Rowing | UW oars dipped in history

Jessiah Johnson doesn't need reminding that the rowing program at Washington is awash in tradition.

"It's an amazing thing to be a part of," said Johnson, who pulls an oar on the UW varsity eight.

This morning, Johnson and the other men who pull the white oarblades of Washington hope to add another chapter to that remarkable legacy. The Huskies begin their quest for the school's first back-to-back national men's titles since 1940-41 when they compete in Cherry Hill, N.J., in the three-day Intercollegiate Rowing Association Regatta on the Cooper River.

The UW eight — with returnees Johnson, stroke Will Crothers, Heath Allen and coxswain Katelin Snyder from last year's varsity — are ranked No. 1. However, Wisconsin had the same number of first-place votes (nine) as the Huskies in the latest coaches' poll.

"I think we're just as fast if not faster than last year," said Johnson, who has been in the boat for 16 consecutive victories, including six this season. The last UW loss was in the grand final at the 2006 IRA.

Johnson, 6 feet 3, 205 pounds, excels in a sport that is part of Seattle's sports fabric. On Seattle lakes, shells seem as common as sailboats. The annual Opening Day Regatta with the featured Windermere Cup races is one of the sport's greatest spectacles and attracts tens of thousands of fans who are drawn by the races and the yacht parade that follows.

Opening Day and national regattas are the glamour days. Typical days are the 6 a.m. practices on the water and additional work in the weight room and on rowing machines (ergometers).

"We work hard and try to get better every day," Johnson said. "That's what it takes — putting in the work."

Washington is one of only about 15 upper-echelon men's and women's crew programs in the nation, but it is a classy neighborhood. When the UW varsity won the IRA last year, it beat Stanford, Harvard, California, Brown and Princeton in the final heat.

Crew's importance on UW's campus is highlighted by an $18 million boathouse that includes dining and tutoring facilities for athletes from all sports. The rowing program has more than 60 shells that range from singles to eight-oared boats and more than 60 ergometers.

Washington sports-information director Richard Kilwien, who has been on the job two years, has observed something else unique about the sport.

"Crew people really seem to have a sense of community that is not like any other," he said.

A banquet in 2003 celebrating 100 years of Huskies rowing attracted a crowd of about 1,200.

Former UW football coach Don James recalls that when he made the alumni-function rounds in 1975 as the new coach, "I was amazed at how many big guys I was meeting who hadn't played football here. They had been on the crew."

Johnson and many of the others have backgrounds in other sports. The junior from Mercer Island was an all-league football player and state-medalist wrestler who rowed on the Mount Baker junior crew in spring and summer.

The roll call of UW male rowing accomplishments is topped by the Olympic gold medal won by the 1936 crew. The UW crew of 1958 lost at the Henley Regatta in England, then went to Moscow to row against the Henley champions, the Trud Club from Leningrad, in what was termed "rowing diplomacy." The Huskies upset the Russians at a time when Cold War tensions were high. The victory was broadcast live by future ABC network sportscaster Keith Jackson on KOMO-AM radio.

In 1977, the Huskies beat the British national team to win the Henley Regatta. And in 1997, UW swept men's and women's national titles on the same weekend.

Washington's women, who finished second at last week's NCAA regatta, have won 10 national varsity-eight championships since 1980, when a national collegiate regatta was first organized, and three overall team titles since the NCAA took over the sport in 1998. The men are seeking their 13th IRA varsity-eight title. They also won the national championship in 1984 when a Cincinnati regatta determined the crown.

Fifty-two men and 18 women from the UW have made Olympic teams. Johnson and all Huskies rowers would like to join the list.

In women's crew, the NCAA champion is decided on points earned in three events. Men's crew isn't an NCAA sport, and the acknowledged national champion is the winner of the IRA varsity eight race.

"Traditionally, it's whoever wins the varsity race," said Bob Ernst, UW crew coordinator, who switched from coaching men to women this season.

The logic is straightforward: The champion is the school with the fastest boat, not the fastest fleet.

One reason men's crew isn't an NCAA sport is the gender imbalance caused by football, with its 85 scholarships. Having women's crew as an NCAA sport enables a school to offer up to 20 scholarships to help correct the imbalance.

Ernst said there is another reason why men's rowing isn't an NCAA sport — East Coast schools don't want it.

"Five schools make up the IRA and they make all the rules, and none of those schools is Washington or California," Ernst said.

Ernst would like to see men's rowing become an NCAA sport because he thinks it would give rowing more prestige and the championship regatta would move around the country.

Until that happens, the Huskies' chances of adding to their remarkable crew tradition depend on the performance of eight men and the female coxswain on the Cooper River.

"We all have a lot of confidence in each other," Johnson said. "We know we are in a position to do very well. It's a matter of not letting up at all."

And not letting a chance to add to UW crew history slip away.

Craig Smith: 206-464-8279 or csmith@seattletimes.com