No. 13 Women’s Crew Opens Spring Season At Home – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/15/2000 12:00:00 AM | Rowing
March 15, 2000
One of the best: No. 13%^$
The Ohio State women’s varsity crew was ranked 13th in the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association and the U.S. Rowing National Collegiate Coaches poll preseason polls. The Buckeyes received 190 points. Other Big Ten schools that ranked above OSU were Michigan (sixth), Michigan State (eighth) and Wisconsin (ninth).%^$
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The Varsity Eight%^$
bow: Liz Hellickson%^$
2. Mindy Stauffer%^$
3. Maxi Meissner%^$
4. Midge Petraglia%^$
5. Megan Hura%^$
6. Connie Kirsch%^$
7. Katie Buttine%^$
stern: Phae Giblin%^$
coxswain: Anna Pepin%^$
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Scouting the Dayton Flyers%^$
This is Dayton’s first year as a varsity program. The club team had been in existence since 1991 and was under the direction of head coach Mike Miles. The addition of crew brings Dayton’s total of Division I athletics to 17 sports. “The Atlantic-10 is a strong conference for women’s rowing,” Miles said. “Over the past three years, the club has been consistently rowing faster and faster times. We’re definitely gaining in the A-10.” The crew practices on the Great Miami River and shares a boathouse with the Greater Dayton Rowing Association.%^$ Junior Bernadette Marten has been selected to train at the San Diego Olympic Training Center this summer. Marten rowed in the varsity eight that finished fifth at the A-10 Championship.%^$
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Wrapping up the fall season%^$
The Buckeyes finished fifth in the Championship eight at the first race of the fall season, the Head of the Ohio. Connie Kirsch placed second in the open singles event with a time of 18:31.6. The varsity crew finished 18th at the largest regatta of the season in Boston, Mass., the Head of the Charles. To wrap up the campaign, the Buckeyes traveled to the Rivanna Romp in Charlottesville, Va., placing second behind host University of Virginia.%^$
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Getting down to business%^$
The crew traveled to Cocoa Beach, Fla., over the winter break to row off the coast of Merritt Island. OSU set out to achieve boat speed. The Buckeyes continued to work out during winter quarter at the French Field House on ergometer machines (indoor rowing machines that measure strokes per minute and the distance covered).%^$
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Quoting Teitelbaum%^$
“The fall season went well,” Andy Teitelbaum, OSU head coach, said. “We showed we were competitive with the best crews in the country. That is all you can really look for early in the season. We spent a lot of time on fundamentals and rowing smaller boats. It is our hope that this spring as we row bigger boats and give our crews a chance to become more cohesive units that our overall speed will be exceptional. We have some extremely talented young rowers in the program. How well things come together as a group will determine how far those rowers will take us.”%^$
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Spring Racing: one of a kind%^$
The difference between fall racing and spring racing is distance. Fall racing, referred to as head racing, is a 2.5- to 3.5-mile course. It lasts 16-18 minutes typically. The spring course is a 2,000-meter sprint. Because the course is much shorter, the race is normally 6-8 minutes. Head racing involves twists and turns along the river, whereas spring races are the first to the finish line wins. Boats in head races are launched at 10-second intervals to eliminate crashes on the water.%^$
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Keeping it in the family%^$
Freshman Molly Stauffer might not have given rowing a try if it hadn’t been for her big sister. Sophomore Mindy Stauffer rows in the first varsity eight, but started as a novice. The two sisters are from Ashland, Ohio.%^$
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Captain of the crew %^$
Senior Midge Petraglia has been named captain of the 2000 women’s varsity crew. Petraglia, a 34-year-old mother of two, has recently joined the first varsity eight boat. In the fall campaign, she rowed as the fifth seat. Last season, Petraglia rowed in the second varsity eight boat as the port. Her novice career began during her sophomore year, where she rowed in the second novice eight boat. Petraglia is a psychology major with plans of attending graduate school immediately following her graduation in the spring. She has two sons, ages 11 and 8.%^$”Midge is always working, always lifting and she rowed a lot this summer,” head coach Andy Teitelbaum said. “She will help this season with leadership.”%^$
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Springing into success%^$
Women’s rowing is past its first quadriennium and Teitelbaum attributes the program’s success to the athletics department and his assistants. Even with all of the success, he wishes the Buckeyes were ranked nationally a few spots higher. “We would have liked to participate in the NCAA Championships last season instead of just watching,” Teitelbaum said. Teitelbaum said there are other programs who started their clubs at the same time as the Buckeyes and they are not at the same level. “When you look at things that way, it’s satisfying, but there are a couple teams that have been varsity the same amount of time that we have been and they are a few spots higher,” he said. “That is where we are looking to be.”%^$
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The Schedule%^$
The early spring schedule is highlighted by the home-opener against Dayton, March 18. Another top regatta is the UNC/UVA dual March 25. “The Dayton regatta will open the racing season a week earlier than ever before,” Teitelbaum said. Other regattas the Buckeyes are looking forward to include Big Ten competition. Dual regattas with Iowa and Wisconsin and Michigan and Indiana will prep the team for the Big Ten Championships at the end of April.%^$
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Definite depth%^$
One thing the women’s rowing team has is depth. The team has a total of 42 women returning. The 2000 freshman class is comprised of Maxi Meissner from Potsdam, Germany, who has been a junior world champion, Phae Giblin and Alexandra Leslie from Australia, who were both just shy of missing the junior national team and Kristen Gentry from Dublin, Ohio. “The class is small but good,” Teitelbaum said. “We were very young last year. Six of the eight kids in the first boat were either freshman or sophomores. It’s a little hard for us to be able to figure out where everybody is going to end up.” The second boat last season was mainly juniors and seniors, he said. With a large group of returning novices, Teitelbaum is anxious to see how they will impact the team. “We don’t have holes to fill but it wouldn’t surprise me if two or three of those kids ended up making a strong run for the stern of the second boat, or even breaking into the first,” he said. “The seniors we graduated were an important part of the program but now we are looking at a higher level of athletic ability.”
