On The Water

On Saturday, April 9, the men and women of the Yale Graduate Crew Team (sponsored by the Yale School of Management) travelled to the beautiful and sunny Schuylkill River in Philadelphia to race against the Wharton Rowing Club at the 2011 Wharton Sprints. With the strong efforts of, amongst others on the cross-university team, Robert Cochanski, Robert Jones, Jenny McColloch, Dan Peck, Laura Rodriguez, David Rodriguez, Reed Shea, and Elizabeth Turnbull, the team emerged victorious against Wharton in two important races. Although the final tally for the regatta was a tie at two races each, Yale successfully defended its winning streak in the Men's 8 race - a thrilling race won by less than half a boat-length. With an even larger margin of victory, Yale’s Second Mixed (Men and Women) 8 boat was also victorious in their race against the Wharton Mixed 8 boat, beating them by over a boat length in the 1000 metre race. This is quite a feat in rowing! After an early afternoon of hard fought rowing, we retired to barbeque, beers, “boat races,” and flip cup with our Wharton rowing brethren on the famed Boathouse Row. Congratulations to both boats in bringing home the gold for Yale and to all 20 of the Yale graduate rowers who came to Philadelphia this weekend.People often talk about Yale SOM’s connection to the greater Yale community as one of its key strengths. This is true, and the Yale Graduate Crew Team is a great example of this. While sponsored and managed as a SOM club, the team is open to Yale graduate students of all abilities and interest levels. Throughout the school year, business, law, medical, and other students practice in the state-of-the-art rowing tanks at the Payne Whitney Gym and row out of the famed Gilder Yale Boathouse on the Housatonic River under expert coaching. Cross-campus organizations like Yale Graduate Crew remind me of what a unique experience we have here at SOM.