A Brief History of Georgetown University Lightweight Men's Rowing
The Lightweight Crew at Georgetown began in 1963, shortly after the rebirth of the overall crew program at the University. In 1964, the Lightweights supported varsity and second varsity boats and made their first appearance at the Eastern Sprints, where they won the Petite Finals. Under the guidance of coach Frank Barrett, the crew built upon this impressive debut by making the finals the following year, finishing fifth overall. Interest in lightweight rowing remained strong until the early 1970s, when rowing in general at Georgetown began to struggle in the period of protests against the Vietnam War and race riots in Washington.
Several highlights of the Georgetown Lightweight program and early lightweight oarsmen stand out during this period. For example, Hoya Lightweight oarsmen Mike Driscoll (‘70) and Bob Schumacher (‘70) were members of the Potomac Boat Club eight that won the lightweight eight exhibition event at the 1970 World Championships in St. Catherines, Ontario, the first lightweight event ever held at a world championship regatta. And in 1972, the Georgetown Lightweights proved to be well ahead of their time in terms of breaking the gender barrier in rowing. After qualifying for the finals of the freshman lightweight event at the Sprints, regatta officials discovered that the freshman coxswain, Delanne Bernier (listed in the program as D. Bernier) was a woman. Georgetown was told that it must change coxswains before the final or be disqualified. The crew chose to stick with Ms. Bernier and withdrew from the competition, which made headlines in the Washington Post and elsewhere.
In 1973, the Georgetown Lightweights left the Eastern Sprints and joined the heavyweights at the Dad Vail Regatta, which had by this time added lightweight events. After some lean years in the mid-70s, the late Greg Carroll took over the coaching reigns of the Lightweight program in 1979, a position he held until 1984. During this period, the number of participants in Lightweight rowing rebounded, as did winning races. The varsity took home the bronze medal in 1979 and made the finals in both 1980 and ‘81. In 1980, the freshmen become the first Hoya Lightweight crew to ever win a gold medal at the Vails, a feat that was repeated by the frosh lights in 1982.
The modern era of Georgetown Lightweight rowing can be traced to successful freshman crews in 1985 and 1986 that helped catapult the program into a national power. After winning the Freshmen/Novice Lightweight Eight at the Dad Vails in 1986 and 1987, the Hoyas swept the Freshman/Novice, JV and Varsity Lightweight Eight events in 1988 under the leadership of Head Lightweight Coach Pete Bautz.
In 1989, Whit Fosburgh took over the reigns of the Varsity Lightweight program. Whit immediately challenged his team with regular season races against numerous Eastern Sprint schools. The team responded well with the Varsity team beating Columbia, Navy, and Penn and losing a close race to Yale. That year, the team once again swept the Freshman/Novice, JV, and Varsity Lightweight races at the Dad Vails. Based on the team’s repeated success at the Dad Vail Regatta, the Varsity team was invited to compete for the collegiate lightweight national championship in 1989 where it finished 5th. The University rewarded the successful season with a trip to the 150th Anniversary of the Henley Royal Regatta in Henley, England.
In 1990, the success continued under Coach Fosburgh. With 3+ eights on the water for the Varsity team, the Georgetown Lightweights continued its dominance of the Dad Vails, winning the Varsity race by 6+ seconds, and the JV race by 13 second. The team once again was invited to compete for the collegiate lightweight national championship and again finished 5th.
From 1989 through 1993, the Georgetown Lightweights remained the dominant lightweight program at the Dad Vail Regatta and then, in 1994, the Champion Regatta, compiling a 30-3 regular season record against other Dad Vail/Champion varsities and winning seven straight JV Lightweight Eight championship titles.
Also during this period (1989-1994), Georgetown Varsity Lightweight boats posted an impressive 14-10 regular season record against Eastern Sprint varsity boats. In 1994, Georgetown University requested and was awarded membership in the EARC-Eastern Sprints league for its lightweight crews.
The spring of 1995 marked the Georgetown Lightweight’s first as an Eastern Sprint school since 1972. Georgetown’s impact on the league was immediate: the varsity made the Grand Final, finishing sixth, while the JV won the Petite Final. The freshmen, after being seeded sixth entering the Sprints, finished ninth, and the second freshmen won the “B Level” final. The freshman coach in 1994-95 was Doug Burden, who turned over the reigns to Thad Glavin in 1996 in order to appear in his third Olympics as a member of the Men’s Heavyweight eight in Atlanta. In 1998, Thad led his crew to Georgetown’s first ever appearance in the Freshman Finals at the Eastern Sprints, where they finished 6th.
After the 1998 season, Whit Fosburgh, who started coaching the Varsity Lightweight Team in 1988 and who helped establish the Lightweights as one of the premiere lightweight programs in the country, stepped down as Head Lightweight Coach and turned the reigns over to Dan Lyons. Dan had previously been successful as the Freshman Heavyweight coach at Georgetown, and his success continued with the Lightweights. The varsity posted an 8-1 regular season record in the spring of 1999, the only loss coming to #1 ranked Princeton. At the Sprints, the varsity and 2V made the finals, both finishing 6th.
The 2000 spring season began on a high note with the varsity defeating defending silver medalist Columbia during the first dual meet of the season. However, at Sprints the crew was unable to recapture its early season speed, finishing 8th in the varsity race (while Columbia went on to win the gold medal).
Michael Porterfield, a former U.S. national team rower and collegiate national champion, took over the reigns of the Lightweight program in the winter of 2000. One of Coach Porterfield’s favorite mottos was that “success in rowing is 95% effort and 5% talent. The more you put into it, the more you'll get out. So bring your lunch buckets to practice, because we're going to work."
The Georgetown Lightweights responded by rebounding to one of the best seasons in Lightweight history. The varsity Hoya Lights kicked off the 2001 Sprints racing season with a tri-meet victory on Lake Carnegie over defending Eastern Sprints champion Columbia and perennial powerhouse Princeton. The varsity crew, led by 7 seniors, went on to finish 8-1 in the regular season and captured fourth place finishes at both the Eastern Sprints and IRA regattas. The Lightweight alumni rewarded the crew for its exceptional season by sending the varsity to compete in England at the Henley Royal Regatta and Reading Town Regatta. Georgetown won the latter race over a competitive international field.
Following the graduation of 8 seniors from the 2001 crew, the 2002 racing season was dubbed to be a rebuilding year and the team only managed to field a single eight. Despite the lean numbers, the Hoyas still captured several key wins, including an open water victory over defending national champion Harvard in a brand new shell, christened the same afternoon in honor of the late Matt Classen (’95).
The program produced one of its best seasons ever during the 2003 spring racing season, going 9-2 with the only losses coming to Harvard and Yale. Following a disappointing 5th place finish at Eastern Sprints, the Hoya Varsity took third place at the IRA National Championship Regatta on May 31, 2003. The bronze medal was the first IRA award to be collected by any Georgetown men’s eight. The Junior Varsity also had a strong season, capped off with a fifth place finish at Eastern Sprints.
During the summer of 2003, the momentum of success was passed onto a new leader, Varsity Lightweight Coach Andy Belden. The 2004 Hoya Lightweights maintained much of the depth from 2003. The Varsity crew again finished 9-2 during regular season competition, twice besting reigning Eastern Sprints champion Princeton and improving Georgetown’s record to 4-1 against the Tigers in dual meets since 2001. The Hoyas came into the Eastern Sprints Regatta seeded fifth, but highly confident in their ability to capture a medal. The Varsity exceeded expectations, capturing a bronze medal, Georgetown’s first ever Eastern Sprints medal. The Hoyas continued to ride the momentum at IRA’s, winning the silver medal in the Varsity 8 and capping off what was unarguably the best season in the history of Georgetown Crew. The Lights were again sent to England compete at the Henley Royal Regatta, winning their first race against Boston University before losing to eventual runner-up D.S.R. Proteus-Eretes from Holland (for more details about Henley racing, please see the Henley Section).
The Georgetown Lightweights look poised to build upon an established
culture of success during the 2004-2005 season, with seven of nine Varsity
members returning from the 2003 IRA silver medalist crew. With construction
on a new Georgetown boathouse just around the corner, the future is bright
for Georgetown Lightweight Crew. The new boathouse will provide Georgetown’s
Lightweights with state of the art facilities and equipment, rowing tanks,
a massive erg room and locker rooms, all right down the hill from campus.
With a hard-working young coach, dedicated and talented rowers, and a
new facility on the horizon, the Lightweight crew seems poised to become
a perennial title contender.
Georgetown Lightweight Coaches and Captains
| Varsity Lightweight Coaches | |
|---|---|
|
1963-66 Frank Barrett 1966-67 John Harrington 1967-69 Vic Ciullo 1969-70 Burt Mason 1970-71 Bob Spangenburg 1971-73 John Courtin 1974-75 Kevin Ostendorf 1975-76 Tom Strzemienski 1976-78 John Ciecimerski 1978-80 Jay Forster 1980-84 Greg Carroll 1984-86 Jay Rechter 1986-88 Peter Bautz 1988-98 Whit Fosburgh 1998-00 Dan Lyons 2000-03 Mike Porterfield 2003-05 Andy Belden 2005-06 John Fife 2006-Present Evans Liolin |
|
| Freshmen Lightweight Coaches | |
|---|---|
|
1964-66 John Harrington 1966-67 Art Charles 1970-71 Dick Prentke/Walt Barber 1971-72 Carl Riedy 1972-73 Gavin Viano 1977-80 Nick Keller 1980-82 Peter Bautz 1982-83 Tom Fairfield/Bill Miossi 1983-84 Stan Figura/Ismael Herrero 1984-85 Bill Miossi/Whit Fosburgh 1985-86 Whit Fosburgh/Bill Miossi 1986-88 Jamie Fosburgh 1988-89 Neil Lane/John Batten 1989-90 Peter Moley/John Donovan 1990-91 Michael Callahan/John Donovan 1991-92 Jeff Resetarits/Mike Callahan 1992-94 Zander Packard 1994-95 Doug Burden 1995-99 Thad Glavin 1999-00 Joe Brennan 2000-01 Angus McKay 2001-02 Troy Hickman 2002-05 Aaron Beck 2005-present Justin Manning |
|
| Lightweight Captains |
|---|
|
64-65 Jim Hergen 65-66 Mike Taron 66-67 Ned Moran/Jim Wood 67-68 Jim Gadek 68-69 Ray Cebulski 69-70 Paul Casamassimo 70-71 Emmit Scully 71-72 Tom Strzemienski/John McDermott 72-73 Alex Jordan 73-74 Jeff Russell 76-77 Michael Ricciardi 77-78 Michael Ricciardi 78-79 Jim Butler 79-80 Bill Miossi 80-81 Cameron Peters 81-82 Michael McGroarty 82-83 Michael Carducci 83-84 Kurt Weinstein 84-85 Willy Packard/Greg Annick 85-86 George Hundt 86-87 Phil Heifetz 87-88 Steve Blommer 88-89 Peter Moley 89-90 Ted Haley 90-91 Jeff Resetarits 91-92 Jamie Tew 92-93 Steve Maloney 93-94 Conal Groom 94-95 Conal Groom 98-99 Jason Baker 96-97 Greg Prata 97-98 Greg Prata/James Cartwright 98-99 Mike Aller/Jon Weiner 99-00 Mike Pearce 00-01 Jeff Anchukaitis 01-02 Jake Hurley 02-03 Brian MacLaughlin 03-04 Andrew Lechleiter 04-05 James O'Gara 05-06 Kyler Willett 06-07 Mike McGrath and Pat Sheidan 07-08 Phil Cimbak and Billy Quirk |
