A Newsletter for MIT Crew Alumni

Winter 2011

February is an in-between time at Pierce Boathouse. Our fall head races are long past, we are back from our winter training trip, the Charles is frozen thick, and there are weeks to go before our first spring race. Our present is a daily cycle of ergs and weights familiar to anyone who ever pulled an oar for a college north of the frost line. The work is vital, but not particu-larly exciting. Rather than publish months-old head race results or describe winter training, we have tried with this issue of STB to bring you stories of some of our more interesting recent experiences, and profiles of some of the fascinating people who make up MIT crew.

Director’s Message 1

New Coaches 2

Recruiting Report 3

Nuclear Science 4

Florida Reflections 6

Spring Schedules 9

Our January training trip to Cocoa Beach, Florida, is an annual high-light. This year we include first-person accounts of the trip from two athletes: Andrew Yang (’13) and Katie Inman (‘13).

There are only 19 undergraduate women at MIT who study nuclear engineering, and three of them are on our lightweight women’s team. For this issue, their coach, Claire Martin-Doyle, interviewed Lauren Ayers (’12), Lizzy Wei (’12), and Sara Ferry (’11) about their mar-riage of college crew and nuclear engineering (only at MIT!).

We have two new coaches in the boathouse, in the persons of Will Oliver (men’s varsity lightweight coach) and Jeff Iqbal (men’s fresh-man lightweight coach). Will was my assistant at the University of Virginia before serving three years as head coach of that program and one year as an assistant at George-town. He has settled easily into his new role, and his all-flannel wardrobe, which he has worn since the ‘90s, is finally sweeping the country (see any menswear cata-log). Jeff is an MIT crew legacy, like Flounder in Animal House, only more handsome and presum-ably a better crew coach. Both of Jeff’s parents rowed at MIT, and he

has been around MIT crew since childhood. Jeff rowed lightweight for Tech, graduating in 2008. He served two years as a volunteer as-sistant with the lightweights before being hired full time this fall. Jeff is universally popular with the coaching staff and his athletes.

We have also provided our spring race schedules in this issue. These are necessarily somewhat tentative, so you should check our official web site (www.mitathletics.com), and, if in doubt, email the coach before making plans to see a race.

As always, I encourage you to support MIT crew by attending races, following our blog (mitrow-ing.tumblr.com), and, of course, sending money. You should also feel free to contact me any time at coachk@mit.edu. Go Tech!

Squaring the blade

Director’s Messageby Tony Kilbridge

New lightweight men’s coach,Will Oliver

http://www.mitathletics.comhttp://mitrowing.tumblr.comhttp://mitrowing.tumblr.com

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staff changesNew CoachesBy Tony Kilbridge

At the end of last summer, varsity lightweight coach Ted Benford left MIT to become associate head coach of Northeastern men’s crew, and freshman lightweight coach Andy Hilton left to become men’s freshman heavyweight coach at Dartmouth, his alma mater. In August I announced the hiring of Will Oliver as varsity lightweight coach and Jeff Iqbal as freshman lightweight coach.

Will Oliver is a 2004 graduate of the University of Virginia, where he was a team captain and three-year first-boat rower. After col-lege he spent one season coaching prep school boys at the Bryanston School in Dorset, England. Oli-

ver returned to his alma mater as the men’s freshman coach for one year before being named the Cavaliers’ head coach. During his three-year tenure as head coach Oliver’s crews finished as high as 15th nationally. Immediately before coming to MIT Oliver spent one year as an assistant coach with the Georgetown University heavy-weight men’s crew.

Jeff Iqbal started coaching at MIT in 2008 as a volunteer assistant to the lightweight program. He coached the junior varsity and sec-ond freshman boats over the next two years, with his JV four placing first at the Eastern Sprints in 2009.

Iqbal was raised in a rowing fam-ily. With two MIT crew alumni as parents, he spent many of his early

days in the coach’s launch watch-ing practices. He first sat in a boat to cox at age 5 and first rowed at age 9. Iqbal rowed for four years in high school, first at the St. Louis Rowing Club, then for The Ship-ley School in Philadelphia, and was bow seat in the Shipley Junior Eight that earned a gold medal at the Scholastic National Cham-pionships in 2003. Iqbal rowed lightweight at MIT for four years, during which time the program saw first its lowest point in 2006, with only seven varsity oarsmen on the team, and then the beginning of a resurgence in the squad that contin-ues to build in size and momentum to this day.

Iqbal graduated from MIT in 2008 with an S.B. in Aeronautics & As-tronautics.

Please save the date for a celebratory reception held by the MIT Athletic Department (DAPER):

Sunday, April 10, 2011, 11am-1pm at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center

This event will be held in conjunction with the MIT 150th Convocation, and will specifically highlight varsity sports with significant milestones, including the 100th anniversary of the crew program.

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RecruitingRecruiting ReportBy Evan Thews-Wassell

Since coming to MIT I have stressed repeatedly the importance of recruiting top high school row-ers. I thought our alums might be curious as to what our recruit-ing efforts actually involve, so I asked freshman heavyweight coach Evan Thews-Wassell to submit this description.-- Tony

Five years ago there was a signifi-cant change in our coaching staff. It was evident to this new staff that efforts to attract our country’s top junior rowers needed to be increased. High level recruiting on a national level is never easy, and the plan for each program is always changing and adapting. However, in just a few years there have been significant changes and additions to our recruiting process. These ef-forts have been successful not only in increasing the number of expe-rienced rowers who join the team, but also in spreading the name of MIT Crew to coaches and athletes who previously were unaware of our existence.

Over the past few years our coach-es have made numerous trips to high schools, clubs, and races in order to meet athletes and establish relationships with junior coaches. Some of the cities visited, to name a few, are: San Diego, San Fran-cisco, Seattle, Vancouver, Austin, and Washington, D.C. The summer months are particularly important for recruiting, as our coaches are able to participate in college fairs held at large races such as Scho-lastic Nationals and the USRowing Club Nationals.

In addition to broadening our reach throughout the country, we have increased our efforts to encourage potential recruits to visit MIT and experience campus life. During the fall semester we designate specific weekends for potential recruits to visit MIT for a three-day period. While on campus they are housed by current rowers, attend classes, and view varsity practices. The opportunity to experience the aca-demic, social, and athletic side of MIT first-hand is incredibly valu-able to the recruits. Along with these “unofficial visits” we have re-cently been granted permission by

our administration to offer “official visits” to our top recruits. Having athletes come on an “official visit” allows us to assist them financially with their travel to campus as well as some of their expenses during their stay. The ability to offer the same recruiting benefits as our competitors helps us to attract the best junior rowers in the country. Last year alone, we had more than 125 potential recruits visit campus.

We still have a lot to do on the recruiting front to be on the same level as the best teams in our league. However, the strides that we have made in the past few years have been significant. Five years ago there were only ten recruited athletes competing on the crew. Currently there are 53. We still need more, but the increase is a sig-nificant trend in the right direction.

With continued hard work from the coaching staff and your support in the process, we are confident that these positive trends will continue. More recruits means faster boats, which ultimately means more wins, and that is something we can all appreciate.

This summer the first-ever MIT Youth Sculling Camp offers a choice of two one-week day camps for high-school-age rowers, emphasizing sculling skills.

Teaching methods will include on-the-water coaching, video review, and tank demonstrations, with a high coach-to-athlete ratio (1-to-4 or better) to ensure that all campers receive lots of individual attention.

Session One is June 27 - July 1; Session Two is July 11 - July 15.

Anyone interested in the program should visit mitclinic.shutterfly.com for more information.

http://mitclinic.shutterfly.com

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interviewsLightweight Women Pulled to Nuclear ScienceBy Claire Martin-Doyle

Nuclear Science and Engineer-ing, better known as Course 22, is one of the smallest departments at MIT, with just 44 undergraduates, 19 of whom are women. On the MIT lightweight women’s crew we are lucky to have three of these women. I sat down with Sara Ferry (’11), Lizzy Wei (’12), and Lau-ren Ayers (’12) to find out more about how they became interested in nuclear science, their current research, how rowing has helped them outside the boathouse, and how they balance the many chal-lenges of MIT.

Name: Sara FerryHometown: Hanson, MAHigh School: Whitman Hanson Regional High School

When you did you first become interested in Nuclear Science & Engineering?When I was accepted to MIT I had planned on majoring in chemical engineering, but as I began looking at the other majors, nuclear science and engineering seemed to stand out. It combined interesting phys-ics with challenging engineering problems, and I was attracted to the clean-energy aspect of it.

What’s the primary area of your research?I work at the H. H. Uhlig Corrosion Laboratory, where we develop and study materials for advanced nucle-

ar applications. For example, the project I’ve been involved with the most involved developing and pro-ducing a corrosion-resistant steel composite for use in future lead-bismuth cooled reactors. I love the materials engineering side of the nuclear field, since as reactors grow more advanced, the science of the materials used to construct them has to keep up, or those reactors can never become reality.

Looking back, what are the three main things you get out of rowing? I love that no matter how busy things get with school, there are a few hours every day that I am going to be able to spend with my friends doing something we like doing. I like being in such good

From left to right: Sara Ferry (‘11), Lizzy Wei (‘12), Lauren Ayers (‘12)

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interviews

physical shape, and also like that crew more or less forces you to eat well and get sleep, which generally makes for a much healthier semes-ter overall. The times we’ve spent together as a team when we’re not rowing – whether it’s dinner, trav-eling to a race, or hanging out in Florida watching TV – are some of my favorite memories from MIT.

How hard is to for you to manage your studies, research, and work-outs?At this point I’ve been a student at MIT for more than three and a half years, so juggling every-thing honestly doesn’t feel hard anymore – it just feels normal. It definitely gets stressful sometimes, and it takes a lot of discipline to get everything done, especially on days when I’d rather just sleep in and be lazy, but it’s all been worth it, and I wouldn’t do anything differently if I could go back.

Have you had any interesting sum-mer jobs or experiences?I spent one summer doing research at MIT, and the next two summers in France: during the first I studied nanotechnology at the CEA Greno-ble; during the second I lived in Paris and worked at Areva Nuclear Power, where I helped develop software for a new reactor. I’m heading back to Paris this summer to work at Le Laboratoire, which develops novel products and hosts exhibitions that explore the inter-faces between art and science. I’m definitely looking forward to going back.

Name: Lauren AyersHometown: Portland, MEHigh School: Phillips Exeter Academy

Can you name some factors which led you to become a NS&E major?Aside from the subject, the small department – the fact that I know most of the other students and pro-fessors in the department. Course 22 is also really great with getting students into research; there are a lot of interesting UROP and intern-ship opportunities.

What do you envision yourself do-ing in your career?I’d like to do something that involves some hands-on work. I had the opportunity to visit Oak Ridge National Lab this summer (when I was there for USRowing Club Nationals, in fact!) and it only strengthened the idea that I’d like to someday work in a national lab… doing exactly what, I don’t know yet, but I would like to con-tinue in nuclear materials, which is my current branch of research.

What was the primary reason you decided to join the crew?I learned freshman year that I re-ally enjoy the sport, but I disliked watching the workouts happen instead of doing them. I think the real pull was that it was very team-oriented; in high school I generally cared very little about how my cross country or track team placed, and was very focused on my own individual races; in crew, we all work hard because we want our boats to be fast, which brings us together.

How do you think your experience on the crew will help you after you’ve graduated from MIT?Crew has taught me to be less afraid of failure. It used to be a constant fear of mine, and it’s not anymore – but not because I’m now satisfied with failure. It’s because I am less afraid than I was when I first started rowing to go out a little harder than I think I should in the beginning of a piece or set goals that seem out of reach, and it carries over outside of crew. I think this will continue to help me be more confident in myself and the things I can do; I think it’s also given me a willingness to work harder for what I want to accom-plish, which I know will help me post-MIT, both in my career and my personal life.

Name: Lizzy (Elizabeth, but no one calls me that) WeiHometown: Cincinnati, OHHigh School: Sycamore HS

Can you name some factors, which led you to become a NS&E major?I’ve always been attracted to the math and the detail involved in engineering, so I knew I wanted to study something from the School of Engineering at MIT, but also needed it to be applicable to medi-cine in some way, which Nuclear Science is through things like imaging, CT scans, and nuclear medicine. I also liked that NS&E exposes me to many different fields, such as chemistry, math-ematics, and physics, and requires me to take difficult classes in all those areas. It seemed like a good challenge to take on!

Nuclear ScienceContinued from p.4

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florida

What’s the primary area of your research?Radiation imaging and cancer treat-ment.

What do you envision yourself do-ing in your career?I want to be a practicing doctor, perhaps in radiology or radiation oncology.

Have you had any interesting sum-mer jobs or experiences?I got to work in different research labs at the University of Cincinnati. In particular, this past summer I got to work in an MRI imaging lab; I

also got to experience Cincinnati’s boat club, where I met and rowed with new people.

Looking back, what are the three main things you get out of rowing?Three things I “get out of” rowing stand out to me. First, the irreplace-able friendships I form with my crewmates and coaches. Second, just the experience of being out on the gorgeous Charles River. Though I’m rowing hard, it’s a time for me to clear my mind from all the stress of school and remem-ber how blessed I am to have these opportunities at all. Finally, the intense physical workouts of course have instrumental value.

How do you think your experience on the crew will help you after you’ve graduated from MIT?Crew has helped to create in me certain virtues that I will continue to bring to other things after I graduate, especially discipline and learning my role within a team and performing it well. I’ve learned how much of a difference it makes to have your teammates and cox-swains encouraging you, and to do the same for others. Our coaches stress positive attitudes, good sportsmanship, and accountability, all of which I think are important disciplines to practice far beyond MIT.

Nuclear ScienceContinued from p.5

Heavyweight MenBy Andrew Yang ‘13

Shells slice through calm waters, the red sky providing a stunning backdrop to another day of perfect rowing. After boats dock, the team gathers in a moment of kumbaya, singing the praises of hakuna mata-ta. This is Florida, our refuge from the apocalyptic cold of Boston—or at least its romantic caricature. The realities of MIT crew’s winter training trip to Florida embodied

a more toughening philosophy: callused hands, turbulent water, and the absence of manatees. That is not to say good, hard rowing could not be done. Our aching bodies would protest such a notion. Indeed, when compared to last winter’s iceberg dodging relays, the conditions allotted ample time to hone blade technique and prepare for the rigors of spring racing.

A typical training day begins with the obnoxious wailing of alarm

clocks, several in symphony, yank-ing us from our slumber to the bounties of a hearty bagel, waffle, and fruit breakfast. Breakfast is, as we say, the most important meal of the day. As 7:00 arrives, just over a dozen of us filter into our fleet of twelve-passenger vans. Every day we seek and enjoy each other’s company enough to occupy the same one or two vans, cultivating a homely locker room aroma. But to our credit, we epitomize exquisite

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Florida

musical taste by following a proud, new tradition: turn on the radio; flip through every single station for Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream”; blast and sing-along to “Teenage Dream”; repeat until destination.

At our rowing site we gather inside a squash court and begin our dy-namic warm-up, a series of extreme yoga power moves, before hitting the water. It’s a strange feeling to be on that water, to at once feel so isolated by endless flanking blue and yet surrounded by calls for power-tens, stroke shifts, and straight steering. Our two eights race, interpreting stroke and power ratings creatively— because if it’s worth winning, it’s worth cheat-ing to do so. Through a series of sprints, AT work, and steady-state

pieces the team comes together: our blades coordinate in a dance, bod-ies shift in synchrony, and the boat progresses from gradual inundating to a more graceful gliding.

There is a thrill to the calm, an exhilaration breathed from the tranquil wetland air. Despite our flooded shells, bloody oar handles, and lactic acid drowned bodies, a hypnotizing surrealism envelopes us and all of existence are but a blade slapping the shell along and its passing whoosh. It’s a rowing world out there, something hard to come by on the busy Charles. We meander through the network of swamps and rivers, rowing through rain, shine, and dolphins before finding ourselves back on shore: back to television marathons, free time, and reality.

In that free time we provide an

economic boon to the local dining community, feasting at restaurants like Waffle House, Steak ‘n Shake, and Olive Garden. After all, we reason, it’s always breakfast—the most important meal of the day— somewhere in the world. We meet several alumni before thoroughly embarrassing ourselves in the team’s annual skit night. Look-ing back, though injuries and the occasional thunderstorm inter-vened with some of our plans, we emerged fitter, tougher, and per-haps most importantly, as a team. Through the midnight shenanigans and competitive rowing, our time in Florida forged a sense of unity indispensable to a successful crew. So while we may not be singing hakuna matata with our ergs in the spring, we certainly will share moments of kumbaya— especially during post-row sing-a-thons. Just not to Katy Perry.

Heavyweight MenContinued from p.6

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Florida

As we set off from the Orlando International Airport, spirits were high. So far the forecast had noth-ing below 65 for the next few days and it was beautiful and sunny already. Amid constant reminders that this could be a repeat of last year (where temperatures plummet-ed to 32 degrees some mornings), everyone headed to the site to unload the trailer and rig the boats before we could head back to the hotel. After rigging, a large gro-cery shopping trip, and a lot of chit chat about how incredible it was to be in warm weather at the end of December, we headed to bed eager for the first day back on the water.

The sun rose the next day as we arrived at the launch site where the heavyweight men’s coach, Tony Kilbridge, gave a “stirring” ad-

dress with the usual reminders to stay safe, do the stingray shuffle to avoid getting stung, and keep an eye on the blisters we were to most certain get. Following the pep talk the lightweight women geared up for a quick run test and some solid steady state rowing.

The week was divided into roughly two parts: four to five practices in the pairs with the other rowers in an eight, and then switch. We were told the week would be tough but we would come back to MIT re-freshed and ready to hit the ground running (or rather, hit the ergs rowing) in preparation for spring season. We had some incredible days on the water. We made great strides in technique and definitely got a lot of miles in. I think by day three most of the girls couldn’t even stand up we were so sore- but the thought of returning indoors kept us motivated (as well as the

perfect weather we were having!).

Apart from all the practicing, we celebrated New Year’s Eve with pizza by the pool and s’mores on the grill. Another evening was spent at a nearby Italian restaurant where we had a team dinner. Other nights were spent with a secret-Santa exchange and skit prepara-tion. As a side note, our skit turned out wonderfully; it was a parody of the popular viral video called “Harry Potter Puppet Pals” with the names switched with rowing coaches at MIT.

Now that we’re home I know we’re all missing the warm sun as the temperatures drop below zero and the ice layer on the Charles seems to be getting thicker by the day. Nevertheless, we’ve kept up the momentum and we’re all thankful for the fantastic time we had this year in Florida.

Lightweight WomenBy Katie Inman ‘13

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race schedules

Alumni Cup vs. Columbia & Holy Cross

Donahue Cup vs. Williams & WPI

Compton Cup vs. Harvard & Princeton

vs. Colgate

Cochrane Cup vs. Wisconsin & Dartmouth

EARC Sprints

IRA National Championship (by invitation)

April 2

April 9

April 16

April 23

April 30

May 15

June 2-4

Home

Worcester, MA

Princeton, NJ

Home

Hanover, NH

Worcester, MA

Cherry Hill, NJ

Murtaugh Cup vs. Navy & Princeton

Joy Cup vs. Yale & Georgetown

Biglin Bowl vs. Dartmouth & Harvard

Geiger Cup vs. Cornell, Columbia, & Georgetown

vs. Pennsylvania & Delaware

EARC Sprints

IRA National Championship (by invitation)

March 26

April 9

April 16

April 23

April 30

May 15

June 2-4

Princeton, NJ

New Haven, CT

Home

Pelham, NY

Philadelphia, PA

Worcester, MA

Cherry Hill, NJ

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race schedules

vs. Boston College

George Washington Invitational

vs. Holy Cross

Patriot League Championship

Beanpot Regatta

EAWRC Sprints

NCAA National Championship (by invitation)

April 3

April 9-10

April 16

April 24

April 30

May 15

May 27-29

Home

Washington, DC

Worcester, MA

Worcester, MA

Home

Cherry Hill, NJ

Sacramento, CA

vs. Radcliffe & Tulsa

vs. Princeton & Bucknell

Knecht Cup

vs. Buffalo & Simmons

vs. Stanford

vs. Wisconsin

Muri Cup vs. Radcliffe

EAWRC Sprints

IRA National Championship (by invitation)

March 26

April 2

April 9-10

April 16

April 17

April 23

April 30

May 15

June 2-4

Home

Princeton, NJ

Cherry Hill, NJ

Home

Home

Madison, WI

Home

Cherry Hill, NJ

Cherry Hill, NJ

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Varsity Heavyweight MenFreshman Heavyweight Men

Varsity Lightweight MenFreshman Lightweight Men

Varsity Openweight WomenNovice Openweight Women

Varsity Lightweight WomenNovice Lightweight Women

Tony KilbridgeEvan Thews-Wassell

Will OliverJeff Iqbal

Holly MetcalfAaron Benson

Claire Martin-DoyleAmelia Booth

Edited by Aaron BensonPhotos by DSPics & Coaching Staff