Coming from Southern California, there is a certain magic to touching down in a city lightly dusted by the winter snow. Not only does the scenery elicit feelings of wonderment and joy in the whimsical white settings, but wearing enough clothing to make the 20º weather feel like a beautiful Southern California day is indescribably amazing.
The adventure began when Ryan Hasvold, Trent Oliver, Kellen Proctor, Michaels Hintlian and Hill, and the coaching staff were transplanted from their training grounds in Los Angeles to Boston. Their purpose: compete at the C.R.A.S.H.-B. World Indoor Championships. The event draws its attendance from premier athletes the world over. Delegations from Germany, Estonia, Denmark, Italy, and many more came out to compete against each other and America’s best. Everyone converged in Boston to see who can row 2,000 meters the fastest. The winner of every event wins a hammer, denoting the legs of steel one must have to punch out such a mentally and physically demanding piece.
The crew appeared in all three of the men’s heats, four of our oarsmen rowing personal bests on the ergometer. To give you an idea of how challenging this is, read on:
The erg (lovingly called a medieval torture machine by true rowing aficionados) is a resistance-training tool meant to re-create the sensation of rowing, but on land. Each stroke, the rower must pull a chain that spins a fan to create the resistance. After the very first stroke, the rower is already in oxygen debt, meaning that the entire race the rower’s body is unable to provide him/her the oxygen necessary to produce the energy needed by their muscles to function. Despite this, the rower pushes on, rowing 220 more strokes to finish the 2,000 meters as fast as possible. As an analogy, imagine doing a power clean (or squat) with 135 pounds every two seconds for 6 minutes straight. Needless to say, your body would be hurting after the first minute, and then you have to go another five minutes.
With this in mind, the races were all incredibly exciting to watch. Senior Captain Ryan Hasvold competed in the second heat of the Men’s Open with Trent Oliver. Hasvold, an expert at pacing himself during the race, started slower than the rest of the pack moving to 15th place after the first 500 meters. Soon, demonstrating the tenacity and determination of a Trojan Oarsmen, Hasvold kept his pace, as other competitors began to fade. One by one he began to overtake people, cruising past the rest of the field. With 500 meters to go, Hasvold shifted gears, moving from his 1:35 split to a blazing 1:32 split. In one of the most exciting finishes of the day, Hasvold finished fourth behind the top three by one tenth of a second. In an interview on the flight home, Hasvold said of the day “It was really cool racing such high caliber international rowers. It felt like the training was kicking in as I went into the final 500. I went out a little faster than my split at Long Beach and nailed it. It felt good.”
Following the interview, Hasvold resumed writing a highly influential piece for his intensive Business class before starting his third book of the weekend, Assault on Lake Casitas, which chronicles Brad Allen Lewis’s drive for the Olympic Gold at the 1984 games, demonstrating the intense work ethic each oarsmen has on and off the water. One can only imagine that this is a positive omen for the futures of both the Men’s Crew and Hasvold.
Trent Oliver said of the event “It was great, an erg experience of a lifetime. I rowed hard out there.” The short answer attributed to Oliver’s physical exhaustion following his completion of a personal best on the erg. Attempts to interview the novices on the flight home were unsuccessful. It is the opinion of the writer that wearing sunglasses on a night flight while reclining in the airplane sight means “I had a good time.” Let the reader be assured, the oarsmen were all excited to return next year, stronger, faster, and with the mental tenacity of a lion intent on killing its prey. Each of the above oarsmen rowed a personal best 2k at the event. Junior Kellen Proctor competed in the third and final heat of the men’s open. Sitting on erg A1 in the front row, Proctor had the opportunity to row with 2 members of the Estonian National Team (who placed third in the doubles at last years world championships), a member of the German National Team, and twelve of the fastest oarsmen from schools such as Yale, Boston, Harvard, and Cambridge.
Our coaching staff had an incredible time as well. Chelsea Eckelkamp, Novice coach and team manager, added jovially during the long flight home, “I would love to make a sarcastic comment about the whole trip, but I can’t thing straight right now. The trip was a wonderful.” The interview shows how although the coaches didn’t get to partake in the fun of the actual 2k, they were just as mentally exhausted as the oarsmen. Head Coach Danny Johnson was last seen aboard the plane reviewing photos of the oarsmen during their pieces, assessing the technical aspects each individual can work on in future competitions both on and off the water. One can only assume his incessant work ethic and dedication to the program is going to pay huge dividends not only this spring, but also for the future of the team.
For full scores, please visit:
http://www.crash-b.org/web/wp-content/uploads/results/2010/event-01.html
The crew races next on March 6th at the University of California Davis Invitational.
On Janurary 24th, the USC Men’s Crew dominated the competition at the Long Beach Indoor Sprints. All competing members of the squad gave full effort and represented our motto of POWER, POISE, and PRIDE. In the Collegiate Men’s event, Kellen Proctor took 1st place with a staggering 6:08 minute 2k. Ryan Hasvold took an impressive second place with 6:20, Trent Oliver came in 4th with a personal record of 6:30, and Buck Scalese came in 8th with a strong 6:38. In the Open Men’s competition USC was the clear victor with Jeff Nelson (6:45) taking 2nd, Steven Kent (6:49) 3rd, Harrison Taylor (6:50) 4th, Chris Fisher (6:55) 5th, and Daniel Del Torre (7:14) 9th. Congratulations to Novices Melvin Ardjanto (7:14) and Zack Kobos (7:19), Quentin Smith (7:21.7) who pulled their very first 2k, and to Michael Hintlian (6:53) who took 4th in the collegiate Novice Men’s category. This indoor regatta was a good showing of our squad’s speed, especially the top Varsity rowers.
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On December 6th, in the Long Beach Marine Stadium, the USC Men’s Crew rowed to victory once again. All races were highly competitive but the USC Men’s Crew fought off the competition with true Trojan pride. Four Men’s Pairs raced and all four received medals. The first race finished with Captain Ryan Hasvold and Collin Evans taking 1st and Trent Oliver and Steven Kent taking 2nd. The second race finished with Kellen Proctor and Buck Scalese taking 1st and Chris Fisher and Jeff Nelson taking 3rd. Winning this 1250 meter race is an excellent way to end out the fall season and transition into sprint season.
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On December 5, 2009, the USC Men’s Crew traveled to the Orange Coast College boathouse in Newport Beach to compete in a 3-kilometer sprint-style race against OCC and UC Irvine.
Going into the race, the Varsity knew we were in for a battle, having beaten OCC by only a second in a come-from-behind victory at Head of the Harbor three weeks earlier. The race did indeed prove to be challenging, as OCC jumped out to a half-length lead that they maintained for the 3k race, crossing the line roughly 1 length ahead of USC.
The Novice crew also recognized the challenge they faced in their race, and they produced a fantastic effort. They started in third place, trailing the first two OCC boats, then overtook one boat to finish second. This was a tremendous improvement from Head of the Harbor, where they finished well behind OCC’s second boat.
The Newport Sprints was an excellent regatta for the entire USC Men’s Crew. OCC was a gracious host, even inviting JL to come and sponsor a barbeque along with gear bags for every rower. The Varsity crew realized just how competitive the rowing environment is and how lucky we are to have such fast schools to compete against year after year. We took the disappointing finish as an indicator of the tremendous amount of work left to do between now and the spring sprint season and realized just how important perfect technique can be. For the novices, the regatta gave them a taste of success and validated all the effort they have put in during the fall semester. Taking the lessons learned from Newport into the winter training regimen, the Trojan Navy is looking forward to a strong, competitive, and successful spring racing season.
Results were as follows:
Varsity:
First Place: Orange Coast College Varsity (by 1 1/4 lengths over second place)
Second Place: U.S.C.
Third Place: U.C.I.
Fourth Place: Orange Coast College Novice “A”
Novice VIII
First Place: Orange Coast College Novice “B”
Second Place: U.S.C.
Third Place: Orange Coast College Novice “C”
A big sweep for the entire crew! The USC Men’s Crew sweeps the Long Beach Fall Collegiate Invitational on Nov. 21 in the Varsity Open 8+, Varsity Open 4+ and Novice 8+. Beating crews from Loyola Marymount, CSU Long Beach and UC Santa Barbara. This was the first regatta sweep for the team in years. The morning started off with a 4000 meter head race, the Varsity eight led the pack and never looked back, finishing with a time of 13:27, 18 seconds ahead of Loyola Marymount and 64 seconds ahead of CSU Long Beach. The morning continued with the Varsity four race which slotted USC up against Loyola Marymount and UC Santa Barbara’s Varsity eight split into two strong, competitive four’s.While USC started behind all the crews in the 4000 meter head race, they were able to make up ground. By the end, USC was up half a length with the UC Santa Barbara boat 2 seconds behind. USC’s Varsity 4+ finished with a final time of 16:15. With the Varsity races concluded, the Novice eight’s raced an 850 meter sprint allowing them to get a taste of the upcoming spring season. With all the Varsity members cheering them on, the Novice 8+ was able to win both their heats, the first by 21 seconds over UC Santa Barbara and the second heat by 4 seconds over CSU Long Beach.
At then end of the morning, despite the rain, the entire crew was in high spirits after hearing the results that they had won all categories of their races and knowing that all their hard work had paid off beat some talented crews from strong universities.
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TROJAN NAVY RECLAIMS “HEAD OF THE HARBOR”
With a spectacular closing effort, the USC Men’s Crew edged out traditional powerhouse Orange Coast College Saturday to claim the Kenneth T. Norris Memorial Cup as this year’s First Place finisher at the Annual Head of the Harbor Regatta in The Port of Los Angeles.
USC began ahead thanks to the staggered start but after the right hand bend in the course the Trojan’s trailed favorite OCC by a boat length throughout most of the 4,000 meter San Pedro course. The boats came abreast of the firehouse where Los Angeles’s Favorite cheered and a crowd of 300 spectators spurred the home team on to victory. With 100 meters left to row and trailing by a half boat length, Coxswain Myles Gutenkunst and Stroke Trent Oliver threw caution overboard and let the Trojan Navy raise the cadence propelling their newly christened racing shell ahead of OCC to win in an elapsed time of 15:26, 1 second, and nose ahead at the finish.
This year’s Regatta had a terrific showing with Varsity and Novice boats competing from USC, OCC, Loyola Marymount, UC Santa Barbara, Arizona State, UC Irvine and Long Beach State. All coxswains maneuvered their crews safely around the right-hand turn and we safely great racing from wire to wire.
Coach Danny Johnson commented, “the boys have been working extremely hard at improving their overall fitness and on-the-water technique, and that work ethic paid off today.” Some of the alumni in the crowd noted that the victory was the first #1 finish for the Trojans in inter-collegiate competition since 2003, breaking a 6 year dry spell. Johnson further commented, “we have a full racing schedule to prepare for in the spring and few more races this fall including this weekend’s Long Beach Collegiate Invitational Regatta. Each of these races is great preparation for the upcoming championship season where the Trojans will sprint against some of the fastest schools in the country.”
Full race results are below:
Varsity 8
15:26 USC
15:27 OCC "A"
15:54 LMU
15:57 UCI "A"
16:29 OCC "B"
16:38 ASU
16:41 UCI "B"
17:12 CSULB
17:14 UCSB
Novice 8:
15:55 OCC "A"
16:42 OCC "B"
16:47 UCSB
16:58 USC
17:53 ASU
18:37 CSULB
18:54 LMU
Exhibition 4: no times taken
USC Alumni
USC V4
Results also posted on Row2K.com, the national rowing on-line network.
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The Trojan Navy took some great strides forward last weekend at the Newport Autumn Rowing Festival. First, we purchased two used Resolute Eights from the University of California, Berkeley. These boats have each won multiple national championships already and will now serve to round out the USC Men’s Crew training fleet. Then, the Varsity eight placed 2nd of all Clubs (9th overall) beating schools like UCLA, Orange Coast College and University of San Diego, ASU, UCI and UCSD. The JV and Novice Eights both raced well despite a few course corrections and a couple of minutes of lost time. The Varsity raced a second time down the course in two Fours, and placed well along their Pac-10 counterparts. Alumni from the past nine years came out and raced the first ever NARF USC Alumni Eight! Well done gentlemen! All oarsman are improving in technique and confidence. Our next major event will be Sunday, November 15, at the Head of the Harbor race. USC is sponsoring the event. Come to The Dirt and Gravel at 350 Yacht St. to cheer on the Trojan Navy! Full results can be found on Power House Timings site. The Varsity raced the Men’s Open 8 Event 11: http://secure.powerhousetiming.com/powerhouse/webpages/raceResults.jsp?raceId=240 Also, read the full press release from the Daily Trojan writer Eric Brach.
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Last weekend, the USC Men’s Crew had the incredible opportunity to practice with the Cal Bears rowing team in the Oakland Estuary. The purpose of the trip was to gain exposure to a national-caliber team in their home environment and to get a feel for the steps we need to take with our own program. This was the first step in what we hope will become a mutually beneficial relationship that will allow both programs to continue traditions of success. We organized the trip to coincide with the USC vs. Cal football game, commonly referred to as “The Weekender.” USC students, alumni, and supporters flooded San Francisco, turning Union Square into a sea of cardinal and gold on Friday night. We, as a team, carried that pride and enthusiasm with us the next morning as we entered the Cal boathouse in full race attire. Mike Teti, former gold-medal Olympic coach and current Cal coach, welcomed us and sent our Varsity and JV boats out on the water to join their 5 full eights. It was extremely eye-opening to compare Cal’s multi-million dollar boathouse, erg room, locker room, and training facility with “The Dirt”—our patch of dirt next to the USC Women’s boathouse.
The practice was split into three 15-minute pieces. For the first piece, all 7 boats lined up in the Estuary and took off at a controlled stroke rate. The Varsity 8 started extremely well, keeping contact with one Cal boat for nearly the entire distance. Following the first piece, Cal’s 1st and 2nd Varsity boats split off with our Varsity boat, while the remaining boats turned back to practice sprint pieces. The JV boat held its own during these 30-stroke bursts, finding great rhythm and power. The Varsity boat did extremely well in its two remaining 15-minute pieces, closely matching the speed of Cal’s top boats.
Everyone came off the water exhausted but extremely pleased with the practice. As a team, we reflected on the similarities and differences we saw between our program and Cal’s. Everyone was energized and enthusiastic to make certain improvements like installing pull-up and free weight bars at the port. Most importantly, we recognized that we are on a path to success, especially if we continue to push for constant improvement. In order to return Cal’s outstanding hospitality over the weekend, we have invited them to come down and row at The Dirt in San Pedro next year. The most valuable part of the trip was the collective realization of what we need to do to win. As the Captain, I am extremely pleased with the entire weekend. We fought hard on the water, carried ourselves with composure, and dedicated ourselves to improvement.
More photos can be seen at http://uscmenscrew.shutterfly.com Thanks to the Oliver’s for putting this together!
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Sept. 19th in the Port of LA
Congratulations to the new recruits and welcome back to the Varsity Oarsman! Early this fall semester, the returning Varsity squad and Coaching Staff put a great deal of effort into recruiting a top-notch group of potential rowers for the 2009-2010 season. A total of 45+ potential student-athletes came out to compete for a spot on the squad. After two cycles of try-outs and cuts, consisting of ergometer work, timed Giffith Park runs, and technical work on the water, we have narrowed down our Novice squad to 23 individuals! A number of our new Oarsmen come with previous rowing experience, others with talented endurance athletic backgrounds, and all with a new-found competitive edge, dedication, and appreciation for rowing. For their demonstration of power, poise, and pride throughout the tryout process, I’d like to extend my sincerest congratulations to the following new oarsmen and coxswains:
Alex Beller, Jonathan Sun, Cam Trodello, Luke Griffin,Carson Vogt, Melody Kim (coxswain), Chris Robinson, Michael Hintlain, Chris Sullivan, Michael Lin-Brande, Dan Doran, Michael Hill, Danny Lessler, Quentin Smith, Daniel Slutsky, Salina Grilli (coxswain), Eddie Laurence, Scott Spongberg, GianCarlo Aquilar, Steve Shanahan, Graham Harris, Zak Kobos and Harry Barsegyan (coxswain).
Some of these athletes are quickly jumping into our JV boats and are competing for some of our top seats. The entire coaching staff looks forward to the upcoming year and are impressed with the potential at hand.
The Men’s Crew is looking for a select group of motivated athletes. If you are competative and want to represent the University of Southern California in one of it’s most historic organizations, please join us in Heritage Hall this Wednesday from 6:30-8:30PM. You need no experience to try-out, just a willingness to challenge your physical limits. On-campus recruits make up a strong part of our squad. This is your oppurtunity to compete against other universities, many of whom, at the Varsity level. Try-outs begin this Thursday at 5:00PM at the Lyon Center.
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