BOSTON, Mass. - The Eastern Association of Rowing (EARC) announced the league's postseason award winners. The awards were voted on by the EARC head coaches.
Steve Gladstone and the Yale Varsity Eight were voted the Heavyweight Coach and Crew of the Year respectively.
Princeton University's Marty Crotty and the Tigers lightweight Varsity Eightearned Lightweight Coach and Crew of the Year respectively. The Tigers Heavyweight Varsity Eight also earned the Rusty Callow Award.
Gladstone and the Yale men's heavyweight crew captured the EARC Sprints Championship for the seventh consecutive year. The First Varsity squad capped off the day with a first place showing, edging Princeton by a little over a second. The boat also set the course record at Lake Quinsigamond. Yale's Fifth Varsity took home second, while the Third Varsity team medaled in the top spot, and the Fourth Varsity finished in third, rounding out a strong performance by the Eli.
On his Coach of the Year honor, Gladstone exclaimed, “I’m honored and delighted to receive this award, and of course, there are other people that are equally deserving.”
“The competition across the EARC conference this season was remarkable, and the Eastern Sprints Grand Final was one to remember,” said Yale Associate Head Coach, Mike Gennaro. “It is an honor for our Varsity 8+ to be named EARC Crew of the Year, considering all of the impressive crews around the league that had strong performances this season.”
Princeton’s lightweight crew claimed two gold medals on Lake Quinsigamond. The double-gold performance is the eighth all-time for the Tigers, joining the 2003 and 2010 as recent crews which won both races. In the afternoon’s Grand Final, the Tigers Varsity Eight were the class of the field from start to finish, winning gold in a course-record time of 5:35.420. The Second Varsity earned the second gold medal while the Third Varsity placed fifth. The Fourth Varsity rounded out the Tigers crew with a fourth place showing.
Under Crotty's guidance, the Tigers secured the Jope Cope for the first time since 2010 and the 16th time overall.
"I’m especially happy for the 1st Varsity being named Crew of the Year," said Crotty. "There’s much more than an eight’s worth of guys that earned that award. It must be satisfying for the seniors in our crews to go out like this, after the way their careers began in the midst of, then in despite of, then in the aftermath of the pandemic."
"As for the Coach of the Year, I’m nothing without Dave Burke, my assistant coach," continued Crotty. "It’s just the two of us this year, and Dave has become an indispensable asset for our team and for the Boathouse."
Princeton's Heavyweight Eight earned the Rusty Callow Award. In the final race of the day, the Tigers went stroke for stroke with Yale over the 2000m course, and while the Tigers were just over a second from gold, they were able to outlast Syracuse by less than 0.5 seconds to earn the silver -- the 1V's first silver medal since 2016 and first medal of any kind since the 2017 1V claimed bronze.
Rusty Callow was a legendary rowing coach whose career spanned the first half of the 20th century. Rusty coached for many years at Washington, the University of Pennsylvania, and Navy. Among his many accomplishments, Callow coached the 1952 Navy crew to an Olympic gold medal.
The Rusty Callow Award is presented each year by the EARC to the crew that, in the previous year, best personified the virtues of “spirit, courage, and unity.” Awarded annually since 1963, the winner of the award is determined by a vote of the head coaches of the EARC.