Pioneer LogLewis & Clark College’s Student-Run Newspaper

Men’s crew wins conference, heads to championship

April 23, 2010

by Michael G. Richman

If you can call yourself the best anything of all time you are probably doing something right.

The fastest men’s rowing team in the history of Lewis & Clark did enough right this weekend to be crowned Northwest Collegiate Rowing Conference champions this weekend. The men’s team now has it sites set firmly on making history at the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association (WIRA) Championships in Rancho Cordova, CA on the first weekend in May.

“We’re faster now than we’ve ever been before,” NCRC all-conference selection Brandon Adams (’10) said. “If we don’t come back [from WIRA] with medals we’re going to die trying.”

Adams is the team’s lone senior and has rowed since he was a freshman. He understands this team is special, but credits great coaching and hard work for all its success.

“We’ve got a great coach and we’re a very technically based crew,” Adams said. “We’ve really worked hard to get to this point…really come together as a team.”

Adam is not the only one that thinks the Pioneer’s coach has been a key to their success. Men’s coach, Lincoln LaRoe, was selected as the NCRC coach of the year for his excellent work for LC this season.

LC hosted the NCRC championship at Vancouver Lake this past weekend and narrowly edged out a victory over its chief rival University of Puget Sound to claim the conference crown.

Despite the victory, the day didn’t start off in perfect fashion for the Pioneers. In the 8+ race, LC finished in third less than half a second behind Western Washington and a full two seconds behind UPS.

But the men bounced back winning the lightweight 4+ going away. Their closest competitor, Seattle Pacific, finished over eleven seconds behind in second place.

LC finished third in the 4+ race and the novice 4+ team earned second and thier race, grabbing much needed points in what would be a tight finish for the conference crown. LC took first by four points with a final score of 62, UPS and Western Washington tied for second place with 58 points apiece.

After four year of rowing, the moment certainly wasn’t lost on Adams.

“It’s incredible to see our growth. We’ve got our coach, our novice and our lightweights to thank for that,” he said. “Rowing [at LC] is really growing and it’s really great to see that. It’s been awesome to be apart of that growth.”

LC is hoping its success at the conference championships carries over to the WIRA Championships in two weeks. The team, that has just ten members, has decided to send just eight to the championships and has set quite lofty goals for itself.

“We’re focusing on the top eight. We’re just entering the one boat,” Adams explained.“Putting all our chips in because we know we’re fast.”

The team understands what it is up against at WIRA: bigger schools, bigger bodies and faster competition. But Adams knows that the extremely competitive NCRC has prepared the team for what lies ahead.

The goal for WIRA is simple, but unprecedented.

The team wants to compete in the grand final and which means they would need to finish in the top three of their heat. It also likely means that the team would have to set an LC record for the 8+.

Adams anticipates the team needing finish the two-kilometer 8+ race in less than six minutes to advance. The team’s best time this year is 6:06.

“If we make grand finals it’s unprecedented history,” Adams said “We’ve got a chance, but the competition is going to be stiff. Got to row a perfect race. The potential is there.”