I Know This Much is Crew

Westerville crew team rows toward ever-increasing success

By Stephan Reed Photography by Wes Kroninger

AFtER 17 yEARS, tHE WEStERVILLE Crew is still thriving as a potential launching pad for collegiate rowers.

Since it was organized in 1995 by two parents seeking a rowing outlet for their children, the club for high school rowing aspirants has established itself as a serious contender in the sport.

The team has achieved national success, including its June third-place win in the United States Rowing Association National Championship’s men’s lightweight four-rower event.

“At first, it’s hard to believe you’ve made it that far,” says senior Ryan Kesselring. “You’re just so anxious from waiting for it to start, but when the ref starts the race, all the anxiety and nervousness goes away. It’s time to row.”

Kesselring developed his interest in rowing for the Westerville Crew in summer 2009, before he was even eligible for the team. A few years later, he’s competed in national races as a member.

“Honestly, I didn’t know anything about the sport going into it,” he says. “It was an amazing journey and a great reward to get up on the national medal stand because by that point, we were all brothers. You’re up there with your family.”

It takes a lot of learning and hours of practice to get the hang of the waterbased sport, says senior Patrick LeCorgne.

“It was hard to stick with it in the beginning,” LeCorgne says. “There were plenty of times I was being nagged by a coach to fix something that I just couldn’t get right. It’s hard to familiarize yourself with this sport.”

LeCorgne and Kesselring plan to pursue the sport in college. They are both looking for universities that offer scholarships for rowing.

Many members of the Westerville Crew have gone on to be successful rowers in college, says head coach Matt Chase.

“We have had 35 scholarships awarded to our rowers since 2005,” he says. “We send kids to The Ohio State University and other Big 10 schools. Harvard is currently scouting two of our rowers.”

Matt and his wife, Trish, founded the team more than 15 years ago and have coached it since.

“We started the team in 1995 and it was a huge struggle getting it all together,” Trish says.

That difficulty was caused mainly by the overwhelming popularity of other sports, Matt says.

“Rowing isn’t mainstream, nor is it even a Midwestern sport,” he says. “It’s more of a coastal event. Here, football is king. People don’t grow up saying ‘I want to be a rower.’ So, we had some barriers introducing it.”

But persistence paid off, and now the team, like the sport itself, is blooming in popularity.

“We have had great success and now we have parents looking for us,” Matt says. “We are likely the most successful team in the United States without a boathouse.”

Unlike Westerville, many other teams across the nation have formal boathouses

We’re

THE WESTERVILLE SYMPHONY AT OTTERBEIN UNIVERSITY PRESENTS

The 2012-2013 Ron Lykins MASTERWORKS SERIES

MASTERWORKS I

Presented in partnership with PNC Arts Alive

FEATURING DANIEL BERNARD ROUMAIN

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2012, 7PM

Boulogne, The Chevalier de Saint-Georges

Liszt, Symphony No. 73 in D Major “The Hunt”

Roumain, Voodoo Violin Concerto No. 1

MASTERWORKS II

FEATURING NICHOLAS ROSS

SUNDAY, APRIL 7, 2013, 7PM

Chopin, Piano Concerto No. 1 in E Minor

Brahms, Symphony No. 2 in D Major

MASTERWORKS III

FEATURING SIWOO KIM

SUNDAY, MAY 19, 2013, 7PM

Mozart, Ballet Music from Idomeneo Haydn, Symphony No. 94 in G Major (“Surprise”)

Beethoven, Violin Concerto in D Major

ALSO ON THE SCHEDULE – OUR HOLIDAY PROGRAM “SOUNDS OF THE SEASON”

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2012, 7PM www.westervillesymphony.org

A program of holiday-themed classical works and other Yuletide favorites including popular audience sing-a-longs.

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• to store their boats and more easily enter the water. But the Westerville Crew has managed to function without its own boathouse.

“Boathouses become home for the team,” Matt says. “It creates an identity and it really gets more people involved. However, we do incredibly well without one.”

“It gives us a character of our own,” Kesselring says. “We don’t have the fanciest stuff, yet we still compete with the best in the country.”

The team continues to grow in size and is looking to achieve greater success at the national level.

“My wife and I stay so involved with when our kids wanted to row. The team just keeps getting bigger and better, and now the kids get all these opportunities to be great.”

The team consists of 118 rowers from more than a dozen high schools in central Ohio, including the Westerville, Olentangy, Dublin and Big Walnut school districts.

The crew is preparing to host and compete in the Columbus Fall Classic, set for Oct. 13 on Hoover Reservoir. The event features teams from Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Ohio.

“This is one of the largest singleday high school regattas in the United States,” Matt says. “Spectators can walk down the staging area where the 60-foot long boats are carried by eight crew members to one of four 48-foot docks. There are food vendors and a lot of activity for the audience.”

The primary spectator area is along the shore of the reservoir. The racing takes place in the south and middle bays of the reservoir. More than 300 boats will race.

Because admission to the event is free, Matt urges newcomers and fans to come cheer their team and watch as its members try to blow the competition out of the water.

Stephan Reed is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at gbishop@city scenemediagroup.com.