Colby Men's Crew

The 2002-2003 season saw the largest and one of the most talented men's teams ever at Colby. The fall season began with the varsity eight finishing seventh in their event at the Head of the Charles Regatta - Colby's best-ever finish and the crew earned a coveted guaranteed entry for the 2003 regatta. With strong senior leadership and a large group of sophomores, the combination of youth and experience produced two competitive eights for the varsity squad. The spring season saw the varsity eight end their dual racing season with an 8-3 record and finish 10^th at the New England Rowing Championships against one of the deepest and most talented fields ever to race at the regatta.

Nick Gambino '04 and Jeff Sparrow '05, the captains for 2003-2004 are looking forward to raising the level of competitiveness yet again this year. With only three seniors graduating from the varsity crew, a number of returning rowers spending their summer training and racing with club programs, and a talented batch of underclassmen looking to work their way into the Varsity, the future for Colby Men's Crew is promising.

Colby Women's Crew: 2003 NCAA Division III Champions
The 2002-03 season was capped by winning the NCAA Division III Women's Rowing Championship--Colby's first-ever team championship in any sport.

After a 6-2 regular season record, the varsity women went into their championship races focused simply on getting a little bit faster each day. When they were the only small college rowing program to put all three women's eights in the Grand Final of their events at the 2003 ECAC National Invitational Rowing Championship, they were rewarded with NESCAC's automatic qualifying spot for the NCAA Championships. The team's hard work continued to pay off when the varsity and junior varsity eights combined to win the 2003 NCAA Championship in Indianapolis.

Laura Mistretta '04 and Katie O'Neill '04, the women's captains for 2003-04, will look to continue the improvement that Colby's women's crew has seen in the last few years. With last year's success and two solid freshman women's crews from a year ago, the future is bright.

NCAA Division III Champions
After finishing second in the country in 2002, the Colby women's crew went all the way in 2003 and won the NCAA Division III Rowing Championships at Indianapolis.

The varsity crew won the Grand Final and finished as the top crew in the United States in Division III. The varsity earned one point for winning the Grand Final and the Colby junior varsity eight had nine points for placing ninth overall and third in the Petite Final. The Mules' 10 points (fewest points win) were two better than the University of Puget Sound's 12 for second place.

Colby's varsity crew won one of the two heats on the opening day of competition to automatically qualify for the Grand Final. Fighting 32-mile per hour winds in the Grand Final, Colby pulled away from the competition in the final 1,000 meters of the 2,000-meter race to win by about five seconds.

Colby's varsity eight crew included: coxswain Vivienne Ho '03 (New Britain, Conn.), Leah Hagamen '05 (Deerfield, Mass.), Emily Allen '03 (Washington, D.C.), Laura Mistretta '04 (New York, N.Y.), Annie Szender '05 (Seattle, Wash.), Leah Robertson '03 (Newton, N.J.), Andrea Piekarski '04 (Inverness, Ill.), Megan Loosigian '05 (Exeter, N.H.), and Ellie Boyce '03 (Haines, Alaska).

Colby's junior varsity crew included: coxswain Becca Reisman '06 (Cambridge, Mass.), Katie O'Neill '04 (Milton, Mass.), Caitlin Chamberlin '05 (Seattle, Wash.), Caroline Andresen '05 (Norwich, Vt.), Cameron Fisher '04 (Santa Rosa, Calif.), Sarah Dunham '05 (Flagstaff, Ariz.), Liz Johnson '05 (Richmond, Va.), Liz Shepherd '06 (Dallas, Texas), and Liz Curran '05 (Clifton Park, N.Y.).

Program Overview
Crew is the oldest intercollegiate sport in the nation and for almost 20 years it has grown in size and increased in speed at Colby. The College's crew rows on nearby Messalonskee Lake at the Colby-Hume Center. The center features a recently expanded boathouse and seven miles of sheltered water.

The Colby crew believes that a student athlete's education can be significantly enhanced outside the classroom. Our rowers accomplish this with the commitment they make to one another, to the team, and to the process of attaining athletic excellence. Through year-round training we maximize cardiovascular conditioning, muscular strength and endurance, flexibility, rowing technique, and psychological preparation. The combination of training and racing provides our students with a rich collegiate experience.

To meet their goals the crew uses the fall to redefine technique, create a base of fitness, and gain valuable racing experience. The winter schedule consists of indoor training crucial to success in the spring. In February the crews return to the water for the challenge of the spring racing season. Each weekend in April includes races against crews from across New England, including the New England Rowing Championships and the ECAC National Invitational Rowing Championships.

About the Colby-Hume Center