2005 Season Recap

Two years after winning the school’s first-ever NCAA team championship, the Colby women’s crew made the NCAA meet again in 2005. The women finished in sixth place in the meet at Sacramento.

The Mules have participated in the NCAA meet three times in the four-year history of the event, winning in 2003 and finishing as runner-up in 2002.

Leah Hagamen earned All-America honors for the second time for her work in the varsity 8 boat. Hagamen also earned All-America honors after her sophomore season.

The Colby women’s varsity 8 had their best finish ever by taking fourth at the New England Rowing Championships. The Mules also helped Colby’s crew program win the Presidents Cup with victories over rivals Bowdoin College and Bates. The varsity 8 also won a three-way meet with University of New Hampshire and University of Vermont this spring.

2004-05 Outlook

The Colby women's crew goes into the 2004-05 season after last year saw Colby crew field the largest team in its history with three varsity womenís crews and a freshman womenís crew. Following up on their 2003 NCAA Division III championship, the team included virtually equal numbers of athletes from all four classes, which provided a level of depth and talent it never had before.

The year began with wins in three of the fall season's head races, and the spring season saw the varsity eight finish with an 8-3 dual race record. The freshman eight dominated everyone they raced and finished with an unblemished 45-0 record, which included gold medals at the New England Rowing Championships and the ECAC National Invitational Rowing Championships. Two women's crews also traveled to Henley-on-Thames in June 2004 to compete in the Henley Women's Regatta for the second time in Colby's history.

Captains Leah Hagamen '05, an All-America selection in 2003, and Caroline Andresen '05 will lead a strong senior class ready to welcome the members of the highly successful sophomore class to the 2004-05 squad.

A Look Back: 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.

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

Men's Crew