Spring Pie Sale!!

North Allegheny Indoor Rowing Championship: 15 entries, 7 personal records.

• AJ Rai - Bronze in the Mens Novice Lightweight,
• John Benhart - Silver in the Mens JV Flyweight,
• Helena Zatawski - Gold in the Womens Varsity Lightweight AND A NEW NAIRC RECORD!

USC Crew once again put in a great showing at the Pittsburgh Indoor Rowing Championships with a total of 20 rowers competing and nine of those setting personal records for their 2K time. Our novices did exceptionally well for their first indoor meet. USC Crew garnered 5 medals for the day, including:

• Helena Zatawski - Gold - Lt. Wt. Women's Varsity
• Clair Stoller - Silver - Women's Coxswain's
• AJ Rai - Silver - Lt. Wt. Men's Novice
• Jake Stout - Bronze - Men's Novice
• Grace Burton - Bronze - Women's Novice

While everyone was ready to get back to the books, the coaches recruited a couple of boats in the post-season to drive out on a day trip to Zanesville, OH last Saturday for the Lake Dillon Halloween Regatta. The rowers that attended got up early to get a taste of sprint racing and we got a good look around at the new location where the Midwest Championships will be held in the Spring. It was a very cold and rainy day, but to help warm us up, Lorrie and Helena took first place in the double by at least 10 boat lengths. They Crushed! Also, a potpourri boys four, made up of Bhanu, Noah, Jake, Morgan, and Thomas took a solid third place. We're looking forward to the whole team being there for the Midwest Championships in the Spring. It's a great race site and will get better as it is developed over time with docks, trailer parking, tent village area, and plenty of parking.

Great weekend, all! What a beautiful day to be in Columbus alongside the Scioto river with the sun on our backs and the fall leaves in full color. Even with a few glitches with missing waivers, a world wide fork famine, a squirly tire on the trailer, and some minor adjustments to our roll-call procedures, it was a great weekend to be racing.

Congratulations to Grace Burton, Irina Huey, Ashley Jamison and Shivani Patel for winning a Silver Medal in a composite Women's Novice 8+ boat with Allderdice. The team also won a gold medal in the Men's Lightweight 8 event. Congratulations to Brendan O'Keeffe, Greg Vitcavage, Aditya Thakur, Zak Boyle, Morgan Cook, Tejas Patel, Jack Boettger, Sam Connors and Coxswain John Benhart. What a great way to wrap up the Fall season!

Pics are up here: Speakmon 2012

We enjoyed a great day of rowing at the 2012 Head of the Ohio (HOTO) regatta on Saturday. The weather report was for a high of 54° and raining; luckily weathermen still get paid to be wrong. The rain quit early in the morning and never returned. By 11:00 the sun was shining and it warmed up a bit for a very pleasant afternoon of racing.

One of the largest regattas in the Midwest, HOTO played host to 488 entries from 64 clubs in 32 cities across 12 states! Entries included high school (Youth), collegiate, and masters level crews, all competing on a 5,000 m course for the fastest time in each division. We had record turnout of parents who enjoyed a full day of racing. For anyone who missed the awards ceremony at the end of the day, our Women's 8+ (Ashley Jamison, Claire Stoller, Abby Elias, Abby Zadrozny, Shivani Patel, Sonja Kretschmar, Helena Zatawski, Lorrie Pollock, and coxswain John Benhart) took 3rd place among the high schools for a Bronze medal. Also, our Women's Double (Helena Zatawski and Lorrie Pollock) rowed the Gemini to a 3rd place finish for a Bronze medal. Nice job USC Crew.

In the master's competition, USC Crew mom's, Amy Connors and Kate Hatful, crewed the TRRA Women's Masters 8+ to a Bronze medal finish and Robin Levine crewed the TRRA Women's Masters 4+ to a Bronze medal as well.

Nice job USC Crew!

The team was once again, graciously hosted in Toledo, OH by the extended Henning family, allowing us to enjoy a beautiful evening by the pool after unloading equipment and boats and a good night's sleep before race day. Without our Head Coach on sabatical for the weekend, our assistant coaches and parents stepped up to make sure the boats, equipment, and rowers were in place and ready to open the 2012-2013 season.

The day started out sunny and pleasant as the USC Women's 8+ finished a respectable 6th place, just 56 seconds out of a medal. The Men's 8+ and Light Weight 4+ followed with the Lt. Wt. 4+ also placing 6th with a time of 21:25, just 1:39 from a medal. After that, it got ugly with about a 15 degree drop in temperature and incoming storm clouds and a steady chilling rain. The Men's and Women's fours finished out the race day in the downpour that left everyone looking for someplace dry and warm.

All in all, a good start to the year. Good training for our team and especially the USC Novice rowers, who got their first taste of a big race and will be ready to row in two weeks at the Head of the Ohio regatta in Pittsburgh on October 6th.