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Lafayette’s Crew Team closed out a successful fall racing season with numerous top finishes at the Frostbite Regatta, Nov. 11, on Philadelphia’s Schuylkill River.
The team, which has a record number of members with 76 rowers, came home with three gold medals, five second place finishes and a handful of third and fourth place finishes in the 2000-meter sprint races. Facing a total of 25 collegiate teams, including Temple University, Drexel University, Penn State University, Villanova University, and Marietta College, Lafayette fielded 17 crews in novice and varsity four- and eight-person shells.
“Every boat put a great race on the water. It was an outstanding team performance,” says co-head coach Trish Brubaker. “While the Frostbite isn’t a major regatta, it’s a great indicator of the direction the team is headed.”
The women’s varsity four, which placed second, included Lauren Menges ’08 (Vestal, N.Y.), an English major; Katie Milot ’09 (Basking Ridge, N.J.), an international affairs major; Valerie Faure ’09 (Sands Point, N.Y.); Allison Quigley ’08 (North Andover, Mass.), a double major in English and government & law major; and coxswain Ben Goldstein ’07 (Maple Glen, Pa.), a biology major.
The men’s varsity four, which took fourth place, was comprised of Jason Brenner ’07 (Wayne, Pa.), a biology major; Kyle Walsh ’08 (Underhill Center, Vt.) a mechanical engineering major; Marquis Scholar Eric Backlund ’07 (Parlin, N.J.), a civil engineering major; Tom Ercolano ’07 (Stirling, N.J.), a philosophy major; and coxswain Jackie Molzon ’08 (Durham, N.C.), who is pursuing a B.S. biology and an A.B. in economics and business.
October was the heart of the fall racing season, although heavy rain and wind cancelled the team’s biggest regatta, the Head of the Schuylkill, scheduled for Oct. 28. The team sent its best varsity men’s and women’s fours to the largest regatta in the country, the Head of the Charles in Boston, Oct. 21-22, where the women finished fifth out of 29 boats and the men finished fifteenth out of 28 boats in the collegiate four events.
The team has moved indoors to begin its winter training program and will be back on the water for spring break training in Deland, Fla.
“This year’s team is really committed,” says co-head coach Sandy Culver. “Instead of five or six rowers from each category going the extra mile, the entire team is working hard and pushing each other toward what is going to be a very exciting spring season.”