Team Results

Spring 2010

Home Schools Regatta - Cleveland, OH

WV Governor's Cup - Charleston, WV

MACRAs - Grand Rapids, MI

Winter 2010

Hammer Ergatta -Splits - Cleveland, OH
Midwest Championship Erg Sprints - Cleveland, OH

Fall 2009

Head of the Cuyahoga- Cleveland, OH
Speakmon Memorial- Columbus, OH

Spring 2009

Home Schools Regatta - Cleveland, OH
WV Governor's Cup - Charleston, WV
MACRAs - Grand Rapids, MI
Dad Vails - Philadelphia, PA

Winter 2009

Hammer Ergatta - Cleveland, OH

Fall 2008

Head of the Cuyahoga - Cleveland, OH
Head of the Ohio - Pittsburgh, PA
Speakmon Memorial - Columbus, OH
American River Crew Classic - Detroit, MI

Spring 2008

Home Schools Regatta - Cleveland, OH
WV Governor's Cup - Charleston, WV
MACRAs - Grand Rapids, MI

Winter 2008

Hammer Ergatta - Cleveland, OH

Viking Crew News 2010

Row for Cleveland State

 The Cleveland State crew club is looking for competitive individuals to help build on the success of their rowing program. Almost all athletes of the team have had no prior rowing experience. Viking Crew gives students a chance to compete at the collegiate level, provides them with a great team atmosphere, a chance to make new friends, learn to row and to improve your fitness.

NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY

The season begins August 30 2010 at 5:30am in the first bay of the Cleveland Rowing Foundation Boathouse (1948 Carter Road). We’ll have an Open House on Wednesday Sept 1st and Thursday Sept 2nd at 6pm for people interested in joining. You’ll have a chance to meet the coaching staff & club officers, go on a boathouse and river tour, and learn to row. Novices (new rowers) are welcome from Aug 30 until Sept 18, just come down to practice or the Open House.

What you need to know about our program:

Practices are mandatory, and boats are created based on attendance, technique, and strength.

The season is 7 weeks long ending on Oct. 16th.

We will compete at 3-4 regattas usually on Saturdays.

Join our Google Group for team emails (http://groups.google.com/group/csurowing)

Overall, this Fall Season is meant to teach new rowers how to row and compete against the midwest schools at 5,000 meter Regattas (races).

Sign up Online or Email us at csurowing@gmail.com.







Head Coach Dressler

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CSU Rowing looking to grow in Fall 2010

With CSU’s new university center opening up this summer, and new dorm rooms being built on east 24 the Viking crew team is expecting the team to grow much larger. Since summer of 2008 the school has been without a University Center and with the new one, the team will be able to have an office, and have a central location to pass out flyers, post a banner, and set up a recruiting table. The new dorms will allow for 1400 students to live on campus compared to 830. Half of CSU’s team is students who live on campus.

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Crew team volunteers for River Sweep 2010

The viking crew team is known for its competitive attitude and willingness to volunteer.  On May 8th the team came down to the Rock Bottom, grabbed garbage bags, gloves, and headed out to clean up the flats.  The team was assigned canal road stretching from Sherwin Williams HQ to the west 3rd bridge.  Along the way the team picked up trash, beer cans, cigarette butts, old tires, and other items that were thrown onto the side of the road.  After 3 hours of cleaning up the area was all cleaned up.  The team headed back for a free t-shirt, pizza and a live band at the Nautica Pavilion.  Thanks to everyone who volunteered and made Cuyahoga river valley a lot cleaner.

Official Page: http://www.ohiocanal.org/riversweep.htm

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2nd Silver Medal at MACRA

Results are in for the 46th Annual MACRA. All race entries for Cleveland State's Rowing team advanced to finals.

The Women's Novice 4 won the team a silver medal beating 7 other schools, finishing behind Ohio State, who they had beaten in the morning heat.

The Men's Novice 4 finished 5th out of 11 schools beating: Chicago, Ohio U, U Cincinnati, John Carrol, Ohio State, and Lawerence.

This race ends the spring season for the team, anyone looking to join the team in the fall should contact Coach Dressler at csurowing@gmail.com.

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CSU takes gold again in WV

Cleveland State's rowing team raced this weekend at the West Virginia Governor's Cup. The first race of the day was the Women's novice 4. They had a great start and took the lead early on. 30 strokes into the race Xavier and Ohio U. had collided which caused a restart of the race. All the women had to turn around and restart the race. When they restarted the race the women took the lead again right from the start. As the race progressed they pushed away from 2 of the other boats but were pretty even with the Ohio U. Throughout the race they continued to pull away from all the boats and crossed the finish line in first place with open water between them and the rest of the boats. Overall the women place 2nd out of 9 women novice boats. Although times from the other heat could have had a different starting line due to the floating start. Congratulations to stroke Elizabeth Hecker, 3 seat Lydia Fullwiler, 2 seat Hanna Morris, bow Corey Lightfoot and coxswain Mark Pace.

The mens novice 4 raced a hard race against Carnegie Mellon and West Virginia State. They had a great start and took 1st leading the pack until the 1000 meter mark, when the taller crews were able to catch up to the Vikings. With 500m left in the race the men took their final sprint and ended up 1 boat length behind 1st and their bow ball in line with the coxswain of the 2nd place shell. The men finished 6 out of 10 overall. Cheers to stroke Wells Mueller, 3 seat Brooks Jones III, 2 seat Mark Pace, bow Anthony Adamo and coxswain Hanna Morris.

The last race was the mixed 8+ which the vikings fell to 6th, but had their bow on the 5th boats 2 seat.

Overall the team placed 9 out of 16 schools. Beating our home team rivals Case Western and John Carrol, and also beating Davidson, Charleston, Xavier, Wittenberg, Denison. Penn state took 1st, Virginia Tech took 2nd, and Carnegie Mellon in 3rd.

Viking Crew practices one last week and will then head to the Midwest American Championship Rowing Association regatta. They will face teams from Ohio State, Grand Valley, Carnegie Mellon and many other big schools.

Anyone interested in continuing Viking Crew's success and wishes to join the team in the fall should email csurowing@gmail.com.

 

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Spring Training

11 Rowers from CSU's rowing team went to Oak Ridge TN to learn how  to row for the first time.  The team's winter season has come  to an end and has started on water practices.  The mens 4 raced against the Army's novice crew and the mens 8 raced against Skidmore College's novice men.  The team is back in cleveland and training on the cuyahoga for the Home Schools Regatta in 3 weeks with local colleges: Baldwin Wallace, Case Crew, and John Carrol's rowing team.

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Viking Crew competes at its 1st MCES

Anthony Adamo and Wells Mueller traveled to Columbus OH this weekend to take on OSU, Denison, Miami and Cincinnati's club rowing teams in the Mens Novice Lightweight and Mens Novice Open respectively.  Anthony placed 10th out of 15 with a 7:20.6.  Wells Mueller previously won the Gold medal at the Hammer Ergatta and was facing tougher competition this weekend.  He placed 2nd with a time of 6:35.2 to win the silver behind J Selby of OSU.  

The guys did well in the team's first appearance at the Midwest Championship Erg Sprints and gave them an idea of how hard the competition will be at MACRAs in 2 months.

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Viking Crew wins 5 medals at the Hammer

The Viking Crew competed yesterday at the Hammer Ergatta against local colleges: John Carrol, Case Western, and Baldwin Wallace. The Vikings this year are all novices and mostly lightweights. The team brought home 1 gold medal, 3 silver medals and 1 bronze medal. Each team’s overall score were CSU 55, JCU with 70 and Case with 100. Making Case the winner of this year’s Hammer Cup. The scoring was based on the number of rowers you beat overall based on gender. The Vikings did very well considering the rowers are all novices and half of them were lightweights.

Here is a rower by rower break down of the events:

Novice Open Men

Wells Mueller came into the race with the fastest seed time. He had his sister come in from Michigan to cox him to a 6:34.0 the fastest time at the ergatta and the fastest Mens 2k score ever for the Vikings winning the Gold.

Brooks Jones the 3rd started the race off strong. During the last 600 meters of the race he was 25meters down from being in second. Brooks kept on with consistent power each stroke while the rower in second starting to get tired and weak. By 300 meters brooks had broke through and took 2nd place and finished with 5 meters ahead. Finishing with at 6:51.5 winning the Silver.

Ryan Noles shaved off 19 seconds from his personal record finishing at a 8:10.5

Novice Ltwt Men

Anthony Adamo had his eyes on the Gold finished with an impressive time of 7:14.7, tenths of a second behind 1st to win the silver. He beat his personal record of 7:30.4.

Michael Murtaugh finished his first 2k this season with a 7:55.2.

Mark Pace really dropped the hammer and his 2k time. Breaking his PR by 45 seconds and finishing with a 7:46.6.

Novice Open Women

Cory Lightfoot had the women’s team 2nd fastest time with an 8:30.

Brittany Prutton has improved the most for the women’s team by dropping her time by 40 seconds and finishing at 9:14.2.

Novice Ltwt Women

Elizabeth Hecker was neck and neck with first place and finished close behind with an 8:25.6 winning the Silver.

Lydia Fullwiler followed Elizabeth close behind her to finish at 8:37.6 dropping her PR by 12 seconds and winning the Bronze.

Hanna Morris had a great race and dropped her PR by 15 seconds to finish at 9:13.5.  

Coaches Dressler, Kotula and Widen are all very proud of the athletes. The athletes have been training very hard since the beginning of the spring semester. Everyone dropped their 2K times and beat their Personal Records. The athletes represented Cleveland State with pride and will be a tough team to beat at the the upcoming regattas.



Future:



This Saturday Wells and Anthony will be going to the team’s first Midwest Championships Erg Sprints in Columbus to take on U. of Cincinnati, Miami, Ohio State, and Denison. The competition will be tougher than the Hammer and will give the guys an idea on how they stack up against the bigger schools.

After the MCES, the team will be getting ready to go on the water for spring break and then compete in 3-4 regattas this spring. The team still needs 2 more men and 1 more woman to join to compete in eights.  We also will need 2 coxswains.  Please email csurowing@gmail.com if you’re interested in joining the fun and competition.

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Team to compete at Hammer this weekend

The CSU club rowing team will be competing against Baldwin Wallace, Case Western and John Carrol universities this Sunday starting at 10:15am.  12 Athletes from CSU will compete in this 2000m race on rowing machines (ergometers).  You can see the team's entries on regatta central.  The team is set to win 1 Gold, 3 silvers, and 1 bronze medal in its 4 competitions and the team is also set to have the fastest 2k time for the entire ergatta based on the seed times.

This year's Hammer will be different from years past as the CRF has decided to host the Ergatta to boost participation of more schools and to help fund the new boathouse.  There will be monitors set up to watch each competitor's progress through the race.  DJ E will be spinning beats for the athletes.  There will also be '36 Views of a Bridge', a video art installation.

The event will be held at St. Ignatius in the Murphy Field house.  We hope to have many spectators with viking hats cheering on the Viking Crew as the compete to defend the Hammer Cup.  Hope you can make it.

 

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Join the 2010 Rowing team

Tuesday Jan 19 starts the Cleveand State University's rowing team's first official day of winter practices. For the next 9 weeks we will be training indoors on the ergometers (rowing machines) at the boathouse, and weight lifting in the afternoons at the Rec Center. For spring break we will be traveling to either Lake Lure NC or Oak Ridge TN for an intense week of team bonding and on the water training. After spring break we will have on the water practices Mon-Fri and Head-to-Head races around the Midwest.

The team is currently looking for new rowers interested in joining the most competitive and wild sports club at Cleveland State University.

Email us or Sign up Online if you are interested in joining!

 

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Viking Crew medals at Speakmon 2009

The Viking Crew ended there Fall 2009 Season at the Head of the Speakmon Regatta.  The Mens Novice 4+ beat John Carrol by a tenth of a second and Wittenberg U. by 3 minutes to take home the Silver.  They were about a minute behind the Ohio University Mens Crew.  The Womens Novice 4+ took home a bronze finishing behind 2nd place CASE by 18 seconds and JCU by a bit.  Head Coach Dressler and Asst. Coach Widen were happy with the results seeing as how most of the rowers didn't join the team until 3 weeks ago.  Most other novices have had 9 weeks to practice. 

The team will finish its year with the Annual end of the fall season celebration and ceremony.

The team will begin its Winter training Season Janaury 19th 2010.  If your interested in joining please email csurowing@gmail.com.

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CSU Rowing Alumni beats Harvard University

This weekend was the 40th Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston, MA.  CSU Viking Alumni Scott Spatny raced in teh Clubs Fours Men taking 15th out of 55 boats and beating Crews from Harvard, Yale, Boston U, etc...

Congrats to Scott and his boatmates on showing the world how great Cleveland rowing is.

Results: 

http://www.hocr-timing.org/results/14391.htm

Next weekend the CSU Viking Crew Novices will be racing their first race at the Head of the Speakmon in Columbus Ohio.

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New Practice Time

Due to popular demand, the team will now practice from 6:00pm to 7:30pm.  Now you can sleep in and row in the evening!  We are still looking for new rowers come down to practice at 6pm!  We are looking for new rowers all season and rowing is a great walk- on sport!

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Join the Fall 2009 Team

The 9th year of the Cleveland State University Rowing Club Sports Team begins August 26 2009 at 7pm in Cleveland in the first bay of the Cleveland Rowing Foundation Boathouse (1948 Carter Road).  For the first week novices (new rowers) will practice at 7pm Aug 26,27,28.  Starting Aug 31st practices will be every Monday-Friday at 5:30am.  An introduction to the coaching staff, club officers, and learning how to row.

This season we are looking to acquire enough for two novice eight boats.  No Experience is necessary.  We are looking for full time CSU students who want to learn how to row, improve upon their fitness, and master the technique of rowing.  We will be discussing our team goals during the first week so we may tweak the training program.

What you need to know about our program:

Practices are mandatory, and boats are created based on attendance, technique, and strength.



The season is 9 weeks long ending on Oct. 24th.



We will compete at 3-4 regattas usually on Saturdays.



No rowing experience required



Communication is primarily made via our GoogleGroup – please join!



Overall, this Fall Season is meant to teach new rowers how to row and compete against the midwest schools at 5,000 meter Regattas (races).

I look forward to this season, meeting and teaching new rowers!

Sign up Online or Email us at csurowing@gmail.com.

-Coach Dressler

 

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Coaching Changes

Cleveland State Rowing says goodbye to Ron Dorchak and thanks him for his hard work the past 3 years.  Taking the team to twice to Dad Vails the largest regatta in the United States and making the team the most competitive its ever been.  Sweeping all the Cleveland schools last spring season at the Homeschool regatta.  Ron's abilities were noticed by members of the other college Teams and has been offered the Head Coach position at John Carrol's rowing team.  We wish him the best of luck and thank him for his 3 years of volunteering!  Also missing this year will be Tom Kotula but that's alright because he is on a 2,000 mile journey to help Habitat for Humanity down the intercoastal waterway. 

Taking there places will be Maddy Widen who rowed for Shaker Hts. in HS and Mercyhurst for college.  She will be the team's 2nd ever female coach.  She has more than 10 years of rowing experience and will be a great addition to the team.

 

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Coach to row 2000 miles

Coach Tom Kotula has been coaching the team for 2 years and was a rower for 4 years (2002-2006).  He has been working on converting a sail boat he bought last fall into a row boat.  He plans to row from Cleveland to Key West.  While on his trip, he plans to work with Habitat for Humanity and provide aid to those who need it most in the during this economic depression.   

A current rower and CSU Senior Jon Hauserman will be rowing with Tom for two months.  Jon has been involved with the construction of the riggers and boat modifications.  Both Tom and Jon are CSU Fenn College of Engineering Mechanical Engineers.

The CSU rowing team wishes him luck on his trip and thanks him for his 2 years of volunteering as a CSU rowing coach.

More information and photos can be found at www.habitatcrew.com.

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Cleveland College Summer Rowing Begins!

By Ron Dorchak

The 4th Season of the Collegiate Summer Rowing league begins today in Cleveland in the first bay of the Cleveland Rowing Foundation Boathouse (1948 Carter Road).  Practices will be every Tuesday & Thursday at 7:00pm and Saturdays at 9:30am. An introduction to the coaching staff and explanation of the program will occur on Tuesday.

This program is designed to satisfy your rowing needs. If you are looking to improve upon fitness, technique, or both, the coaching staff will specifically cater practices to you. We will be discussing our team goals during the first week so we may tweak the training program.

What you need to know about our program:

• Practices are not mandatory, and boats are created on a first come first serve basis. Also, you may be asked to cox from time to time.
• Lasts approximately 2 months long
• $75 per person, $50 for CRF members. Checks will be due after two weeks.
• Some rowing experience required
• Communication is primarily made via our Yahoo Group “Summer Cleveland Collegiate Rowing” – please join!

Overall, Summer Rowing is meant to be laid back, fun, and a good chance to get some solid rows in. I hope to see you there!

 

 

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Dad Vails 2009

 

The CSU rowing team is a club team and competed this weekend against varsity rowing teams. CSU was originally scheduled to race as a D2/D3 school but after talking with Dad Vail officials we were moved into the D1 category since Cleveland State's Athletic teams compete as division 1.

 

The Women's Varsity 4 had a great race and had great technique. All four oar blades off the water, great catch and finish timing, and staying long in the water. Although they had great technique a jammed rudder caused them to take a few strokes light on the starboard side, because the boat could only turn to the port side. Its hard to say if their rudder had not been jam, if they could of been able to make up 5 seconds to finish in the top 18. They finished 28th, beating 9 other D1 varsity teams. Here is who they beat:

28 CLEVELAND ST 166 05:19.739

29 PURDUE 82 (Emily Fithian) 05:20.069

30 USMA 108 (Christina Quimby) 05:20.531

31 MARQUETTE 57 (Jenna Johnson) 05:20.733

32 NEW YORK U. 67 (Brooke Lieberwitz) 05:23.817

33 GEORGE MASON 40 (Jennifer Mockler) 05:23.933

34 OLD DOM-CLUB 76 (Mary Kent) 05:33.153

35 BINGHAMTON 5 (Erin Crawford) 05:33.301

36 PITTSBURGH 81 (Allison O'day) 05:36.087

37 MARYLAND - CP 59 (Kelly Grob) 05:41.809

To advance to semi-finals the WV4 had to be in the top 18 in their race. Although they didn't go to semi finals they did well against the toughest competition around the United States. Had the team been able to compete at the D2/D3 level they would have made it to semi finals and would of placed 12th out of 30.

Here are the schools they would have beat in the D2/D3 category:

12 ROCHESTER 84 (Hannah Stenger) 05:19.925

13 CARNEGIE MELLON 13 (Megan Larcom) 05:20.249

14 PHILADELPHIA U. 80 (Carolyn Steinberg) 05:20.937

15 BRANDEIS 8 (Laura Hand) 05:23.075

16 OKLAHOMA CITY U. 75 (Katie Sondag) 05:23.111

17 RUTGERS - CAMDEN 87 (Kathryn Yannes) 05:23.419

18 CHICAGO 21 (Sonya Ringer) 05:23.825

19 GRAND VALLEY 42 (Alissa Hatten) 05:25.027

21 CASE 14 (Katie Puttmann) 05:26.203

22 NC STATE 69 (Sharon Licata) 05:26.757

23 CATHOLIC U 15 (Ashley Berkheimer) 05:28.577

24 JOHNS HOPKINS 48 (Vanessa Damm) 05:30.085

25 COLL OF CHAR 19 (Emily Hall) 05:31.937

26 SAINT THOMAS 91 (Gina Foschi) 05:33.731

27 LAWRENCE 51 (Katrina Devore) 05:35.467

28 JOHN CARROLL 47 (Anjali Kottha) 05:41.609

29 COLL OF NJ 66 (Jessica Miller) 05:48.777

30 CENTRAL OKLAHOMA 18 (Erin Crain) 05:59.667

Congrats to Viking crew for a great 2009 season. Hope to see you for a fun summer season and to start training for the next season when school resumes in the fall.

Farewell to our seniors, may the lessons you learned in school and while rowing carrying you to great success in your life and career.

Division 1 Women's Varsity four Results 

Division 2/3 Women's Varsity four Results

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Viking crew to compete Dad Vails 2009

The Cleveland State University's Womens Varsity 4 is spending their last week of school studying for finals and preparing for their last regatta of the season.  Practicing twice a day and training for their biggest race ever.

They will be competing against 32 other universities from around the midwest.  Here is a list of their competition:

Amherst College Rowing Association (A)

Barry University (A)

Bowdoin Rowing Association (A)

Brandeis University Crew (A)

Carnegie Mellon University Rowing Club (A)

Case Crew (A)

Catholic University (A)

Cleveland State University (A)

College of Charleston Crew (A)

Dowling College Crew (A)

Emory Crew Club (A)

Franklin Pierce University (A)

Grand Valley State University Rowing Team (A)

John Carroll University Crew (A)

Johns Hopkins University Crew (A)

Lawrence University Rowing Club (A)

McGill University Rowing Club (A)

Mercyhurst College Rowing (A)

N.C. State University (A)

Northwestern State University (A)

Nova Southeastern University (A)

Oklahoma City University (A)

Philadelphia University (A)

Rochester Institute of Technology Crew (A)

Rutgers University (Camden) (A)

Sonoma State Rowing Club (A)

The College of New Jersey (A)

University of Central Oklahoma (A)

University of Charleston (A)

University of Rochester (A)

University of St. Thomas Crew Club (A)

William and Mary Rowing Club (A)

University of Chicago Crew (B)

Go CSU Viking Crew!

 

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MACRA Regatta

The viking crew competed this weekend in Grand Rapids Michigan against some very competitive schools.  Leading the team was the WV4 who finished in 1st place in their first heat and 2nd in the Grand Finals, bringing home the team's first Silver Medal at MACRAs!  The MV4, WN4, and WV8 also competed and rowed hard.  Congrats to the WN4, WV8, and MV4 on a great spring season see you in the summer and fall seasons. 

The Women's Varsity four will be practicing intensly this final week for the team's final regatta: Dad Vails.  Dad Vails is the biggest regatta and will have over 130 different colleges racing there.  With an entry fee of $300 we only send our top boats and our womens varsity four has been training hard since the first day of practice on January 7.  This is the team's second time at Dad Vails and we hope to qualify for the Grand Finals and show that CSU may be a club team with little funding, but has the heart and drive to compete against the big guys.

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Viking crew competes at 2009 WV Governor's Cup

This past weekend the Viking Crew competed at the West Virginia Governor's Cup. The results the races are up: http://csurowing.org/files/WestVirginiaGovernor'sCup2009Results.pdf

Our Women's Novice 4 placed 1st



Our Women's Varsity 4 placed 3rd, 5 seconds from 1st place Carnegie Melon, and 3 seconds from 2nd place Miami



Our Women's Varsity 8 made it to finals



Our Men's Varsity 4 with 3 novice rowers were .1 second away from going to the final heat.

Overall we placed 6th out of 15 schools!

1 Carnegie Mellon



2 Miami



3 Virginia Tech



4 Ohio



5 Duquesne



6 Cleveland State



7Case Western



8 Xavier



9 Charleston



10 Davidson



11 Old Dominion



12 John Carroll



13 West Virginia



14 Denison



15 Wittenberg







This next weekend we'll be in Grand Rapids MI for the MACRA's Regatta, and the following weekend the Womens Varsity 4 will be going to Dad Vails. Which is a held "annually on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the largest regular intercollegiate rowing event in the USA, drawing over a hundred colleges and universities from North America." - Wikipedia

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CSU wins 2009 Home Schools Regatta!

Cleveland State University's Rowing team won their first Home School's Regatta Cup in the team's 9 year history.  They also had their first ever SHUTOUT!  Winning all six scheduled races! 

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Team hopes to win 1st Home Schools Regatta

The Cleveland State University rowers have been waking up before sunrise ever since January.  They have trained indoors during the winter running upstairs, rowing on ergometers, and weight lifting.  Since spring break they have been on the Cuyahoga river training for their upcoming races.  

This weekend they will be racing at home against their local rivals: CASE and JCU.   CSU has came close in the past to winning this regatta.  In 2006 they were tied for 1st before the last race and lost by a few seconds to CASE.  This season might be the season CSU finally wins this regatta.  Two months ago, Cleveland State won against CASE and JCU in the Hammer Ergatta (indoor ergometer race) for the first time.  CSU rowing hopes to continue its winning record this weekend.

Races start at 8:15 am and end at 12pm.  If you're downtown be sure to watch and cheer on the CSU Vikings!  The race can bee seen at the Carter Rd Bridge.

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CSU wins Hammer Ergatta Cup

 The Cleveland State University Rowing Team won its first Ergatta Cup in its team's 9 year History.

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Team heads to Spring Training

 12 Rowers from the Cleveland State Rowing Team packed up clothes and left Saturday morning for 1 week of 15 practices.  Spring break for a is the first time for rowers practicing on the water since the Fall Season.   When the team returns they will be practicing be back to practicing on the Cuyahoga.

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Looking for New Rowers

Today started the Cleveand State University's rowing team's first official day of practice.  For the next 9 weeks we will be training indoors on the ergometers (rowing machines) at the boathouse, and weight lifting in the afternoons at the Rec Center.  For spring break we will be traveling to Oak Ridge TN for an intense week of team bonding and on the water training.  After spring break we will have on the water practices Mon-Fri and spring Head to Head races around the Midwest.

The team is currently looking for new rowers interested in joining the most competitive sports club at Cleveland State University.

Email us or Sign up Online if you are interested in joining!

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Vikings Complete Successful Fall Season

Columbus, OH - On Saturday, October 25, 2008, the Cleveland State University Rowing team competed in the Jack Speakmon Memorial Regatta. This race annually attracts many of the top high school and collegiate rowing teams in the Midwest, and this year was no different. Local colleges John Carol University and Case Western University were in attendance, and interstate rivals Ohio State University, Ohio University, Xavier, and Cincinnati also entered numerous boats. The Men's team entered two races: the Open Four and the Novice Four. The Open Four, consisting of Jon Hauserman and three novices, Adam Hoya, Jeff Cook, Alec Phillips and coxswain Stephen Hanawalt took 12th out of 20, and 4th out of 8 colleges:

2. Dayton 17:53
10. Ohio U 18:29
11. John Carroll 18:36
12. Cleveland State 18:37
14. Case Western 19:04
15. Denison 19:21
18. Xavier 19:46
19. Wittenburg 19:59

This race marked the mens team's first win over Case Western this season. The Men's Novice Four appeared to be one of the fastest crews in their event, but disaster struck when they collided with another boat about 100 meters before the finish line. The crew consisting of Stephen Hanawalt, Adam Hoya, Jeff Cook, and Earl Caldwell lost almost a whole minute of time trying to get back on to the course but ended up still taking 7th out of eleven and beating Case Western University's novice men.
2. Butler 19:39
5. Toledo 20:57
6. Ohio 21:15
7. Cleveland State 21:19
11. Case Western 24:05

Viking Women's Rowing showed their promise as Midwest contenders by medaling in all three of their events. The Women's Collegiate Novice 8 of Samantha Shunk, Mary Kay Pienta, Marcelina Sladewska, Katie Omundson, Alex Brinkman, Monika Velovic, Tanja Stich, and Krystle George and coxswain Megan Wilinski reigned supreme over the field of 9 boats. This gold medal performance was the first win in an eight for CSU in over 5 years, and the first fall race gold in an eight ever:
1. Cleveland State 19:57
2. Robert Morris 20:21
3. Ohio 21:53
4. Xavier 22:22
5. John Caroll 23:46
6. Wittenburg 24:12
7. Ohio State 24:41
8. Ohio State B 25:25
9. Ohio State C 28:44

The Women's Open Four, consisting of veteran Amanda Lee and novices Samantha Shunk, Mary Kay Pienta, Marcelina Sladewska, and coxswain Megan Wilinski had a strong showing, placing 3rd out of 9 boats. Their bronze was the first medal the varsity women have ever earned at this regatta.
1. Robert Morris A 19:28
2. Case Western A 20:30
3. Cleveland State 20:44
4. Robert Morris B 20:50
5. John Caroll 21:32
6. Robert Morris C 21:58
7. Cincinnati 22:26
8. Case Western B 23:10
9. Wittenburg 24:05

Finally, the Women's Novice Four of Mary Kay Pienta, Katie Omundson, Alex Brinkman, Krystle George, and coxswain Marcelina Sladewska dominated their race and also earned a gold, giving the CSU Novice Women a clean sweep of the collegiate novice field:
1. Cleveland State 22:38
2. Cincinnati 22:58
3. Butler 23:17
4. John Carroll 23:39
5. Robert Morris 23:41
6. Case Western A 25:18
7. Denison 29:00
8. Case Western B 32:38

Wyandotte, MI - For those who were interested in getting one last race on the water this fall, the Cleveland State University Rowing Team took a small group of rowers to Michigan on Sunday, November 2nd. The Viking Crew entered only four races. The competition was minimal and many races were cancelled or combined due to too few of entries. The Vikings brought home gold medals in the Mens Novice Four and Womens Novice Four. The Womens Open Four also came home with a bronze.

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Viking Crew places well at Head of the Ohio

Novice rowers competing at the Varsity level place well amongst seasoned veterans.

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Vikings win Silver and Bronze at HOTC 2008

Men's Novice 4 win Silver and Women's Novice 4 wins Bronze at the fall Home Regatta.

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Viking Crew to Compete at Head of the Cuyahoga 2008

Viking Crew to Compete at Head of the Cuyahoga 2008

By David Dressler

The Cleveland State Rowing Club has been practicing at 5:30am since the beginning of school to compete at this weekend's regatta in the Flats.  They will be competing against Westerville, John Carrol, CASE western, Michigan State, University of Toledo, Ann Arbor, Duquesne University and many other schools.

The team will be competing in 6 events starting at 9:05am till 1:40pm. The race is a 4200m race down the winding river of the Cuyahoga. If you're downtown near the river be sure to look for the Viking Crew rowing with their green oars with white crosses.

Go CSU Rowing!!!

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MACRA's Regatta 2008

Women's Team Earns First Medal at MACRA Regatta

By Ron Dorchak

Athens, OH - With 15 entrees consisting of some of the top collegiate clubs in the Midwest, the Women's Novice Four came to the 44th annual Mid-America Collegiate Rowing Association regatta with one goal: to win Cleveland State University's first championship. The girls certainly were capable of doing so, coming off a victory the week before and having a tremendous week of practice.

In their heat, the Vikings lined up against Midwest rivals Grand Valley, University of Chicago, and Cincinnati. Knowing that only the first place and two next fastest times from the heats would advance, the girls had no choice but to win the heat outright. At the start, the CSU crew came out with their usual rapid burst, but this time they found themselves met with a strong crew from Cincinnati. The Bearcats rowed stroke for stroke with the Vikings until the 1000 meters mark when the CSU girls made their mid race move and took open water. For the remainder of the race, CSU pushed back the feisty Cincinnati boat and earned an automatic trip to the finals with the 8 second victory. Their time of 8:19 for 2050 meters was the second fastest of the novice girl's for the day, only 3 seconds slower than Michigan State University.

1) CSU 8:19
2) Cincinnati 8:27
3) Grand Valley 8:36
4) University of Chicago 9:13

For only the second time in team history, the girls were in contention to win at the MACRA regatta. Four of the five boats in the finals all had heat times within ten seconds, so the final could be won by anyone. The Vikings jumped the start with tenacity, taking a seat lead on all crews. Through the first 500 meters, CSU, North Park, and Michigan State were dead even and battling hard for an edge. By the 1000 meter mark, North Park made a strong move and took three seats from Michigan State and was close to getting open water from CSU. Through the 1500 meter mark, North Park was the clear leader with open water on Michigan State and with an open length on CSU. With 400 meters left, the Viking Crew made their sprint and began walking back into the Spartan girls from Michigan State. The MSU crew held on as did North Park, and the third boat to cross the finish line was CSU. The bronze was the second time a CSU boat medaled at MACRAs, the last being the Men's Lightweight Four in 2006. This was the first time a women's boat even made it to the final, let alone earn a bronze.
The race concluded the season for the Vikings and set the tone for the offseason. All four girls will return next season in the fall.

1) North Park 8:25
2) Michigan State 8:34
3) Cleveland State 8:36
4) Ohio State 8:53
5) Cincinnati 9:02

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West Viriginia Governor's Cup 2008

Novice Women Strike Gold in West Virginia

By Ron Dorchak

The Cleveland State University Novice Women's Four travelled to Charleston, West Virginia on Saturday, April 26th to compete for the Governor's Cup. The Viking Crew of Ami Hinks (coxswain), Amanda Lee (Stroke), Samantha Shunk (3), Mary Kay Pienta(2), and Marcelina Sladewska (1) had never competed as a four together and had only been practicing as a crew for three weeks. Sladewska joined the team a few days before the Cleveland Home Schools Regatta before racing in the Varsity Four event, while Pienta joined the following week, never having raced. Shunk joined the team in February and participated in the team's winter training. Lee, the only "experienced" rower, began rowing in the fall and was able to make the Varsity Four for that season as a novice.

Heading into the heat, the odds appeared to be against the Viking crew that had virtually no 2000 meter rowing experience other than practice. With an impending thunder storm on the horizon and tough competition, the fate of the Novice Women was likely to be ghastly.

The Novice Four lined up for their very first competitive race and went off the line with an impressively quick start, taking a lead on all crews. 500 meters into the race, the Vikings had open water on all boats. They never relinquished their lead, winning the heat by several boat lengths. The girls produced the fasted Novice Four time of the day, giving them the top lane for the finals.

Winning the heat instilled confidence in the ladies, and they got a taste of what victory feels like. Using their early day momentum, the Viking Crew headed into the final as the first heavy rain of the day began to fall combined with a gusty headwind.

The final began quickly as did the CSU fire powered start, giving the girls an early lead once again. However, thirty strokes into the final, a collision occurred with one of the crews, and the race was to be restarted from the 1300 meter mark. On the second try, the Novice Women had an awkward start, with one of the girls missing water and the boat slightly losing its course. However, the Vikings got back on track and began walking through all the boats. By the halfway point, Cleveland State rowed past Case Western Reserve University, which had beaten CSU at the Home School regatta by over 10 seconds. With 300 meters to go, the ladies increased their speed and sprinted to the finish with an open two boat lead on all crews. Erupting in joy, the girls high-fived on the dock and congratulated each other on their first West Virginia Governor's Cup victory since 2006.

1) Cleveland State 6:47.2
2) Case Western 6:55.8
3) Carnegie Mellon B 7:07.0
4) Virginia Tech 7:07.5
5) Carnegie Mellon A 7:08.8
6) Carnegie Mellon C 7:46.6

Video

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Hammer Ergatta 2008

Four Viking Crew Members medal at Hammer Ergatta

By David Dressler

The Cleveland State Rowing Club has been practicing at 6am since January 7^th to get ready for last Sunday's Ergatta.  They raced against home school rivals John Carroll and Case Western.  

Hundreds came to compete in the Cleveland Ergatta held at Case Western's Veal Center.  The Ergatta is a race with ergometers (rowing machines) where competitors race 2000 meters usually lasting a grueling 7+ minutes.

Viking Crew took home 4 medals. The incredible varsity lightweight woman Megan Willinski won Gold.  The 4 year varsity lightweight man Anthony Roberts came home with a silver in his hand.  Our amazing novice rower Baba Nylander won silver in the Open competition, and the Team's President Amanda Lee won bronze in the Open competition.

The team relay competition was the last race of the competition.  A group of 3 men and 3 women from each school raced 3000 meters, switching out every 500 meters.

The Viking Crew will be having a Row-A-Thon that will benefit the team and help pay for new equipment.  The Row-A-Thon is a fundraiser the team does every year in the spring.  Every rower on the team collects sponsors and rows for an hour straight and receive money for how many meters they row in that hour.

The Viking Crew will be traveling to Oak Ridge, TN this spring break to prepare for on-water races.  The first regatta for this season starts at the End of March.  The team competes with Ohio State, Purdue, Michigan State, Notre Dame, U of Pittsburg, Duquesne, Marietta, Mercyhurst, John Carroll, and Case Western.  The team is very competitive having won Gold medals at 3 out of 4 of its Regatta's last spring season.

There's still time for new rowers to join the team. If you're interesting in joining the team, please email the team at rowing@csuohio.edu or call the Club's President Amanda Lee at 440 554-3746. The team is open to all students and is a great way to get involved at CSU, get in great shape, compete, and create great friendships.

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Viking Crew: Not Crabbing

By Francis X. Bova III, CSU Cauldron

Cleveland State's Rowing Club trained in Oak Ridge, Tenn. for spring break. But with the weeklong session in the past, it's been back to the daily sweat and grind on the good old Cuyahoga River.

For varsity and novice rowers, the teams' top priority was making sure everyone was ready for on-water races. "Rowing is very aerobic and is a full-body workout," Cleveland State Rowing Club president Aliza Beastrom said.

"We wake up and practice at 5:30 a.m. and are on the water until 7:30 a.m."

Beastrom, a senior, also is the women's captain and has been part of the club for nearly three years.

"Its very physical demanding and every rower had no prior experience," Beastrom said.

No one on the club rowed during high school or at a prior college, according to Beastrom.

Alex Martin has been rowing with the club for two years, and agrees the sport is physical demanding.

"It's rough, but you get used to it," Martin said.

Established in 2000, the Viking Crew travels all over the Midwest competing against a wide variety of competition in both men and women regattas and ergattas.

The crew has competed in Philadelphia, Boston, Indiana, and in Athens, Ohio over the last three years.

Ergatta's are indoor events using ergometers (rowing machines) in which competitors race 2000 meters usually for seven minutes.

At the Hammer Ergatta held at John Carroll on Feb. 18, the Viking Crew took home four medals. Varsity lightweights Megan Willinski and four-year rower David Dressler won bronze in the men's and women competition. In novice races, Elise Wintering won silver in lightweight competition, and Kristen Richards won bronze in open competition. Wintering is considered a novice but can race varsity, according to Beastrom.

In the teamrelay competition a group of three men and women from various universities raced 3000 meters. The teams would switch out every 500 meters. The Viking Crew took second place, losing by 10 seconds to John Carroll's A-Team.

On Saturday in very cold and snowy conditions, the team traveled to Pennsylvania for the Mercyhurst Invitational. The crew raced against Mercyhurst, Buffalo, D'Youville and Robert Morris--well funded teams, who are on scholarship to row. The varsity women in a four person boat finished in first place.

"It's a really big win, because Mercyhurst hasn't been beaten at their invitational in years," Beastrom said referring to both men's and women's competition. "And it's the first time CSU Women have ever beaten Mercyhurst."

The invitational was almost cancelled because of the weather, according to Beastrom.

But the most important aspect of the victory for the women was it kept their hope for competing in the NCAA Spring Nationals alive.

"You have to apply for it," Beastrom said. "So, we really have to prove ourselves, and it helps we're undefeated."

The club is not officially recognized on the NCAA website, because it is a club sport at Cleveland State. The club has to fill out a declaration to compete form. When they aren't on the road the rowers can be found at a community boathouse in The Flats - usually in the wee hours of the morning.

The Cleveland Rowing Foundation operates the only boathouse in Northeast Ohio. The foundation attracts over 800 high school, collegiate and adult athletes to the banks of the Cuyahoga River, according to the foundations website.

Case Western Reserve, John Carroll, Baldwin Wallace and Cleveland State share the boathouse on a regular basis. Despite the close quarters the rowers don't really notice except when on the water.

"Sharing is not a problem at all," Martin said. "It's good to scrimmage with them, and since we're all on different time schedules it's not a big deal."

One major event the club is looking ahead too is the fourth annual Ohio Cup hosted by Ohio State University on April 14. The Ohio Intercollegiate State Championship is on the line at the O'Shaughnessy Reservoir in Shawnee Hills.

"The Ohio Cup we're really excited about," Beastrom said. "It's our chance to prove we are the fastest school in Ohio."

Katie Salvator, a senior and member of the women's rowing crew at Ohio State, is in charge of organizing the event and expects five teams to compete.

"Medals are awarded to the top three boats in each race and a point's trophy to the winning team overall," Salvator said.

If Cleveland State does medal, they may owe a debt of gratitude to a new boat they recently unwrapped - and their coaches. "We're fortunate because we have awesome volunteer coaches who put in time for no reason except to see the team get better," Beastrom said.

And the new boat is already winning over the club. "The first time that boat was in a race it took first place, so it has a good track record," Beastrom Said.

To learn more about the club visit csuohio.edu/rowing.

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Home Schools Regatta, Homeboyz

By Peter Rozman

With Spring Break training in Tennessee out of the way, the Cleveland State Rowing Club has officially started its water training on the Cuyahoga.  With some new faces, and a lot of returning members, practices have been tough but effective.  The returning Varsity members, along with the coaches, are helping to shape the Novice crews into tip-top shape.  With only a week of on the water training for some of the members, the Cleveland State Vikings brought their skills to the Home Schools Regatta.  Competing with Case and John Carol, Cleveland State was ready to square off with some local competition.  Awarding one point for each race won, the school with the most points at the end of the day was awarded a trophy for their efforts. 

With a women’s eight, men’s eight, and a pair of men’s and women’s fours going out, Cleveland State represented quite well with a total of six boats.  The men’s eight raced first thing in the morning, and faced some rough competition from Case Western Reserve University.  Working with a new lineup, there are still some kinks that need to be worked out for the men’s eight to really shine.  The woman’s eight faced the same situation, and both boats are eager to get it all together and start winning more races.  As for the fours, both men’s boats beat their competitors, but only the A boat advanced to the next heat.  The men’s A boat beat out John Carol by almost two boat-lengths, while the men’s B boat chose to keep the race a little closer and won by a boat-length or so.  Both victories added two points to CSU’s total.  Cleveland State’s A boat advanced to the final heat against Case Western Reserve and pulled strong and hard.  Unfortunately, Case was determined to get the win and took it from CSU’s reach. 

The Varsity women’s boat did a phenomenal job of keeping the competitors at bay with their sweet boat and really helped bring in the points.  Winning overall for the women’s four division, the Varsity four, (Alliza Beastrom, Julie Cepelnik, Krystle Kulon, and Megan Wilinski) put two points on the board.  We are hoping that these fine ladies will continue to bring pride and gold medals to our fine rowing club.

At the end of the day, Case Western Reserve ended up with five points, Cleveland State University with four and John Carol with one.  With one regatta out of the way and on the boards, the Cleveland State Rowing Club has its sights set on improvement and gold medals in the near future!

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CSU Spring Break Training Recap

By David Dressler

The Cleveland State rowing team went to Oak Ridge, TN over the spring break to prepare for the seasons upcoming races.  Oak Ridge was a great place to train with weather conditions of 70+ degrees and clear skies for the whole week.  The team spent 5 whole days conditioning.  Fourteen rowers and two of our four volunteer coaches made the trip down to dixie.

Unveiled at spring Break was the team’s brand new Vespoli Ultra-lite 4 man shell.  This new boat combined with our new set of oars purchased last year will give the team a leg up at competition.

Spring Break practices were a combination of rowing, running and circuit workouts.  Rowers ran from their hotel to practice which was a 5 mile trek and then jumped into boats and rowed for 2 hour long Practices.  Circuit workouts focused on strengthening the rowers legs (the muscle that generates the most force in a rower’s stroke).  These strenuous workouts would have been impossible had it not been for our vigorous winter conditioning, which began in January.

Our coaches Dimitry Martnyuk and Ron Dorchak took vacation time from work to come and coach the team the first half of the week.   Our head coach was suppose to coach us for the rest of the week, but was stuck in Cleveland due to unforeseen circumstances.  The coaches gave varsity rowers the responsibility to coach the new rowers and themselves for the remaining three days.  The first few practices thereafter were run by varsity rowers, but as word spread around the boathouse, some people outside our program stepped in to assist.  CSU Rowing owes a debt of gratitude to the Dave Dickinson at Vespoli and Casey Barker at Resolute for helping get us through the remaining week of training and helping build our technical base. Their expertise was a great bonus to the team, as these guys have 15+years of rowing/coaching experience.  Big thanks again to all of the coaching.

Viking Crew has been waking up every morning at 6am since the start of January to practice.  Spring training ended with three mock 2km races.  The Viking Crew new feels well prepared to take on John Carroll University and Case Western Reserve this weekend at the home schools regatta, a 1500m race on the Cuyahoga River—the only spring regatta in Cleveland.  

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CSU Rowing Wins Big at Hammer Ergatta

By David Dressler

The Cleveland State Rowing Club has been practicing at 6am since January 8^th to get ready for last Sunday’s Ergatta.  They raced against home school rivals John Carroll and Case Western.  

Hundreds came to compete in the Cleveland Ergatta held at John Carroll.  The Ergatta is a race with ergometers (rowing machines) where competitors race 2000 meters usually lasting a grueling 7+ minutes.  About 15 rowers from CSU came to compete.

Viking Crew took home 4 medals.  The incredible varsity lightweight woman Megan Willinski won bronze.   The 4 year varsity lightweight man David Dressler also came home with a bronze in his hand.  Our amazing novice rower Elise Wintering won silver in the Lightweight competition, and Kristen Richards won bronze in the Open competition.

The team relay competition was the last race of the competition.  A group of 3 men and 3 women from each school raced 3000 meters, switching out every 500 meters.  Cleveland State won 2^nd place, losing by 10 seconds to John Carroll’s A-Team, but beat JCU’s B-Team and CASE.

The Viking Crew will be having a Row-A-Thon that will benefit the team and help pay for new equipment.  The Row-A-Thon is a fundraiser the team does every year in the spring.  Every rower on the team collects sponsors and rows for an hour straight and receive money for how many meters they row in that hour.

The Viking Crew will be traveling to Oak Ridge, TN this spring break to prepare for on-water races.  The first regatta for this season starts at the End of March.  The team competes with Ohio State, Purdue, Michigan State, Notre Dame, U of Pittsburg, Duquesne, Marietta, Mercyhurst, John Carroll, and Case Western.  The team is very competitive having won Gold medals at 3 out of 4 of its Regatta’s last spring season.

There’s still time for new rowers to join the team.  If you’re interesting in joining the team, please visit the team’s website at www.csuohio.edu/rowing or call the Club’s President Aliza Beastrom at 216 598-0609.  The team is open to all students and is a great way to get involved at CSU, get in great shape, compete, and create great friendships.

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Fall 2006 Viking Crew Season Recap

By David Dressler / Denny Matheou