row2k Features
2008 Crew of the Year
December 1, 2008
Erik Dresser, row2k.com

The Canadian eight may be the fastest crew of 2008 - will they get your vote for crew of the year?

Did your crew or a crew you know of have a year of unprecedented success in 2008? Nominate them for row2k's "2008 Crew of the Year" poll. Nominations must be submitted by 5pm EST on Thursday, December 4th. row2k will then select the ten most exceptional crews for poll voting starting on Friday the 5th. The crew with the most votes will be recognized as row2k's "2008 Crew of the Year".

Nomination criteria in 100 words or less:

  • Convince row2k that the crew being nominated had an exceptional year or overcame difficult circumstances to come out on top.
  • A crew's performance during the 2008 calendar year will be the primary criterion, though previous history will be taken into account.
  • As with the Crew of the Week poll, finalists are based wholly on nominations and the "backstory" is often just as important as the actual race result.

  • WINNER - Wisconsin Men's Heavyweight Varsity 8+ - Went undefeated through the collegiate racing season to win the IRA Varsity 8 title with six athletes that were college walk-ons. Qualified eight Badgers for U23 crews including the stern three of the champion US Men's Eight.
  • Voting Results
  • Finalists:
    • Australia Men's Olympic 2- - The pair of Duncan Free and Drew Ginn won Olympic gold over a fiesty Canadian crew to follow up the duo's '06 and '07 World Championships. Ginn had a ruptured disk and partially torn sciatic nerve during the Olympics.
    • Canada Men's Olympic 8+ - Following a disappointing Athens finish, the Canadian eight won Olympic gold in dominating fashion over Great Britain and the United States. The crew consisted of five returners from 2004.
    • Columbia Men's Heavyweight Varsity 8+ - Won the Blackwell Cup for the first time since 1941. Won the Stevenson Cup for the first time since 1963. Made the Grand Final at Sprints and was the only Ivy League crew to qualify for the IRA Grand Final.
    • Cornell Men's Lightweight Varsity 8+ - Following a lackluster regular season, the Big Red won Sprints by open water, then followed that win up by sprinting through Princeton to win their third consecutive IRA Championship. First lightweight crew to win three straight IRA titles.
    • Malvern Prep Boys 4x - Raced undefeated in the United States during the spring season, culminated with wins in the Philadelphia City Championships, Stotesbury Cup, SRA Nationals, and USRowing Youth Nationals. Received the bid for the U23 World Championships as the heavyweight 4x. Raced at the Henley Royal Regatta and were only the second American crew to ever reach the semifinals in that event.
    • Norway Men's Olympic 1x, Olaf Tufte - Tufte, the defending Olympic Champion in single, came off a relatively unsuccessfull quadrennial to win Olympic gold over three time defending world champion Mahe Drysdale of New Zealand.
    • Trinity Women's Openweight Varsity 8+ - Won the Head of the Charles, New England Championships, and NCAA DIII Varsity 8+ Championship. Was the first DIII school to attempt to qualify for the Henley Women's Regatta and ended up winning the Senior 8+ event. Also nearly qualified for the Remenham Challenge Cup event at Henley before breaking an oar.
    • USA Women's Olympic 1x, Michelle Guerette - Guerette capped off a successful four years by winning the Olympic silver medal in the 1x and gold at the Munich World Cup. The silver medal in Beijing matched the highest American finish in the event's history.
    • USA Women's Olympic 8+ - Won the first Olympic Gold medal for the US Women's Eight since 1984 by winning by nearly a length over defending champion Romania.
  • Also nominated: Falls Lake Rowing, St. Joe's Prep, Syracuse Men's V8, USC Men's V8, Old Dominion Boat Club, Oakland Strokes Girls LW8, Duxbury Bay Maritime School, US Men's 2-, US U23 Men's 8+, US U23 Women's 8+, Long Beach Junior Crew, Boston Rowing Club Junior Boys 8+, Stetson Men's LW Four, Community Rowing Girls V8+, Everett Rowing LW Boys 8+, Lake Brantley Rowing
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Comments

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SJUCREW
12/26/2008  5:17:50 PM
Congratulations to Wisconsin, The I.R.A win was very impressive. Also congratulations to the Malvern kids, and their teams work ethic. On my team we have three 2008 Malvern prep graduates one of which was in the qaud, there work ethic is nothing short of incredible. They are a pleasure to have on the team, I would like to meet there high school coach and shake his hand. These qualities are most likely present in every crew that was nominated, just thought I'd give credit where credit is do.


penncrew07
12/11/2008  11:28:26 AM
How the Columbia Men's 8 didn't win this thing is amazing. These guys went from DFL every year and racing in no man's land to beating nearly every team in the EARC and making the IRA final. And they did it in a single season! That ish is insane. Props to those guys. Nade represent.


SFCoach
12/05/2008  3:19:35 PM
The comment about Washington not being able to adjust to the heat is pretty laughable... all of the lakes in Madison, WI are frozen from November until April. The Wisco teams have to break ice off of their riggors in order to get practice in just weeks or days before Spring races start. I doubt that the heat at Nationals is something that they have really grown accustomed to. They won the race by racing the best.


kej1120
12/05/2008  8:50:27 AM
The Trinity Women's Crew had a magical year that happens once in a lifetime. They lost one race all year, both fall and spring, and that race they lost by 0.6 seconds to the Williams V1 crew. The rubber match between Williams and Trinity was at THE only race that counts, the NCAA DIII Championships in Sacremento and they buried them by almost four seconds; this just three weeks later. They routinely beat DI crews in Worcester and the boat consisted of the same nine girls all year. They were the first ever DIII crew to win the Senior 8 at the Women's Henley and save a freak broken oar at the Henley Royal, they would have qualified for that race as well. There were boats that did qualify that Trinity beat the previous weekend at the Women's Henley.



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