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The sixth-ranked Virginia rowing team opens its spring season Friday, March 20, vs. Bucknell at the Rivanna Reservoir. Head coach Kevin Sauer recently checked in with VirginiaSports.com to give a preview of the upcoming season.
Question: Your squad had a scrimmage this past weekend against Michigan State, Notre Dame and Boston University. What were your thoughts of the first competition of the spring?
Sauer: It’s early. Michigan State got us pretty much across the board. And then we were able to beat Notre Dame and Boston University in the other two races. Michigan State is a good team and that was good for us to see this early how talented they are and what we need to do to respond to that. So that’s pretty key, how do we respond to that.
Question: What can you tell us about this year’s Varsity Eight boat and it’s possible personnel?
Sauer: From last year’s boat, we lost Katrin Sydlik, Bridget Wandelt, Kelsie Chaudoin and Rebecca Ryall. We lost those four rowers and Caitlin Mixter, the coxswain. If you have everybody back that is one thing, but obviously we lost some pretty good people. I feel like we have just as many good people coming back and some depth. We also have kids that have come in and stepped up to the plate. I’m confident that we will do well. As far as the coxswain, in the two eights (Varsity Eight and Second Varsity Eight) we have three coxswains rotating through right now. Taylor Gilmore is a senior, Cristine Candland is a sophomore and Sidney Thorsten is a freshman. And those are the three we are focusing in on for the first boat coxswain, and consequently the second boat coxswain and then the first four (Varsity Four). We’ll see what happens.
Question: Do you pay attention to preseason rankings? The Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association has Virginia ranked sixth.
Sauer: It’s all conjecture by everybody. It’s a combination of how you finish last year and a little bit of your fall results. Other than that, it doesn’t mean much to me.
Question: This year’s captains are Amanda Chase, Lauren Hutchins and Augusta Stratos. How has their leadership been so far?
Sauer: They lead in different ways. Augusta Stratos kind of keeps logistics together and is kind of a mother figure. Amanda Chase is a good encourager and leads by example. And Lauren Hutchins is another kind of quiet leader. She’ll do something like finish a hard piece and then someone hasn’t finished yet and she’ll go and row off the last part with them.
Question: Looking back to last year’s fifth-place finish at the NCAA Championships, has that provided motivation this preseason?
Sauer: In 2006 we didn’t get a bid to the championships but we came back the very next year and almost won it. Last year, we did fairly well and had a pretty good year. We finished in fifth place and that was not what we wanted. As I said at the end of last year, that shows what our level of expectations are if we are disappointed with fifth place. Every year is different and kids get motivated to finish higher than that this year. We’re going to strive to put ourselves sin the hunt to win the championship and obviously that is a hard thing to do but it’s always something that is on our minds.
Question: Last year your team had a motto of “Building a Cathedral”, based on a story you tell about how one stonemason says he’s building a wall and another one says he’s building a cathedral. Has a theme for this year emerged yet?
Sauer: The kids have kind of latched onto “Act as if …” So, act as if you’re rowing for a championship everyday in practice. That’s kind of what they’ve been saying.
Question: Virginia has won a school-record nine-consecutive ACC Championships. What does that mean to the program and you as a coach?
Sauer: It’s a process. The end of the year, NCAA Championships is the ultimate goal, but the ACC Championships are part of that process to get there. Every year we want to win the ACC Championship.
Question: Talk about your upcoming schedule and what fans can look forward to.
Sauer: Obviously we are in a situation where every time we go on the water and race we have a tough situation because if it’s someone we have historically beaten, then they are coming after us. If it’s someone who has beaten us, we’re going after them. Every week is always a challenge. We respect every opponent every time we race because they work hard as well. We expect everyone’s A’ game and we respond to that. Bucknell this weekend, they are a team that has gotten better and better. They were at the Eastern Sprints last year and finished eighth as a team out of 16, so they did really well. We respect what they’re doing. The next weekend we have Cal, UCLA and Stanford, which are top teams. After that Ohio State and Tennessee and it kind of just never stops.
Question: What is the atmosphere like out at the Rivanna Reservoir for someone who hasn’t watched your team row before?
Sauer: Rowing’s a tough spectator sport. It’s not in a confined rectangle, field, or pool, or mat. It’s tougher because it’s stretched over a mile and a quarter. The fact that we get people out there to watch us, part of what people really see is the kids up close getting ready for a race. Putting the boat in the water, and starting their warm up. Seeing how exhausted they are and their effort afterwards is a part of it after the race itself. It’s really cool and what fans will get a kick out of seeing.
Question: How anxious is the team to get out on the water?
Sauer: The kids have been fantastic so far. They have shown a lot of heart in the whole year, and I think we will get better and better as the year goes on. I really respect how hard they’ve worked. That is very encouraging. This year I’ve been impressed with the outstanding overall attitude of the team. Across the board we will show a lot of depth this year.
Question: Talk about this past summer and how special it was to see your former and current rowers have such international success.
Sauer: It was very special summer. We knew that Melanie Kok and Lindsay Shoop were going to be Olympians as the beginning of the summer. We also knew that a couple of incoming freshmen (Cara Linnenkohl and Martha Kuzzy) would be competing in the Junior World Championships, and a little bit later in the summer I was coaching the Under-23 eight boat and Kelsie Chaudoin would be competing at the World Championships. It was really cool and that was a great experience for me personally as coach but it was really cool to see our athletes have that kind of success. To win that triple crown, so to speak, the junior worlds, the Under-23 worlds and then Lindsay in the Olympic eight was just fantastic. That was a really cool summer. The kids that we have here are capable of doing really special things.