STANFORD, Calif. – At this time last year, the Stanford lightweight rowing team was devastated after coming within half a second of a fifth consecutive national championship.
The Cardinal was clipped by Harvard at the finish line in the Grand Final of the varsity eight at the IRA National Championships. The team spent the summer months trying to get over the difficult loss, only to hear their head coach Al Acosta was leaving a month before school started to take over the women’s openweight program at Cal.
The first month of school was a tough time for the team. The junior class was studying abroad, leaving four seniors and a large group of underclassmen. Assistant coach Maggie Cheek held the team together for that first month even with several returning members of the team deciding not to return. Cheek ran practices and land workouts while waiting for Stanford to hire a new head coach.
On Oct. 10, 2014, Stanford’s Jaquish & Kenninger Director of Athletics Bernard Muir made the announcement.
Derek Byrnes, a coach at the successful rowing club Oakland Strokes, was chosen as the second head coach in program history.
"Derek provided the glue that we needed to piece our team back together." Katherine Christel
“Derek transformed us from this crumbled state into the most successful team in our program's history," said Katherine Christel.”
Byrnes stepped right in and made a big impression. One of the team members commented the first day of practice under Byrnes that they were all “very nervous” but the new coach lightened the mood and made everybody comfortable right away.
Trust was gained with new workouts and technical advice that showed immediate improvements and hard training days that were rewarded with ultimate Frisbee practices.
“We are all incredibly blessed to have Derek as a coach,” said sophomore Sarah Hirshorn. “He has helped to facilitate a positive environment where we all can push ourselves to be the best athletes that we can possibly be.”
The team competed at the Head of the Charles almost a week after Byrnes arrived on campus. The result was an eighth place finish, over a minute slower than second place Harvard, the team who ended the title run the previous spring. Byrnes and the team knew the work that would need to be put in to get back to a championship level.
Several months of grueling workouts, which included a winter training trip to San Diego, all were geared towards getting back on top of the podium in late May.
The workouts paid off as Stanford earned victory after victory through the spring. The varsity eight won all nine of its races prior to the final weekend, capturing trophies at the San Diego Crew Classic, WIRA Championships and PCRC. The second varsity eight and novice eight also won at the WIRA’s, the first weekend the entire team swept all of its races.
The end of the year arrived last weekend with Stanford taking a varsity eight, varsity four and double to the IRA National Championships. It had been almost six weeks since they last faced any of their lightweight competitors, but both the four and eight advanced with ease to the Grand Final with wins. The double earned a silver medal with a pair of freshmen, Hannah Levy and Isabelle Foster.
The varsity eight final was scheduled to be the last race of the regatta but got moved up to the first race
due to weather.
“It was surreal sitting at the start line and realizing that an entire year’s worth of crack-of-dawn rows and striving for perfection all would come down to the next few minutes,” said Christel.
Stanford’s top boat had three less hours of anticipation and fired out of the gate. The Cardinal led the entire way, cruising to the finish with a near boat length lead over Harvard to take the national title. It was the fifth in six years for Stanford and capped an undefeated season in 11 races.
"We refused to shed our uniform for hours after the races, out of sheer pride to wear the name ‘Stanford’ stamped across our back." Katherine Christel
Winning the varsity eight was familiar territory, but Stanford had never won the varsity four. The Cardinal had a freshman coxswain in Shea Cours and a first time stroke seat rower in Hirshorn. Led by senior Alicia Kapjian-Pitt, the boat followed the varsity eight’s lead and never trailed through the race, capturing the first title in program history.
“Sunday was without a doubt a day that my teammates and I will remember forever,” said Hirshorn. “We have become a very close group and I could not have been prouder to be a Stanford student-athlete.”
It was also the first time any team had swept the eight and four events, leading to Stanford winning the first team trophy presented to the women lightweights. Previously the national champion was the winner of the varsity eight.
Photo Courtesy of Travis Gray, USRowing
“While there are so many special moments that made Sunday an unforgettable day, my proudest moment was when our team received the all-points team trophy,” said sophomore Jackie Huddle. “To win both races is a true testament to the depth of our team. We have 19 girls who I am proud to say accomplished this national championship together.”
Stanford returned to its winning ways and can now go into the 2015-16 year knowing what it takes for the season to come together on the last weekend.
“Winning the national championship, that’s something we’ve done before,” said Christel. “Generations of talented and hardworking alumni have created this expectation for success. But looking around and seeing every single one of our teammates at the course wearing a medal—now that’s unreal. Every single one of us accomplished something truly groundbreaking this year.”
