GOLD RIVER, Calif. – The No. 7 Stanford women’s rowing team is all set for the NCAA Championships after going on a training trip in the days leading up to the first races on Friday.
Tremendous depth on last year’s team set the stage for the 2015 campaign. Despite losing four seniors out of the varsity eight, the Cardinal’s top boat has shown no relapse this season. Racing against some of the top competition in the nation, Stanford has racked up five race victories. Most recently, the Cardinal took silver at the Pac-12 Championships.
“The Pac-12 Championships was a great learning experience and probably our best race to date,” said senior Alix Chrumka. “With that being said, I do feel like we have another level and are hoping to get there this weekend.”
When you look at the lineup there are some familiar faces that were in the 2014 sixth place varsity eight, including senior coxswain Naomi Cornman, senior Nancy Miles, junior Katie Toothman and sophomore stroke seat Lilly Tinapple.
The other five in the lineup have all made significant strides to help push the varsity eight to the third fastest in the nation in 2015. Junior Simone Jacobs had a tough bout with injuries that kept her out of any of the three lineups for most of last year.
“Last year was a learning year for me and I had to learn how to manage injuries,” said Jacobs. “Coming in to this year I was able to gain a lot of strength, fitness and speed and buy into our training plan. It paid off and I am so privileged to be in the varsity eight.”
Junior walk-on Ellie Parker and senior Alix Chrumka each were in the varsity four that had the highest finish in school history at NCAA’s with second place. Junior Kay Rusher and sophomore Ruth Narode were each in the 2V8 at this time last year.
“We had some big shoes to fill after losing our talented seniors last year,” said Jacobs. “We knew with them leaving that we needed to step up. We are all so competitive that we were able to make that jump.”
The 2V8 and varsity four really helped push Stanford to a top-four finish at the NCAA Championships last year. This season there is a lot more youth in those two boats and it has taken some time for them to find their groove. A great week of training this week has both boats feeling confident in their improvements.
The second varsity eight features three freshmen with coxswain Leigh Warner, Alie Rusher and Callie Heiderscheit all making the lineup. Seniors Courtney Carrabino and Amanda Lorei provide a veteran presence.
The varsity four was a bolt of lightning for the squad a year ago. Junior coxswain Liza Gurtin, who recently returned to the team after having brain surgery in December, will try to lead a youthful lineup. Aside from junior McKayla Taaffe, the rest of the boat features all freshmen with Anya Miller, Helen Stroheker and Tracy Roberts.
“What makes the NCAA Championships so amazing is anyone can win,” said Jacobs. “You just have to have the mindset that you are going to win. We are all preparing ourselves that it will be incredibly difficult but we have the capability to make it happen.”
Live Video
http://www.ncaa.com/liveschedule
Live Results
http://www.regattatiming.com/results/390/
NCAA Lineups
Varsity Eight
Second Varsity Eight
Varsity Four