May 21, 2007
From May 10-12, Grand Valley State University’s rowing team competed in their national championship, the Dad Vail Regatta. The 2,000 meter course on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia, PA hosts the largest regatta Grand Valley competes at. The 100+ teams attending and good weather conditions set up the perfect rowing atmosphere.
The Women’s Varsity 8+ took home the only medal of the weekend, placing 2nd in the Division II and III event. A first place finish in their heat sent the women straight to the grand final, where Grand Valley was hoping to amend their loss to Dowling College early this season. As expected, the race came down to Dowling and Grand Valley, but our women came up short in their efforts. Dowling took the event with a time of 6:38. 67, with Grand Valley coming in behind at 6:45.21, and Orange Coast at 6:49.96. Leaving their rowing careers with silver medal in hand are seniors Sarah McCormick, Linzi Proctor, and Andria Salas.
Two more Grand Valley boats also made it into the grand finals. The Men’s Varsity Lightweight 8+ claimed a spot in the finals after finishing second in their heat behind Mercyhurst College. With a time of 6:08.46, the lightweights went on to place 5th in the grand final, closing the gap on the fast competition they have faced throughout the season. Georgia Tech (5:55.06) won the event, followed by St. Joe’s (5:56.24), Mercyhurst (6:01.55), and Jacksonville (6:05.74).
Facing their toughest competition of the season, the Men’s Freshmen/Novice 8+ came up short in their final, finishing in 6th place with a time of 6:12.97. Taking first was Bucknell (6:04.91), with Delaware (6:07.22) coming in second, and St. Joe’s (6:08.9) in third. En route to the finals, the novice men walked through the competition in their heat, winning by boat lengths of open water. Semis did not come as easy, however, but the boys still managed to edge out Army by a bowball in the final strokes to gain a spot in the final.
After a top finish in their heat, the Men’s Varsity 8+, was just shy of making it into the grand final, coming in less than a second behind Jacksonville for the second qualifying spot. The men faced another round of tough competition in the second final, coming in with a fourth place finish (5:59.39). Lehigh (5:53.43) won the event, with St. Joe’s (5:57.4) in second, and Rochester (5:59.3) in third. Purdue won the grand final with a time of 5:42.59.
Both the Women’s and Men’s Varsity Pairs put up a good fight to make it into their respective semi-finals. After taking 3rd in their heat, the women’s pair came up short in their semi. Though their 8:17.28 was not good enough to surpass Tampa (8:06.33) and Oklahoma City (8:11.22), their time put them at an impressive 7th place overall.
The men’s pair, made up of lightweights senior Darren Boshart and junior Kyle Lemoine, went up against some big competition to take 2nd in their heat. They went on to take fourth in their final (7:19.74) behind Cal Long Beach (7:03.06), Toronto Miss (7:07.21), and Duquesne (7:07.64).
In a tight race for 2nd through 4th place, the Women’s Freshman/Novice 8+ (7:19.45) bowed out in heats, missing a bid into the semi-finals by a mere .3 seconds to a fast Villanova crew (7:19.12). Army finished just over a second ahead at 7:17.92. Purdue (7:07.25) won the heat and would eventually go on to finals.
Though the Dad Vail capped off a successful season for the team as a whole, selected men’s crews will continue their season by competing against top schools from across the country at the IRA National Championship Regatta. Representing Grand Valley is the Varisty 4- of Sadek, Donovan, Vainner, Vallier and the Freshman 4+ of Jaster, Beebe, League, Eisenhauer, Davis. Heats for the regatta begin May 31 in Camden, NJ with semis and finals following on Friday and Saturday.
MV8: cox. Malloure/Sadek/Donovan/Slater/Vainner/Ott/Copus/Fay/Vallier
ML8: cox. Stevens/Reagan/Gerwatowski/Cecil/Robertson/Plonka/Rejc/Feil/Sylvester
MN8: cox. Shooltz/Beebe/Davis/McClusky/League/Eisenhauer/A.Stoll/M.Stoll/ Schoolcraft
MV2: Boshart/Lemoine
WV8: cox. Rasch/Chaffee/Zelenka/McCormick/Proctor/Morgan/Kroll/Salas/O’Brien
WN8: cox. Higgins/Leipprandt/Holben/Vanderark/Socks/Hubbell/Robinson/Mills/Gray
WV2: Steiginga/Lundsten
The Grand Valley Rowing team is proud to announce the addition of a new member to their accomplished coaching staff. Ola Nwabara, former president of the Purdue rowing team, will take on the role of the Women’s Graduate Assistant beginning this fall. She will be working primarily with the novice ladies’ program, helping with recruiting and introducing new rowers to this exciting sport. 
Ola graduated from Purdue University in 2007 after a successful academic and athletic career. There she obtained a Bachelor of Science in Management while minoring in Organizational Behavior and Human Resources. She also competed four years for the Biolermakers on the rowing team and was a part of the Dad Vail and S.I.R.A gold medalist Women’s Novice 8+ in 2004. For the 2006-2007 season, Ola lead the team as the club’s president. 
