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Courtesy Photo/ Eric Coulter
The GVSU womens rowing team won the "Don" Lubbers Cup Regatta Saturday. The Regatta was held at Riverside park in Grand Rapids.

Women win Don Lubbers Cup, men paddle short

By Grant Wieman GVL Senior Reporter
3/29/2009

Fast currents and cold temperatures could not cool off the Grand Valley State University women's crew team.

GVSU boats won all five women's championship races in Saturday's Don Lubbers Cup Regatta, including four in the top five of the Varsity Four, or V4 event, which includes four varsity rowers and a coxswain. The Lakers' first place time of 7 minutes, 42 seconds edged out the competition by 10 seconds.

"That was just kind of a competition among ourselves at that point," said junior Katie Phelan.

The women took home the championship and helped GVSU take home the overall team title.

The Lakers' 61 points topped the University of Michigan and the University of Rochester, which finished with 33 and 28 points, respectively.

"It was obvious they were going to be fast," said GVSU head coach John Bancheri. "So many of (the rowers) were showing up in the winter, putting in the extra meters. They compete against each other every day in practice for spots. That makes them go faster."

Phelan rowed on the championship V8 boat, as well as one of the Lakers' V4 boats, finishing in second place. She said although she was confident in her team's ability, she did not anticipate GVSU's dominant performance.

"You never know what to expect," Phelan said. "There are too many factors in the water."

These variables include the current, temperature and the performance of opponents. The Don Lubbers Cup took place on the Grand River, which has a strong current.

"It's strong, but we're used to it," Phelan said. "If you learn to row on a strong current, you can row on anything."

The men's crew team had a disappointing day, finishing behind rival Michigan and failing to win a race. They finished with a V8 time of 5:55.7 -- 8 seconds behind the Wolverines -- and lost by less than 2 seconds to Rochester in the V4 finals.

"They looked beautiful, but I just didn't feel the aggression was there," Bancheri said. "I think they rowed well, they just didn't have the horsepower we need."

Senior Geoff Sadek, who races in the men's V8 and V4, said he expects better results to come.

"We have a lot of untapped potential right now," Sadek said. "We set out today trying to beat Michigan, but we came up short."

In his fourth year with GVSU crew, Sadek said he believes this is the strongest team the Lakers have assembled. He expects GVSU to be in serious contention for the national championship.

"We have rivalries all over the country," he said. "This is our first real opportunity to win these events. It's been building for four years."

Bancheri echoed those thoughts.

"We're retooling our varsity," he said. "We think with a couple changes we're going to beat Michigan."

However, he has even more confidence in the women.

"We think we have it," he said. "We believe we're going to win the Dad Vail (Division II national championship)."

The Dad Vail Collegiate National Championship Regatta is held May 7-9 in Philadelphia. The Lakers are also looking forward to the SIRA Championship Regatta in mid-April and the ACRA Club National Championship Regatta in May, both held in Oakridge, Tenn.

Seven schools competed on Saturday, including the University of Notre Dame, which won the men's Novice 8 and JV8. Michigan State University, Northern Michigan University and Wheaton College also attended the event. Michigan and Notre Dame did not send a women's team.

gwieman@lanthorn.com

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