Representing US
Four students headed to World Rowing Championships in Bulgaria
1:28 p.m., July 20, 2015--While school may be out for the summer, four members of the University of Delaware men’s crew club team continued to hone their skills as they prepared to represent the United States at the 2015 U23 World Rowing Championships to be held July 22-26 in Plodiv, Bulgaria.
The second largest city in Bulgaria after the capital of Sofia, Plovdiv is located on the banks of the Maritsa River.
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The UD men’s crew club members earned national berths by rowing for Undine Barge Club of Philadelphia at the U.S. Under 23 World Championships trials final, held June 24 at Lake Mercer in West Windsor, New Jersey.
Heading for Bulgaria are Michael Senf, a junior finance and economics double major from Newtown, Connecticut; Corey Brown, a senior mass communication major with a minor in interactive media from Havertown, Pennsylvania; Reid Cucci, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences from Montclair, New Jersey; and Andrew Kershaw, a senior in the Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics from Largo, Florida.
“After the regular season, we all made the decision to row at the Undine Barge Club in Philadelphia,” Brown said. “We beat Vesper Boat Club in the final to secure the right to be named the USA U23 lightweight quad for the 2015 World Championships. Vesper was comprised of two former national members and rowers from Ithaca College and Northeastern University.”
Brown, a three-year member of Undine Barge Club, started at the intermediate level and progressed to winning a club national championship at the senior level. He returned to the club this year with the goal of winning a chance to compete in the world championship finals.
Brown said he is looking forward to going up against international competition for the first time.
“I brought Andrew, Reid and Mike to Undine with me this year with the full intention of rowing as a quad at the trials,” Brown said. “It feels great to qualify for the U23 team. Making the national team is something that every rower strives for, and it’s incredible that I have finally gotten to this level.”
Choosing UD because of its size and sense of community –and being just the right distance from home – Brown continued the collegiate rowing tradition begun by his aunts and uncles.
“My high school did not have a rowing team but there was another kid there who had been rowing a single,” Brown said. “I contacted him and we started competing in high school lightweight doubles together. We were able to have our athletic director sign some papers to allow us to compete in the Philadelphia Scholastic Regattas as ‘Haverford High.’”
Tuning up for the competition means two training sessions daily, six days a week, Senf said.
“Training was intense. We did many miles of steady state, an easy and comfortable pace, to gain quality muscle memory and endurance,” Senf said. “We also did our share of hard, intense sprint work.”
A somewhat reluctant entrant to the sport, Senf changed his mind about rowing after one session on the water during the summer of his sophomore year in high school.
“What I enjoy most about this sport is the competitiveness and the fantastic workout,” Senf said. “I love racing and have always been competitive since I was a little kid. I was able to lose 50 pounds because of the way rowing is an entire body workout.”
Also competing on the international level this summer is Colin Ethridge, a University of Delaware alumnus who is competing at the Pan American Games in Toronto, Canada, as a member of the U.S. Rowing Team.
A former member of the UD men’s crew club team who graduated in 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in accounting, Ethridge earned his national team berth during time trials earlier this spring.
Article by Jerry Rhodes