Washington-Lee High School Crew

This summer Washington-Lee Crew Alumni continued to make news at the Royal Henley Regatta and USRowing Club Nationals. Two alumni Apollo Nguyen '87(cox) and Paul Holland '97(7 seat) help take Potomac Boat Club to the Semi-Finals in the Themes Cup at Henley.

New alumni Patrick Lacey '10 won two bronze medals rowing for Potomac Boat Club's Junior Sculling Program at USRowing Club Nationals. Patrick won his bronze medals in the Junior A Single and as stroke of the the Junior Quad. Patrick will be taking his talents to UC San Diego in the Fall.

We would like to congratulate individual achievement and awards for the 2010 season:

Patrick Lacey - 1st Team All-Met Athlete Boys Rowing
Caitlin Macnamara - Honorable Mention All-Met Athlete Girls Rowing

Team Awards - Boys
MVP - Will Dickinson
Most Improved - Ian Feeney
Coaches Award - Tom Miotke
Coaches Award - Chris Stephens

Team Award - Girls
MVP - Caitlin Macnamara
Most Improved - Paige Handcock
Coaches Award - Brenna Nelson

W-L Crew Alumni continue to make waves after graduation. This year at 2010 NCAA Championship saw senior Nora Phillips '06 (2 seat) helped the V8 of UVA to 2nd place and the Team Trophy and Jane Roberts '08 helped cox the V4 of Wisconsin to a 3rd Place finish. Scott Herring '05 helped Temple to a 3rd place finish in the JV8 final at the 2010 Dad Vail. Junior Nick Birasa '07 (stroke) is leading Dartmouth's 2V. David Kahan '08 (3 seat)continues to help Yale's lightweight program this year on their 2V to 2nd place at the EARC Eastern Sprints. Last but not least Dakota Springston '09 (5 seat) finished up his season at Mary Washington helping their program to a strong finish this year. Although not an alumni Martin Eiermann (5 seat), exchange student in '04 and member of the W-L Crew '04 State and Stotesbury Champion Lightweight Eight, is a senior at Harvard helping their Varsity Lightweight Eight. So far this year Harvard place 2nd to Princeton at the EARC Eastern Sprints. Martin along with Nick are heading into this weekends IRA.

This year W-L Crew only sent a boys junior eight up to Saratoga Springs, NY to compete at the SRAA Nationals. Since our Men's V8, the only other boat to qualify for Nationals, declined to attend we reconfigured our Men's 2V with one seat change from the V8(one senior was removed from the 2V lineup) to form the new lineup for Nationals. With 3 days of practice before traveling we were nervous about our chances. The boys advanced to the semi-finals placing 2nd in their heat(10th overall by time). The following day came the semi-finals where they rose to occasion by placing 3rd(6th overall by time) to advance to the final. Later that day came the final where they ended up taking 5th to a very strong field which is a good sign for this group since the lineup consisted of 7 sophomores, 1 junior and 1 freshman. Missing from the picture is Jim Owen '62 who was the other coach to travel up with us but is not shown because he was taking this picture.

The 84th Stotesbury Cup Regatta was held this past weekend. We took up 5 eights, Boys and Girls Varsity and 2nd Varsity Eights and the Girls Freshman. The Boys 2V was the only boat to advance out of the time trials placing 10th (needed top 12). They then placed a strong 5th place in their semi final, but needed top 3 to advance to the final. The other notable happening was W-L's Novice Men's coach presenting the Charlie Butt Trophy for the Boy's Jr. Eights to St. Joe's Prep during the finals on Saturday. We'd also like to thank all the parents for a great trip due to all their help and support for feeding us, chaperoning at the hotel and continued and unwavering support for our program. Without your help it wouldn't be possible.

Jim Owen, '62 presenting the Charlie Butt Trophy for the Boys Jr. Eight to St. Joe's Prep

So we only got half way through the VASRA Championship this weekend due to high winds postponing the finals. From stiff head winds all day and the starting platform being damaged and requiring floating starts, the regatta staff and officials pushed through to at least get the heats completed before canceling racing on Saturday. The finals of the VSRC have been rescheduled for May 22nd. The Men's V8 and 2V will rowing in finals. The Women's V8 will be racing the petite final while the Women's 2V missed the final by 0.3 seconds.

This weekend will be the 84th Stotesbury Cup Regatta in Philadelphia PA. W-L Crew will have 5 eights in the regatta

Friday Time-Trial times
Girls Freshman Eight 8:41 AM
Boys 2nd Eight 1:10 PM
Girls 2nd Eight 1:24 PM
Boys 1st Eight 3:12 PM
Girls 1st Eight 3:31 PM

Friday, May 14th  schedule
Saturday, May 15th schedule
Stotesbury Website

The VASRA Championships are this weekend. Our Boys and Girls 1st and 2nd Eights will be participating. The schedule for the event has been posted.

The schedule for ths weekends Ted Phoenix - Lower Boat Championship has been released. Bus for the athletes leave at 5:30am from the school.

The schedule for the Charlie Butt Regatta. Racing starts at 9am.

We will be traveling a short distance for the 2nd time to the Occoquan for the Smokey Jacobs Regatta. The schedule has been posted.

For the first time in many years the main story from St. Andrews isn't the weather. We had a cool and gusty start but a warm and sunny finish to this past Saturday's event. A strong showing from all boats. The best showing was from the women's novices placing 2nd in both events. The results for the Men's V8 wasn't updated but the corrected results are as follows

1-STA 4:32.72. 2-Chaminade 4:33.63. 3-SAS 4:36.64. 4-Bonner 4:39.25. 5-W-L 4:442.16. 6-TCW 4:59.1

The team would like to thank the Washington-Lee administration for taking time during Spring Break to come and observe a practice and to see our athletes in action. From L to R, Kathleen McNamee - Women's Asst. Coach, Mr. Robertson - Principal and Ms. Callaway - Director of Student Activities

Crew families are making news. Caroline Birasa, sister of Nick Birasa '07 was named a National Achievement Scholarship winner and will receive a $2,500 scholarship.

To qualify for the award, students requested consideration when they took the 2008 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test as high school juniors. To continue in the competition, students had to meet additional requirements which included high academic performance and a recommendation by an official of their high school.

The National Achievement Scholarship Program is a privately-financed academic competition established in 1964 specifically to honor scholastically talented Black American youth, and to provide scholarships to a substantial number of the most outstanding participants in each annual competition.

The team will be traveling to St. Andrews this coming Saturday. The buses will be leaving at 7am from the school. The trip is about 2.5 hours. The schedule has been posted.

We will be racing TC Williams this Saturday starting at 7:30am.

W-L Crew competed Saturday in our first regatta of the season against Whitman and Wilson High Schools. It was a strong showing by the whole team with the Men's Varsity standing out by winning all 3 races. Our next competition will be against TC Williams this coming Saturday. Schedule/Results

For all the kids and Boosters

When: This Saturday, March 6, 2010
Time: 7:45 - 6pm - 1st shift from 7:45 - 1pm / 2nd shift from 1pm to 6pm
Where: Arlington Traditional School (behind the McDonalds at George Mason and Wilson Blvd

Washington-Lee High School

2010 CREW Season Kick-Off
POTLUCK DINNER

The Washington-Lee Crew program invites all parents & rowers
to the W-L Crew 2010 Season Kick-Off Pot Luck Dinner

Wednesday, February 17th 

W-L Cafeteria

6:30-8:30

Attendance is mandatory.

What to Bring  -  Last Name Begins With:

A-M: Main Course to serve 8

N-T: Side Dish or Salad

U-Z: Dessert and One 2-liter Bottle of Soda

Everyone: Calendars and Checkbook
For info on the Pot Luck or to volunteer to help, contact Sandy Weiss Yatt - spy959@verizon.net or (703) 276-8145

For further information on the Crew Program contact:

Head Men’s Coach: Derek Parsons ('87 W -L Grad) 703-577-8254 crewcoach@hotmail.com (e-mail preferred) 
Head Women's Coach: Jeff Lucier ('90 W-L Grad)  jjlucier@comcast.net (e-mail preferred)
Booster Co-Presidents: George Allen 703-528-0653 zls@gtgi.com, Juliana Ehrlich 703-533-3632  julianae@bowa.com 

Visit our web sites:  www.w-lcrew.org    or   www.w-lcrewboosters.org

The 2010 Mid-Atlantic Erg Springs will be held January 30th at TC Williams HS. You can register and find the schedule of events here. All of our athletes are encouraged to participate.

We would like to congratulate the winners of the 9th Annual W-L Crew Triathlon. Full results can be found here.

The triathlon consists of a 4K erg, 2 mile run and max bench pulls.

Boys Winners

1st - Andrew Heinzman, Washington-Lee
2nd - Daniel Thom, Yorktown
3rd - Colin Seamens, Washington-Lee

Girls Winners

1st - Macy Warren, West Springfield
2nd - Paige Monborne, Yorktown
3rd - Cynthia Carson, Washington-Lee

The W-L Crew Triathlon will be held this Saturday, Jan 16th. This year we will have athletes from W-L, Yorktown and Wakefield participate. Our triathlon consists of a 4k erg, 2 mile run and bench rows. The event is held in the Commons at W-L. Setup starts at 8am and the event will begin at 9am.

The 2010 Schedule has bee posted.

The W-L Crew program would like to announce and welcome Jeff Lucier '90 as the new Women's Head Coach. Jeff is entering his first season as the women’s head coach of Washington-Lee Crew and is starting his 11th season as a high school coach. Jeff coxed for W-L and Charlie Butt from '87-'90. As a three year member of the lightweight 8, he finished 2nd at Nationals twice and won Stotesbury. He coxed the varsity 8 for four years at George Mason where he won a DC Metro Championship and placed 2nd at the Dad Vail. Jeff is currently a Gifted Resource Teacher for Prince William County Schools. Prior to joining W-L Crew as a coach he has worked with programs across Fairfax County for such schools as Thomas Jefferson, Langley and Westfield. We are very excited to have Jeff join 6 other Alumni on the W-L Crew Coaching staff.

Congratulations to Senior Will Dickinson for being one of 52 selected to the USRowing 2009-10 Scholastic Honor Roll.

The USRowing Scholastic Honor Roll recognizes high school seniors who have excelled in both academics and rowing. Applicants must be USRowing members, have rowed or coxed at least one year, and successfully competed at or above the league or regional level.

Dates - Sept. 19th, October 3rd, 10th and 17th
Location - Potomac Boat Club
Time - 10am to Noon.

Please check here for addtitional information.

That's right she did it again. Former W-L coach and Potomac Boat Club member Margot Shumway is on her way to World Championships representing the US as the Women's Single. Margot held off a very strong field and swept the singles best of 3 finals at trials. Margot returns to the National Team after being a member of the 2008 Olympic Team as the stroke of the US Women's Quad.

2004 W-L Crew member Martin Eiermann will also be making the trip to Poland for the World Championships as a member of the German Lightweight Eight. Martin came to W-L as a german exchange student and was a vital member our 2004 Stotesbury Cup Championship Lightweight Eight. Martin is currently a Junior at Harvard University where he rows for Charley Butt(Charlie's son). We hope the best for the both of them.

2006 Alumni Nora Phillips returns to the headlines by being name 2009 All-ACC Academic Rowing Team.

The 60th Anniversary of the Washington-Lee HS Crew program will be celebrated on Saturday, September 26th at Potomac Boat Club. We are trying to spread the word and need your help. Postcard invites have gone out. If you didn't get one and should have please click the link above for Alumni and update your address for our mailing list. Additional information for the 60th can be found by clicking the link above for Anniversary.

A lot of athletes are still on the water this summer and more will join in this Fall rowing for area club programs. I hope to update everyone soon with all the details.

1992 Alumni Mike Callahan, who recently took over as Men's Head Coach at the University of Washington, capped a stellar season by sweeping the Men's Eight's at the IRA National Championships. The Huskies won the Men's Varisty, 2V and Freshman Eights. This is an impressive accomplishment in his 2nd year at the helm.

2006 W-L Crew Alumni Nora Phillips helps UVA to a strong finish at the NCAA Championships. Nora was recently moved to the V8 where she sat 2 seat. This season UVA finished 2nd 0.37 seconds behind Stanford in the V8 at the NCAA championship and 4th over all as a team(8th top four finish in the 13 year history of the championship).

The 2009 season has come to end. The season was marked by one of the strongest finishes for the team as a whole. 5-6 boats taken to the VSRC made finals with the Women's 3rd Eight placing the highest at 2nd. The Men's V8 placed 5th .3 seconds behind McLean HS.

• VSRC results
  • Women's 3rd Eight - 2nd
  • Men's V8 Eight - 5th
  • Women's V8 Eight - 5th in Petite
  • Men's 2V Eight - 5th
  • Women's 2V Eight - 4th
  • Men's 3V Eight - 4th

We took 6 eights to The Stotesbury Cup Regatta. The highlight was the Women's Jr. Eight which qualified for semi-finals. It was a heart breaker for a few of our boats which didn't qualify for semi-finals by fractions of seconds.

• Stotesbury Cup results
  • Men's V8 19th missing qualifying for semi-finals by 0.28 secs
  • Women's V8 20th missing qualifying for semi-finals by 0.72 secs
  • Men's 2V 14th missing qualifying for semi-finals by 3.2 secs
  • Women's Jr. Eight qualified 12th needing top 18
  • Men's Jr. Eight 19th missing qualifying for semi-finals by 0.09secs
  • Women's Freshman Eight 20th missing qualifying for semi-finals by 0.96 secs

The final race of the season was SRAA Nationals where we took up a Men's and Women's Jr. Eight, Women's Jr. Four and our Women's Freshman Eight which qualified by placing 3rd at the Ted Phoenix Regatta on May 2nd, where our Men's 4th Eight also did well finishing 2nd to Thomas Jefferson. No boats advanced out of the heats.

• SRAA Nationals
  Friday / Saturday
  • Men's Jr. Eight finished 4th in the heat -10th out of 27 by time in the heats
  • Women's Jr. Eight finished 4th in the heat - 15th out of 24 by time in the heats
  • Women's Jr. Four - 5th in the heat - 23rd out of 31 by time in heats
  • Women's Freshman Eight 7th in the heat - 18th out of 25 by time in the heats