Rowers Place at CRASH-B

The Harvard men's and women's rowing teams competed in the Indoor World Rowing Championships held Sunday at the Gordon Indoor Track and Tennis Center and several Crimson rowers placed highly in the collegiate and international competitions.

The 2500-meter races, run on over 100 ergometers, were held in two heats--a qualifying heat in the morning and a finals heat in the afternoon.

While many of the strongest rowers from all over the world attendend, the majority of the competitors hailed from the greater New England area.

"This is just one stage of many that crew goes through in the year," Ruckman said. "We're beginning to focus on the spring now." For the Crimson, junior Matt Emans qualified for the light-weight international finals with his performance in the morning, and finished seventh in that division.

Junior Greg Ruckman qualified for and won the light-weight college competition, earning him a the Collegeiate Silver Hammer trophy. Ruckman's times for the day placed him ninth overall.

"Rowing on water requires much more skill," Ruckman said. "On the ergs it's pure power."

Women's crew placed two rowers into the college finals--senior Sara Simmons and freshman Amy Mecklenburg. Simmons finished 3rd and Mecklenburg placed sixth.

In the men's heavyweight competition, senior Oliver Rando finished 2nd in the college division.

"It's our first competitive event of the year," Emans said. "But it's more of an individual event than a team event."

The Indoor competition was started more than a decade ago by CRASH-B, a non-profit organization from the Cambridge area.

The competition, which also featured Junior and Masters divisions, has grown tremendously over the years and this year the venue had to be moved from MIT to Harvard.