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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Guide Weather Subscribe Contact Us November 13, 2004 Grizz crew club cruises through fall season By Jennifer Squires Ashland Daily Tidings After a half-decade of Grizzly girls crew, the Ashland high crew club adopted a five- member boys squad this fall. Andrew Mariman | Ashland Daily Tidings Grizzly crew athletes move the boats down to the water at Emigrant Lake on Thursday during the club's final practice before heading to Seattle for the last regattas of the fall season. "The idea has always been to try to grow and expand the team," Grizz crew coach Steve Kominsky said. "This year we've finally been able to take on the men's team and give them a chance to row." The inaugural novice team joins a varsity and novice girls program that has transformed into one of the top prep squads in the state. "The high school team keeps getting better and better," Kominsky said. "We're getting better every year." Two weeks ago at the Head of the American Regatta in Sacramento, the varsity girls' eight had a team-best time two and a half minutes improved from last season. Two lightweight girls' fours raced against varsity Stanford and Sacramento State squads in a three-mile marathon that ended with the Grizzlies trailing Stanford by just 44 seconds. "I think our performances in races has improved," junior team captain Natalie Jablonski said. "We've got a strong group of novices who are just driving us forward." The novice boys' four competed in the varsity division and beat teams. "For this novice men's crew to beat varsity crews is an incredible feat," Kominsky said, impressed by the efforts by all three squads this season. On Oct. 17, the Grizzlies raced the Oregon Area Rowers, a club team comprising all the Eugene high schools, in Eugene. The varsity girls finished second in the one race they entered, the novice girls won all three races they took part in and the novice boys were second in one of their three races at the informal, scrimmage-like setting. "We've been practicing more than ever," senior team captain Stevi Sayler said. "We're so united this year. It's definitely a great environment." The rookies A handful of Ashland High boys approached some of the girls in the crew club early in the fall with an interest in rowing. "There was finally some interest," said Deb Adler-Clement, a crew club parent and co-president of the program. Five boys joined the 23 girls who comprised the crew club to try out the sport. "It's pretty strenuous, which I find fun," Grizz senior and first-time rower Brendan Good said. "It's a team sport, which I also like." Creating a boys' program has changed the dynamic out at Emigrant Lake a bit. "It's definitely adding a different feeling to everything," Sayler said. "It's exciting because we know the team's going to be expanding in the spring." Although the boys' element to the team is new, spring and on into the future looks promising. Good, who also plays baseball, may just skip hardball to stay out on the water and, historically, the crew club boasts more members in the spring. "It's cool to see them keep coming out even though it's just getting off the ground," Jablonski said. Community support Early in the fall, the crew club got into a bit of a boat battle with the Ashland Rowing Club. ARC, which owns the boathouse adjacent to the lake, invited crew club members to join the ranks of the community program. When the Ashland High team declined the ARC proposal, a move that would have folded crew club funds and equipment into the larger rowing club, ARC failed to renew the crew club lease on space in the boathouse. "The girls decided they didn't want to lose their identity as the Ashland High crew team," Kominsky said. "Our kids our happy where they're at. There's no reason why they shouldn't be able to row for their high school." Although it's unclear if crew club funding through the high school boosters and the youth activities levy would still be offered if the club merged with the Ashland Rowing Club , the team could have continued to represent Ashland High at regattas. However, the team wanted to remain independent and maintain their Grizzly pride. ARC supports a junior rowing program that includes students from North Medford, South Medford, Crater and Ashland high schools. "We still intend to work cooperatively with them [AHS crew]," ARC president Mike Skibinski said. The programs still share trailer space when traveling to regattas, for example. "We always have." But without access to the boathouse, the crew club had to improvise storage for its oars, coach launch and five boats. The boats -three eights and two fours -made their way to the community boat racks on the shore of Emigrant Lake. KOA Campground, located just across Highway 66 from the reservoir, volunteered an RV space free to the team for to house a storage container and the launch through the remainder of the fall season. During the off-season months in the winter and summer, Ashland Lumber will store the equipment in company warehouse. "Because of this, the community has really come through for us," Kominsky said. Last fall run The Grizzlies compete in their final regattas of the season this weekend in Seattle. Today, all three teams will compete Frostbite Regatta, a 1,000-meter spring at Green Lake. On Sunday, the varsity girls will race in the 5,000-meter Head of the Lake Regatta on Lake Washington, near Husky Stadium. "The most important thing to me is that we have a good race," Jablonski said. "It makes you feel so much better about the whole season." 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