News from GRA President Drew Schreiber
Dear Alumni and Friends of the Crew,
It seems like just yesterday that I wrote you on the winter preparations of the ’05 GU Crew. I want to pass along an update on the team and GRA as we move into the last races of the year.
On Sunday, May 15th the four squads of the Crew will race in the Eastern Sprints. The men will be racing in Worcester, MA, and the Women’s Sprints are being held in Camden, NJ. Heats run in the morning and finals begin around lunchtime. GRA, working alongside an incredibly enthusiastic group of parents, will have tents at both locations. We’ll be providing food and beverages for alumni, parents and friends of the team as well as the rowers as they finish their racing. I encourage you to come out to see the racing, to root on the crews and to welcome the graduating seniors into the alumni community. Click here for directions to Worcester and Camden on this site.
For more information on the Women’s Sprints, please contact Carolyne Dilgard-Clark or email me for more information on the Men’s Sprints.
In terms of the team itself, two of our crews will be fighting for medals at the Sprints. As expected, the two lightweight varsity squads are leading the charge. The men’s and women’s lightweight crews are both rated #5 nationally in the latest polls. The final in the men’s lightweights at the Sprints should be a real throwdown. Harvard is the top seeded crew going into the Sprints, but pretty much any of the top five crews could emerge on Sunday afternoon with a gold medal and armful of their competitors’ racing shirts. Lightweight coach Andy Belden’s Hoyas defeated the Crimson on April 10 and raced each of the other top five crews over the course of the season. Coach Rebecca Besant’s women’s lightweights are fighting for a medal as well, despite having only in or two seniors in the varsity eight. The heavyweight crews have struggled which is not a big surprise given both the men and the women have had either three or four sophomores in their respective varsities. Freshmen heavyweight coach Greg Myer’s top eight has shown flashes of good speed this spring. They will be seeded #8-9 going into the Sprints but are a threat to make the top final if they can capture a bit more speed in the last two weeks. All in all, it should make for great racing on May 15.
I want to briefly mention a couple of other GRA initiatives:
• The election of the new GRA Board of Trustees and GRA by-law update will continue until May 15th. You can vote only via the web by clicking here.
• Reunion Row: for those of you coming to DC for your reunion, we will be hosting a reunion row on the Sat. morning of reunion. We’ll have food and beverages for those of you who need some fortifying before pulling on an oar. For those who need fortifying after the row, Chadwicks is right up the road. JJ Forster, David Don, and Willy Packard will run the racing.
• The planning to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the Women’s Crew is well under way. Carolyne Dilgard-Clark (’99) is leading this effort. There will be a number of celebrations over the next year, but mark your calendar for the ’05 Head of the Potomac on 9/24/05 for the kickoff row/party.
• Jeff Resetarits (’91) has agreed to take on the role of alumni haberdasher. In response to a number of you who have suggested that your old crew gear is a little threadbare, we will be offing a limited selection of crew items for sale. We’re still working out the details, but look for the offerings to be posted on the crew website over the summer.
• Email List: We migrated our contact to the alumni community to electronic means, but we could continue to use your help to locate many of alums. Please feel free to pass this note along to your class/boatmates and ask them to update us on their current email address if they are not receiving our updates. Any help in keeping the email list up to date is greatly appreciated!
• Where your generous donations are going: GRA made a number of purchases for the team over the course of the year. I mentioned in my last note that GRA funds purchased 25 new ergs for the team. GRA funds were used this spring to purchase safety equipment (tow ropes, flairs, etc) and life vests for all the coaches. These items are not as sexy as a new shell but are hugely appreciated by the coaching staff. A coach died on the Potomac in the last year which reminds all of us that the safety of the team and coaches is a priority. Many of the coaches emailed me to thank GRA for their support which I now pass along to you. The ergs and safety equipment are just a couple of items in the GRA budget, but I wanted to let you know that your financial generosity is appreciated.
• I’ve mentioned the crew website a number of times in this note. I want to single out Willy Packard (’85) for a job well done on the website. We track the weekly activity on the site. On average, about 800-1000 unique visitors access the site each week, greatly broadening the reach of the Crew.
• Finally, on the boathouse: as many of you know the university undertook an environmental assessment of the boathouse project which is due to conclude over the summer. While this has delayed groundbreaking for a few months, we continue to expect the assessment will confirm what every other study, commission, and governmental agency has concluded: that there is no reason to block the construction of the boathouse. Georgetown President Jack DiGioia was out here last week to speak to the SF Club. The first question he got was on the boathouse, and he reiterated his very strong support for the facility and the program. Look for updates over the summer.
I want to thank you all again for your interest in the Crew and your support of the program. I hope to see some of you at the Eastern Sprints on 5/15 in Worcester or at another race in the near future.
Best wishes & Never Row,
Drew
Drew Schreiber ‘86
Acting GRA President
@755 Webster St. #8
SF, CA 94123
Email: drew.schreiber@comcast.net
