Women's Rowing Team Has a Powerful First Year
By Adam Zundell
Epiphanies usually strike us in familiar
settings—in the car, in the shower, or in some other unglamorous
place. For Nancy LaRocque, WVU's women's rowing coach, the poetic
moment came while she was standing on the shore watching her
newly formed women's four team of Tina Griffith, Risha Kelly,
Erin Nisbet, Noelle Dodge, and coxswain Christine DeRienzo power
through the Atlantic on a training trip in Miami, Florida.
"They just had this one six-minute piece down a course and I was just like 'Wow'," said LaRocque. She realized that the women in that boat had a chance to really be something special. As powerful as that moment of realization was, LaRocque had no idea that her team soon would be crossing the Atlantic to participate in one of the most prestigious crew events in the world.
Before coming to Morgantown in June 2000 to coach WVU's first varsity women's rowing team, LaRocque was interim head coach at Vassar for two years and was an Empire State Games coach in 1999. She rowed at the University of Massachusetts from 1994 to 1997, helping her team earn three consecutive Atlantic 10 titles and a silver medal at the NCAA championships.
LaRocque's first order of business at WVU was to gain the team's trust and respect. Women's rowing had been a club sport at WVU for more than 20 years. Various coaches had come and gone during those years, leaving a mixed legacy behind. Now, LaRocque had to get the women to buy into her training and technique philosophies. Because rowing is not a common high school sport, not one of the athletes on the team had a crew pedigree. Instead, on the women's four team, LaRocque had a patchwork of athletes who participated in basketball, softball, tennis, track, and other sports.
That "patchwork" turned in one seamless performance after another. The season appeared to peak with a three-second win over powerhouse Syracuse at the inaugural Big East Rowing Challenge in April, but that was only the start.
In May, the Mountaineers went to the Dad Vails Regatta in Philadelphia—one of the nation's largest collegiate races—looking to avenge their only setback of the season, a narrow loss to Jacksonville. After defeating previously unbeaten Dowling in the semifinals, the stage was set for another showdown against Jacksonville.
"Going into finals we were right next to Jacksonville," said LaRocque. "Our girls overheard them saying that it was their race and that they were going to take it. Then we just blasted out of the starting line and never looked back."
The win seemed like a perfect way to end the season. However, the organizers of the Dad Vails Regatta selected the WVU women's four team to compete in Henley, England, in late June. Receiving an invitation to Henley, one of the world's most prestigious races, is like receiving a bid to the Rose Bowl. However, no team selected by the Dad Vails committee had ever made it past the second round at Henley.
The WVU women surpassed all expectations as they cruised through the first, second, and third rounds before falling to England's Oxford Brookes University in the finals.
"It was good for them because it got them on the international scene where they are seeing crews from all over the world," said LaRocque. "These girls want to go on to compete for the national team and this gives them some experience on that level."
Not only did the women get a chance to compete in one of the greatest races in the world, they got to travel to a city where their sport is the center of attention. "It was really neat for the girls because Henley is a rowing town," said LaRocque. "Everyone knows who the best rowers are, everybody knows about each event, and rowing is the sport there. It was cool for the girls to see that."
Morgantown is no Henley in its appreciation of rowing. With the success the Mountaineer women had in their first varsity season, though, it may just be a matter of time before the University has an epiphany of its own and realizes what a tremendous asset it has in women's rowing.
Women's rowing alumni: Where
are you? We would love to hear from you (especially the gold
medal 4+ from 1980).
Please drop us a line at: wvucrew@hotmail.com.
Senior Katie Barnes is a Soccer Sensation
by Phil Caskey
Life couldn't get much better for Katie
Barnes, West Virginia senior women's soccer standout.
Last year, the Mason, Ohio, native garnered Big East player of
the year honors, was named to the conference first team, broke
nearly every Mountaineer career offensive record as a junior,
helped her team qualify for the Big East tournament, and led
the five-year-old program to its first-ever NCAA tournament appearance.
To top it off, Barnes was named to the U.S. under-21 national
team that competed for the Nordic Cup in Norway this past summer.
(The next level for Barnes is the national team, the same team
that defeated China for the women's World Cup just two summers
ago.) She even played on the same field as U.S. women's soccer
superstars Mia Hamm and Julie Foudy, who have been with the women's
national team for years.
Coach Nicole Izzo-Brown
thought the experience Barnes gained on the national team was
well worth the trip. "When Katie came back from her first
training session with the u-21s out in San Diego, she brought
back a higher intensity," Izzo-Brown said. "Her level
of training was a bit harder. Her overall confidence level has
increased, and she has definitely stepped up as a leader. She
knows there is a level out there that our team can aspire to."
Essentially, within one year, the senior business major has exploded
into the national spotlight faster than one of her blazing shots
and quieter than her stalking of the opponent's goalkeeper.
While Barnes has positioned herself to be the first Mountaineer
to be drafted in the newly formed WUSA women's professional soccer
league, she is very modest about her journey to this point.
"I never thought I could work this hard," Barnes said.
"I never knew I had this in me. It just shows that it's
up to you to see how far you want to go. Being able to compete
at the Division I level has been the highlight of my career.
So many kids take that for granted, but it's really a blessing."
Going into her senior year at Mason High School, Barnes suffered
an ACL injury that forced her to miss her entire senior soccer
season. Interest from a lot of colleges wavered. But not WVU.
Barnes returned from her injury in just three and a half months.
During her recovery time she made a visit to West Virginia's
flagship University.
"I came on my official visit on crutches the week after
my surgery," she recalled with a laugh. "I was crutching
around Morgantown, up and down the hills. It wasn't fun.
"People ask me why I chose West Virginia. I say, you get
a feeling at a place where you're supposed to fit in. I felt
that way here. I enjoyed the team. I loved the coaches. They've
done a tremendous job coaching not only the athlete but the student
as well."
That is evident by the Big East Academic All-Star honors she's
garnered for three straight seasons, while being named to the
athletic director's academic honor roll numerous times.
On the field, she's even better.
Last season, the Mountaineers posted a school-best 15-6 record
thanks in part to Barnes's record-setting junior season. In 21
games last season, she tallied 17 goals and nine assists for
43 points and six game-winning goals. For those efforts she was
named Big East offensive player of the year and made the conference's
first team. She also was named third-team All-American by soccerbuzz.com
and made the NSCAA/Adidas Mid-Atlantic all-regional first team.
And she received the Fred Schaus captain's award, given to a
Mountaineer captain who displays outstanding on-field leadership.
Individual and team achievement, a chance to be on the U.S. national
team, and an opportunity to play professional soccer: What else
could Barnes ask for?
Life is good for Katie Barnes. The only thing that might improve
it would be a bigger trophy case.