Brock Men’s Rowing captures CURC silver, women take home bronze
WELLAND, Ont. - At the 2011 Canadian University Rowing Championships, the Brock crews capped of a successful season with the men placing second overall and the women taking home national bronze.
At the national awards banquet, Mike Lewis was named the CURC Men’s Rower of the Year while Brock men’s heavyweight coach Steffan Wagner earned CURC Men’s Coach of the Year honours.
In one of the closest finishes in CURC history, the Brock Men’s 8 consisting of Ben Cushnie, Tim Schrijver, Keegan Drummond, Eddie Vaughan, Matt Wortley, Mike Lewis, Ian MacLeod, Mark Alm and coxie Sia Dekaneas captured their first gold since 2003 in a winning time of 5:42.25, ahead of Western (5:43.04) and Victoria (5:44.00).
Lewis and Vaughan then teamed up in the men’s pair capturing gold in a time of 6:54.28, five seconds faster than the second place UBC crew (6:59.23).
“It couldn’t be any sweeter than going out on top with two CURC golds, highlighted by the premiere event in the Men’s 8 knocking off our rivals from Western,” said graduating senior Mike Lewis. “Today it all came together and everyone of us put it all out on the line.”
“It has been an honour to be able to row with so many great guys over the past five years. I wouldn’t be where I am today without the commitment and dedication of each one of them which has made me a better rower.”
“I believe we have the best coaching staff in Canada,” said Lewis. “Each day they push us to make us better rowers and individuals in life. Without the entire coaching staff’s dedication we wouldn’t be as successful of program as we are.”
Also medaling were the men’s lightweight 4x of Cushnie, Brendan Coffey, Sylas Coletto, Cory Machesney and coxie Kate Dirks who captured bronze in a time of 6:28.620.
In the men’s heavyweight 1x, Tim Schrijver was less than four-tenth of a second away from bronze, finishing fourth overall in a time of 7:18.97.
Brothers Sylas and Dylan Coletto finished sixth in the lightweight men’s 2x in a time of 7:07.36. Rounding out the Brock men’s finishers was Coffey who placed seventh in the men’s lightweight 1x (7:31.67).
The Brock women’s team had their best finish in the program’s history placing third overall in the team standings and making it the A Final in all six events.
Leading the way for the Brock women were the women’s pair of Britt Ellis and Jen Vandermaarel who captured silver in a time of 7:30.20. Also medaling was Liz Euiler in the lightweight 1x capturing bronze in a time of 8:22.62.
The Badgers also finished fourth overall in four different events including the women’s 8 of Maddie Wiseman, Nicole McClure, Tiffany Rusch, Jen Vandermaarel, Julie Dejong, Danielle Wisener, Alicia Marconi, Courtney Wilson and coxie Emily Vancise (6:46.17), the lightweight 4x of Wiseman, McClure, Rusch, Lindsay MacLean and coxie Nikki Morrison (7:30.22), Euiler and MacLean in the lightweight 2x (7:45.20) and Ellis in the women’s 1x (8:11.08).
