Category Archives: Rowing

August 1, 2012 · 3:11 pm

Women’s Eights: An Ivy-Centric Finals Preview

Nine Ivy League grads will have a shot at an Olympic medal when the women’s eights rowing race gets underway Thursday morning.

At 7:30 a.m. (ET) on Thursday morning, nine Ivy League graduates representing three different countries and four different institutions will hit the waters of the Eton Dorney Rowing Centre looking for Olympic glory as the A Final of the women’s eights takes place. A crowd favorite race, the women’s eights field will include the USA, Canada, Australia, Romania, the Netherlands and the hosts from Great Britain.

The United States’ boat, which qualified for the A Final by finishing first in Heat 1 with a time of 6:14.68, includes Ivy League graduates Caryn Davies (Harvard ’05), Esther Lofgren (Harvard ’09), Susan Francia (Penn ’04), Caroline Lind (Princeton ’06) and Taylor Ritzel (Yale ’10). One of the top-ranked boats after heats, the Americans will be in lane three as they row for a second consecutive Olympic gold medal. Davies, Francia and Lind were all a part of that 2008 gold medal-winning boat in Beijing. Having also claimed silver with the USA women’s eights at the 2004 Athens Games, Davies will be looking for a third straight Summer Olympic medal.

The last Ivy alum to medal in three consecutive Summer Olympics you ask? It was Frederick Morgan Taylor (Dartmouth ’25). Morgan Taylor, a 400-meter hurdles specialist, captured gold in that event at the 1924 Paris Games and followed with a bronze in 1928 in Amsterdam and a silver at the 1932 Los Angeles Games. Davies would be the first Ivy female to accomplish the feat should the USA medal tomorrow morning.

The Canadian boat, which qualified for the A Final after winning heat two in 6:13.91, boasts three Ivy graduates including Andreanne Morin (Princeton ’06), Lauren Wilkinson (Princeton ’11) and Ashley Brzozowicz (Yale ’04). Another of the top-seeded boats after heats, Canada will be in lane four.

And finally, the Australian boat will include Tess Gerrand (Yale ’10), who will be in her customary seat five for the medal race. In Heat 1, the Aussies finished second in 6:20.89 to move to the repechage, where they placed third in 6:18.63 to claim a spot in the A Final. Australia will be in lane one.

For the Live streaming index to get to the rowing feed, follow this link. NBC will broadcast a tape delay of the rowing action from 2:20 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. and then as part of its prime time broadcast from 8:00 p.m. – midnight.

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· 7:58 am

Men’s Eights: Harvard’s Howard Claims League’s First Medal of 2012!

In front of a raucous, rowing loving crowd 25 miles west of London at the Eton Dorney Rowing Centre, the men’s eight A Final featured Australia and Princeton’s Sam Loch, Canada and Harvard’s Malcolm Howard as well as boats from the Netherlands, home-standing Great Britain, the United States and Germany.

It was Germany that took an early lead off a fast start, but several of the boats stayed within a few seats and by the midway point, Great Britain and Canada were just behind the Germans. Great Britain took the lead away from Germany for the first time around the 1,500 meter mark. But by the time there were 5oo meters to go, Germany reclaimed a one seat lead and held on to win the gold in 5:48.7. Sprinting up lane 5, Canada caught and passed Great Britain to take home the silver in 5:49.98. Great Britain took the bronze with a time of 5:51.18.

An Ivy League alum has now claimed a men’s eight medal in three consecutive Olympics and Howard added to his medal total from 2008 as he – along with then teammate Dominic Seiterle (Dartmouth ’98) – was part of Canada’s gold medal-winning men’s eight boat in Beijing.

NBC will broadcast the taped delay of the rowing finals today from 4:45 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Complete results are here.

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· 7:14 am

Women’s Pair: Americans Narrowly Miss Medal Stand

In the first rowing final of the 2012 London Games, Princeton’s Sara Hendershot and her US women’s pair teammate Sarah Zelenka faced boats from Romania, Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and Germany as they searched for a place on the medal stand at the Eton Dorney Rowing Centre.

Great Britain’s Helen Glover and Heather Stanning shot out to a fast start, built a boat length’s lead by the 500 mark and never looked back as they claimed the host Nation’s first gold of the 2012 London Games in a time of 7:27.13. Australia placed second in 7:29.86 to take the silver. Closing fast, Hendershot and Zelenka came within fractions of a second of the medal stand, but in the end New Zealand (7:30.19) held off the Americans (7:30.39) for the bronze. In an impressive sprint for the finish, Hendershot and Zelenka had been in sixth position heading into the final stretch and came within two-tenths of a second from moving all the way up to third.

Coming into the A Final, the American tandem had qualified directly with a heats time of  6:59.29, which had been bested in the two heats by only the Great Britain boat of Glover and Stanning (6:57.29). In the repechage (under different conditions as it was run two days after the heats), no pair broke 7:08.42.

The last Ivy League women to win a medal in pair rowing was Sarah Garner (Penn ’94), who won a bronze for the USA in 2000 at the Sydney Games.

NBC will broadcast the taped delay of the rowing finals today from 4:45 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Complete results are here.

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July 31, 2012 · 8:00 pm

Wednesday, August 1

Here is the listing of events that involve Ivies for Wednesday, August 1. If there is no mention of the event being broadcast on TV, check NBCOlympics.com for the online broadcast.

Harvard sophomore Temi Fagbenle and Great Britain’s women’s basketball team will take on Russia at 11:45 a.m. The game will be broadcast on NBC Specialty: Basketball channel. The host team is 0-2 so far in group play, after falling to Australia on Saturday, 74-58, and Canada on Monday, 71-65.

Princeton’s Soren Thompson will compete in the men’s fencing individual epee tournament, which will begin at 4:00 a.m. and end with the gold medal bout at 3:00 p.m.

Brown’s Jimmy Pedro will coach the US judo team in the 90kg men’s and 70kg women’s tournaments, starting at 4:30 a.m. and 5:19 a.m., respectively. The women’s gold medal fight will take place at 11:o0 a.m., followed by the men’s at 11:10 a.m.

In rowing, the men’s eight Gold medal race will take place at 6:50 a.m., featuring Princeton’s Sam Loch (Australia) and Harvard’s Malcolm Howard (Canada). Princeton’s Sara Hendershot and her US women’s pair teammate Sarah Zelenka will go for Gold at 6:50 a.m. The Crimson’s Brodie Buckland (Australia) and Brown’s Nikola Stojic (Serbia) will race in the semifinals of the men’s pair, which will start at 6:00 a.m. NBC will broadcast the Gold medal races from 4:45 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

In sailing, Dartmouth’s Erik Storck will skipper his boat in races five (7:00 a.m.) and six (7:45 a.m.) of the men’s 49er class.

After finishing 24th in the women’s cycling road race on Sunday, Dartmouth’s Evelyn Stevens will compete for Team USA in the women’s individual time trial starting at 7:30 a.m. The event will be broadcast live on NBCSN.

NBCOlympics.com Broadcast Schedule for Aug. 1

Schedule of Olympic Events

Olympic TV Schedule

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Filed under Basketball, Brown, Cycling, Dartmouth, Fencing, Harvard, Judo, Princeton, Rowing, Sailing, Yale

· 10:35 am

Rowing Medals on the Horizon

From l-r at London’s Eton Dorney: Caryn Davies (Radcliffe), Esther Lofgren (Radcliffe), Jamie Redman (Yale), Taylor Ritzel (Yale), Susan Francia (Penn), Gevvie Stone (Princeton), Caroline Lind (Princeton) and Sara Hendershot (Princeton).

Rowing medal races involving Ivy League alums will begin on Wednesday, Aug. 1 when the A Final of the men’s eight and the A Final of the women’s pair will take place. Two Ivy alums will be in medal contention in the men’s eight race as Canada’s Malcolm Howard (Harvard ’05) and Australia’s Sam Loch (Princeton ’06) will hit the waters of Eton Dorney looking for gold. Both the Canadians and Australians qualified for the A Final by finishing in the top-four of the repechage.

Also on Wednesday, Sara Hendershot (Princeton ’10) will be in the USA boat for the women’s pair A Final. Hendershot and her teammate Sarah Zelenka qualified directly for the A Final with a heats time of  6:59.29.

Here’s a look at where the Ivy rowers stand heading into Wednesday:

Brown
Nikola Stojic ’97, Serbia, (rowing, men’s coxless pair)
- Heat 1: 4th (of 5) in 6:23.87
- Repechage: 2nd (of 4) in 6:26.61
- Semifinals: Aug. 1

Columbia
Nick LaCava ’09, USA (rowing, men’s lightweight four)
- Heat 1: 5th (of 5) in 6:02.42
- Repechage: 1st (of 4) in 6:00.86
- Semifinal A: 5th (of 6) in 6:05.06
- B Final: Aug. 2

Cornell
Ken Jurkowski ’03, USA (rowing, men’s single sculls)
- Heat 6: 3rd (of 5) in 7:08.49
- Quarterfinal 3: 5th (of 6) in 7:18.27
- D Semifinal: July 31/Aug. 1

Dartmouth
Anthony Fahden ’08, USA (rowing, men’s lightweight four)
- Heat 1: 5th (of 5) in 6:02.42
- Repechage: 1st (of 4) in 6:00.86
- Semifinal A: 5th (of 6) in 6:05.06
- B Final: Aug. 2

Harvard
Brodie Buckland ’06, Australia (rowing, men’s pair)
- Heat 2: 2nd (of 5) in 6:24.83
- Semifinals: Aug. 1

Caryn Davies ’05, USA (rowing, women’s eight)
Heat 1: 1st (of 5) in 6:14.68
A Final: Aug. 2

Malcolm Howard ’05, Canada (rowing, men’s eight)
- Heat 2: 4th (of 4) 5:37.91
- Repechage: 2nd (of 6) in 5:27.41
- A Final: Aug. 1

Esther Lofgren ’09, USA (rowing, women’s eight)
- Heat 1: 1st (of 5) in 6:14.68
- A Final: Aug. 2

Will Newell ’11, USA (rowing, men’s lightweight four)
- Heat 1: 5th (of 5) in 6:02.42
- Repechage: 1st (of 4) in 6:00.86
- Semifinal A: 5th (of 6) in 6:05.06
- B Final: Aug. 2

Henrik Rummel ’09, USA (rowing, men’s four)
- Heat 1: 1st (of 4) in 5:54.88
- Semifinals: Aug. 2

Penn
Susan Francia ’04, USA (rowing, women’s eight)
- Heat 1: 1st (of 5) in 6:14.68
- A Final: Aug. 2

Princeton
Sara Hendershot ’10, USA (rowing, women’s pair)
- Heat 1: 2nd (of 5) in 6:59.29
- A Final: Aug. 1

Caroline Lind ’06, USA (rowing, women’s eight)
- Heat 1: 1st (of 5) in 6:14.68
- A Final: Aug. 2

Sam Loch ’06, Australia (rowing, men’s eight)
- Heat 1: 2nd (of 4) in 5:32.43
- Repechage: 4th (of 6) in 5:28.67
- A Final: Aug. 1

Andreanne Morin ’06, Canada (rowing, women’s eight)
- Heat 2: 1st (of 3) in 6:13.91
- A Final: Aug. 2

Glenn Ochal ’08, USA (rowing, men’s four)
- Heat 1: 1st (of 4) in 5:54.88
- Semifinals: Aug. 2

Robin Prendes ’11, USA (rowing, men’s lightweight four)
- Heat 1: 5th (of 5) in 6:02.42
- Repechage: 1st (of 4) in 6:00.86
- Semifinal A: 5th (of 6) in 6:05.06
- B Final: Aug. 2

Gevvie Stone ’07, USA (rowing, women’s single sculls)
- Heat 5: 3rd (of 5) in 7:33.68
- Quarterfinal 2: 2nd (of 6) in 7:39.67
- Semifinal B: Aug. 2

Lauren Wilkinson ’11, Canada (rowing, women’s eight)
- Heat 2: 1st (of 3) in 6:13.91
- A Final: Aug. 2

Yale
Ashley Brzozowicz ’04, Canada (rowing, women’s eight)
- Heat 2: 1st (of 3) in 6:13.91
- A Final: Aug. 2

Charlie Cole ’07, USA (rowing, men’s four)
- Heat 1: 1st (of 4) in 5:54.88
- Semifinals: Aug. 2

Tess Gerrand ’10, Australia (rowing, women’s eight)
- Heat 1: 2nd (of 4) in 6:20.89
- Repechage: 3rd (of 5) in 6:18.63
- A Final: Aug. 2

Taylor Ritzel ’10, USA (rowing, women’s eight)
- Heat 1: 1st (of 5) in 6:14.68
- A Final: Aug. 2

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· 7:00 am

On Repeat – Ivy Alums Looking for Back-to-Back Medals

Five of the Ivy League’s 48 athletes at the 2012 London Games won medals at the 2008 Beijing Games including Caryn Davies (Harvard ’05), Susan Francia (Penn ’04), Caroline Lind (Princeton ’06), Malcolm Howard (Harvard ’05) and James Williams (Columbia ’07).

Davies, Francia and Lind all captured Gold in 2008 as part of the United States’ women’s eight boat. The trio – as well as Ivy additions Esther Lofgren (Harvard ’09) and Taylor Ritzel (Yale ’10)  – will have a chance to repeat on Thursday, August 2 when they take part in the A Final. The American women’s eight boat qualified for the A Final when it finished first in Heat 1 with a time of 6:14.68.

Howard took home a Gold from Beijing as part of Canada’s men’s eight boat. Howard and the Canadians finished second in the repechage in a time of 5:27.41 to book their place in the A Final, which will be run on Wednesday, Aug. 1.

Williams was a member of the Team USA sabre squad that finished with a Silver in Beijing. On Friday, August 3, Williams and his U.S. sabre teammates Daryl Homer and Tim Morehouse return to the strips in search of a medal. The Americans will open the knockout-style tournament with a match versus Russia.

The last Ivy athletes to earn back-to-back Olympic medals were Harvard’s Davies and Yale’s Sada Jacobson. Davies won Silver with the U.S. women’s eights at the 2004 Athens Games in addition to Beijing. Jacobson (Yale ’05) took home a Bronze in individual women’s sabre from Athens and followed with an individual women’s sabre silver and a team bronze in Beijing. The last Ivy athlete to win Gold in back-to-back Olympics was David Berkoff (Harvard ’89) who was part of the U.S. 400 medley relay teams that finished first at the 1988 Seoul and 1992 Barcelona Games.

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July 30, 2012 · 6:00 pm

Tuesday, July 31

Here is the listing of events that involve Ivies for Tuesday, July 31. If there is no mention of the event being broadcast on TV, check NBCOlympics.com for the online broadcast.

After defeating Tunisia on Sunday, 60-56, Koko Archibong (Penn) and the Nigerian men’s basketball team will face Lithuania at 9:30 a.m., in their second game of  group play. The contest will be broadcast on NBC’s Specialty: Basketball channel. Archibong played five minutes and recorded one rebound and one steal in Nigeria’s four-point win over Tunisia.

Columbia’s Sherif Farrag, competing for Egypt, will take part in the men’s fencing individual foil tournament. The event will begin at 5:30 a.m., with the gold medal bout at 2:40 p.m.

The US women’s field hockey team, featuring a healthy does of Tiger blood, will face Argentina at 2:00 p.m. in the second game of group play for both teams. Fans can watch the game on MSNBC. Team USA includes four current Tigers in sisters Julia and Katie Reinprecht (players), Michelle Cesan (alternate) and assistant coach Nate Franks (coaching staff). The Americans fell to Germany, 2-1, on Sunday. Katie Reinprecht was on the field for 48 minutes, while Julia Reinprecht played 44 minutes.

In Judo, the men’s 81kg and the women’s 63kg tournaments will take place, starting at 4:30 a.m. and 4:37 a.m., respectively. The women’s gold medal fight will start at 11:00 a.m., followed by the men’s at 11:10 a.m. The US judo team is coached by Jimmy Pedro (Brown).

In rowing, Ken Jurkowski (Cornell) and Gevvie Stone (Princeton) will compete in the men’s and women’s single sculls quarterfinals, respectively, at 6:00 a.m. and 6:40 a.m. After advancing from the repechage, the All-Ivy USA men’s lightweight four boat of Anthony Fahden (Dartmouth), Nick LaCava (Columbia), Will Newell (Harvard) and Robin Prendes (Princeton) will race in the semifinals at 7:40 a.m. Rowing action can be seen on NBC from 11:15 a.m. – 11:45 a.m. and 2:15 p.m. – 2:40 p.m.

In sailing, after finishing sixth in race one and 10th in race two on Monday, Dartmouth’s Erik Storck will skipper his boat in races three (7:00 a.m.) and four (7:45 a.m.) of the men’s 49er class. The US sailing team is coached by Yale coach Zack Leonard, a former Bulldog himself (’89).

Princeton’s Diana Matheson and Team Canada will face Sweden in Women’s Soccer Group F action at 9:30 a.m. The game will be live on MSNBC. The Canadians are 1-1 in group play after their 3-0 win over South Africa on Saturday and need a win to assure advancing to the knockout round (could also advance with a tie or loss depending on other results). Matheson has played all 90 minutes in each of her team’s games.

NBCOlympics.com Broadcast Schedule for July 31

Schedule of Olympic Events

Olympic TV Schedule

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Filed under Basketball, Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Fencing, Field Hockey, Harvard, Judo, Penn, Princeton, Rowing, Sailing, Uncategorized, Women's Soccer, Yale

· 4:52 pm

Kathy Delaney-Smith’s Olympic Diary – July 30

Harvard’s Kathy Delaney-Smith (Courtesy of Harvard Athletic Communications)

Kathy Delaney-Smith, head coach of Harvard women’s basketball, will spend the next 10 days traveling to London to watch Crimson rising sophomore Temi Fagbenle compete in the 2012 Olympic Games. Delaney-Smith will be keeping a diary as she experiences the Olympics with her son, Jared, for the first time as the coach of an Olympian.

July 30 – The Journey Begins
I am racing around getting ready for one of the most exciting opportunities of my professional life. I am going to the 2012 Olympics to watch one of my Harvard players!

This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to see one of my players compete at the highest level,  and then to have the opportunity to coach her at Harvard for the next three years! I would never have believed this was possible, yet there is so much to do before I go.

First, I need to change to an international phone plan. This is not so simple and if I didn’t do it correctly this will either cost a lot of money or will be my last blog entry. Then I need to exchange money. Math was never my strong suit so this is a challenge as well. The passport is easy. I have one day to do all this plus unpack from recruiting, repack for London and do laundry in between.

I am leaving tomorrow morning from Boston and meeting up with my son, Jared, who is leaving from New York City. He spent a semester abroad in London during college so not only will he be fun to travel with, he will also be invaluable riding the tube! Once we arrive there will be a strong Harvard contention. We are meeting up with Liz O’Leary, head coach of Radcliffe heavyweight crew, Cory Bosworth, her assistant, and Liz’s son, Johnnie. We plan on watching crew Wednesday morning and cheering Temi on Wednesday night against Russia in her third game.

I will have to buy Great Britain gear when I get over there. I hope London is ready for us!!!

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