University of Virginia Library

Crew Team Back In Charlottesville After Successful Tour

The University of Virginia
Rowing team coming off the best
season in its five year history have
returned from a very successful
four week summer tour of Greece.
The Wahoo oarsmen compiled a 9-2
record against some of the finest
teams Greece has to offer in two,
four, and eight oared competition.

This record was a tremendous
feat for coach Panos Eliades and
the ten Cavalier oarsmen who made
Hellenic journey and it gives clear
evidence of the great potential the
team possesses for reaching into the
higher ranks of college rowing in
the years to come.

Coach Eliades, himself a former
member of the Greek National
Rowing Federation and who, while
rowing, went seven tears
undefeated in pair with coxswain
competition, was particularly elated
with the team's success.

Future Stars

Seven of the ten rowers who
made the trip are second yearmen
this year. They include coxswain
Thor Strong and oarsmen Ron
Binder, Jeff Newton, Greg Peck,
Todd Tisdale and Trennie Walker.
Glen Russel is presently a fourth
yearman while Ron Freed and
Derek Smith graduated in June.

Good Beginning

The Wahoos first regatta was in
Poros, the home of the Naval
Academy's Greek Nationals and
youth teams. Despite unfamiliar
shells and rough water, Virginia
won the four oared event and
placed second in the eight
competition. In the eight oared
event the Virginians lost to the
Greek's top squad by only a length
but made an impressive three length
victory over the Greek second
team. Virginia's pair with coxswain
team of "Munchkin" Strong, Russel
and Dan Howard was edged out by
less than a length to mark their
only defeat while in Greece.

The most spectacular
performance of the trip came in
Poros when the four man shell of
Strong, Binder, Walker, Tisdale, and
Smith pulled off a big upset beating
probably the best four the Greeks
have.

Army Defeated

A week later the Cavaliers
arrived in loannina for four races
with the Greek Army crews.
Virginia showed overpowering skill
and strength of the oars and won all
four events.

The last week of racing took
place in Volos, home of one of
Greece's most powerful rowing
clubs. Here Virginia's pair with won
by two lengths and the four oared
shell defeated their Volos
counterpart by a half shell margin.

Perhaps more important than
the victories for the Cavaliers was
the camaraderie which sprang up
between the crew members of the
two countries and the general feeling
of good we'll that the visit inspired.
The team was treated with every
consideration thanks to the efforts
of the secretary of the Greek
Rowing Federation. Thanos
Koutsikopoulos.

This year's Virginia crew has
begun practicing and invites all
those interested in rowing to come
out. The team meets each day at
3:30 on the steps of Memorial Gym
where they depart for practice at
the Rivanna Reservoir. Regattas
scheduled for this fall include a
meet in West Virginia against one of
the strongest teams in rowing.
Marietta College of Ohio and host
college Morris Harvy on October
23rd. On the 13th of November the
Wahoos meet the Coast Guard
Academy here in Charlottesville.