with races against Lawrence University from Appleton, WI. LU brought three women's varsity fours and a men's varsity four.

The women's fours did three pieces at around three minutes each. Our varsity women's B four with novice rower Jessica Reinhart included coxswain Sarah Keenan, Andrea Peterson, Katie Gehrz and Amelia Dieken. In the first piece, the boat got off to a shaky start and lost to LU's lightweight four while beating LU's B heavy four. The UST four showed growing strength and stamina by winning the next two pieces over both of LU's boats.

The varsity women's A four went even better for the team by winning all three of their pieces. The boat included; Sarah Keenan, Heather Maenke, Eve Commerford, Angela Osmolak and Katie Reed.

The varsity men's fours did two three minute pieces followed by one 2,000 meter (approximately) piece. UST got off to good starts for both of the short pieces, but after the settle, LU was able to take control and won both of the pieces by a comfortable one length lead. The 2k piece was following the pattern of the first pieces with a fast start by UST followed by LU working out to an open water lead. Approximately half way through the race, LU had marched out to about half a length of open water. The race got very interesting at that point as the UST four started to pull back on terms with the LU boat and the boats eventually crept even with about 200 meters to go. UST continued to surge ahead and managed to win by about half a deck which was under a one second margin.

Overall, UST won 6 of the 9 pieces raced on Saturday. The weather was very cooperative and there were a few parents down to see the action. It was really nice to have a home race and the team is thankful for LU giving up their weekend to make the dual race work. Both teams got some great work in and have some results to build upon for the rest of the season.

4/3/06

St. Thomas had a great showing at the erg race and won all of the categories that they entered. Many personal bests were set for the day and there was a great deal of energy in the gym on that day. All of the winter training paid off well for this group. Results are available at www.regattacentral.com.

2/14/06

Happy Valentine's Day! We are in the lead up week to the TCIRC's and everyone is looking in better shape every day. The formation of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Rowing Conference is almost finalized with six colleges and universities now participating. This will give all of the Minnesota programs a great goal to work towards during the season. Additionally, we are now initiating our fundraising campaign in an effort to acquire two more eights by next fall. With the amazing growth of the team, we are now not able to fully boat each of the programs at each practice. After the erg race, we don't have much racing lined up. We will head down to Austin, TX during the third week in March and start the process of boat selection coupled with some very high mileage.

1/13/06

St. Thomas is in full winter training now and preparing for the Twin Cities Indoor Rowing Championships on February 18th. More information about the race can be found at www.mnrf.org. After a successful campaign in the Fall in the eights, UST will continue to work towards the goal of being a highly competitive eights program. However, the team will be spending much time in small boats in an effort to maximize rowing skills.

UST competed on its home course against Macalester College and Winona State University. By winning 7 of the eight events, the team captured the overall points trophy for this inaugural regatta. The women's novice races turned out to be the most competitive of the day with St. Thomas besting Macalester by 8 seconds in the four and clipping Winona State by 9 seconds in the eight. This regatta was a great day for all of the teams involved with a great turnout of friends and family. Additionally, these match ups provided a little preview into the conference championship race in the spring. Results can be found at www.mnrf.org.

10/23/05 (Head of the Charles Regatta)

For the first time in club history, UST Crew fielded both a women's and men's eight at the Head of the Charles Regatta. The men finished 35th in the field of 41 boats in a time of 17:19.6. With five sophomores in the boat, the team is not far off from taking the next step up into the top half of the field. This year's squad was only 32 seconds away from accomplishing this and 51 seconds from placing in the top ten. With the continued growth and success of the team, the men's squad should be contending for a top ten spot within the next few years.

The women finished 39th of 46 entries, and were the sixth club program in the field. Finishing only 2 seconds behind Colorado, the boat crossed the line in a time of 20:05.2. This young crew has showed plenty of grit all fall long and this race was no exception. Although the team needs to make up significant time to leap into the top half of the field, this group is providing the foundation for the team to do just that.

10/11/05 (Head of the Rock Regatta)

The Head of the Rock provided for some very good competition and the most solid, across the board results for the team to date. The highest finish that the team achieved was in the Men's Pair with a second place finish. Oddly enough, the team had six eighth place finishes.

The novice women's eight beat out numerous boats from NCAA Division I scholarship programs and appear ready to make their mark this season. The novice men turned in a very solid row in their race coming in eighth place as well. The novice squad this year is in great shape overall.

The men's varsity eight fought off Notre Dame after being caught by them in the first half of that race. They really dug in and were actually opening up water again in the last 500 meters. This crew showed incredible grit which will be greatly needed at the Head of the Charles.

The women's varsity eight, although still looking to find their stride finished, in 15th place in the 25 boat field. They were the fourth club program behind Purdue, Northern Michigan and Marquette and only 18 seconds off North Park University, an NCAA Division III program.

This is the first year that the program is primarily focusing on racing in eights as opposed to fours and we are already competing with a fair number of well established Midwest crews. Both of our varsity eights will next race in the Collegiate Eights events at the Head of the Charles on October 23.

The team competed at the Head of the Mississippi and achieved 5th place finishes for both the men's and women's varsity eights. The men's eight rowed the last 500 meters because of a broken footstretcher in their borrowed boat. The novice squad competed in the eights with less than two weeks of rowing and made their way down the course without incident. The crew also boated a men and a women's four.

Four University of St. Thomas alumni and one current student participated in the National Rowing Championships this summer in Indianapolis, Indiana. Craig Do

Four University of St. Thomas alumni and one current student participated in the National Rowing Championships this summer in Indianapolis, Indiana. Craig Dodson ('00) obtained National Champion status in the men's senior lightweight quad and intermediate lightweight double events with hard won victories. Hallie Pattee ('04) claimed a silver medal in the women's elite eight as well as the senior four. Jon Olson ('03) and Micah Turman ('03), who won a silver medal together at the prestigious Dad Vail Regatta in 2003, teamed up together for another silver medal finish in the intermediate lightweight double. Turman is currently the assistant coach for the rowing team. Current student Heather Maenke ('06) finished in fourth place in a hotly contested women's senior four race. This year marks one of the largest contingents of current and former student participation in the National Championships and reflects the continuing course of growth for the team.

The University of St. Thomas rowing team captured the silver medal in the women's pair event at the Dad Vail Regatta. Freshman Andrea Peterson and Junior Heather Maenke teamed together to exceed all expectations in a truly great string of races through the regatta. The pair, previously undefeated, finished behind Carnegie Mellon University and ahead of up and coming Oklahoma City University, a newly formed varsity status program. This marks the first medal ever for the varsity women at St. Thomas and as both rowers are returning next year the team hopes to perform well at next years event.