Nipissing Crew Climbing the Ranks

Nipissing University novice women’s eight rowing crew gained an impressive fourth place last weekend at the competitive 2014 OUA development regatta, beating many established crews. Racing in sleek, 60 foot-long racing shells, crews of 8 rowers and a coxswain battled for supremacy in the most prestigious category in the sport of rowing.

Nipissing were the slowest of the top six crews to make the ‘A’ Final, but over the 2 km distance they found another gear to come within 4 seconds of the silver medalist Western and 9.6 seconds of the winners, Trent. The Nipissing rowers beat 14 other crews from some of the biggest universities in the province and beyond, including Toronto, Queens, and McGill.

Head coaches Dean Hay and Nestar Russell were confident the Nipissing crew could have won a medal if they didn’t have to borrow racing boats from other universities. The other finalists, from established rowing programs, used their own, properly adjusted equipment. Russell said, “Our crew was racing in a heavyweight men’s boat kindly lent to us by Brock. But it was not only heavy, it sat up high in the water making it hard for the crew to balance.” Hay added, “That’s more than a few seconds right there.” Particularly pleasing for coach Hay was that, despite our limited resources, “We raced the very dominant Trent crew three times this year and every time our crew got a little closer to them.”

This year’s crew has built on the momentum of last year’s inaugural campaign, where the novice women’s eight beat two well-known crews at the year’s final regatta. Coach Russell noted that, “Part of the leap in success this year is that Sandy O’Grady, mother of Olympic bronze medalist rower Diane O’Grady, has been raising money for the rowing club so we’ve been able to buy some training equipment.” Other factors include more coaching expertise, including ex-Canadian junior women’s representative, Alexandra Lacarte, former varsity rowers Nadine Cooper (McMaster), Rob Mathews (Western), and Larry Lanctot (Trent), and strength and conditioning coach, Carter Nyman. Another key to this year’s success is, according to coach Hay, that “The university is starting to see potential in the program.

Coach Russell is confident that with continued support from the university and community there will be much more success to come. The coaches and athletes would like to extend their heartfelt thanks to the North Bay Canoe Club, Laurentian University Rowing, and to Vito Castiglione, athletics director of Nipissing University, for providing early and continued support for our program.

Nipissing crew: Bri Jeans, Kassidee Fior, Jade Hayter, Olivia Jeans, Jacqueline Copeman, Haleigh Quesnelle, Kristal Starr, Meaghan Cromie, Catherine Ridsdale (coxswain), Jenn Gomolka (substitute).

OUA development regatta results:

A Final, 1st Trent (7:05.8), 2nd Western (7:11.3), 3rd McMaster (7:11.3), 4th Nipissing (7:15.4), 5th Trent B (7:17), 6th Brock (7.30.9).

B Final, 1st Queens (7:20.8), 2nd Toronto (7:27.6), 3rd McGill (7:31.3), 4th Queens (7:37.7), 5th McGill (7:37.3), 6th Guelph (7:40.8), 7th Carlton (7:53.3).