Lightweight 4+ Rowers finish sixth at IRA National Championship Regatta
| Published: June 2, 2013 |
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GOLD RIVER, Calif. — The MSOE Men’s Rowing Lightweight 4+ team of Mike Dorus, Luke Engebretsen, Ben Lang and Jon Allen, guided by coxswain Liz Kelnhofer, qualified for the Grand Final and finished sixth at the 111th Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championship Regatta Sunday afternoon at the Sacramento State Aquatic Center on Lake Natoma in Gold River, Calif. A crew from Harvard took first, followed closely by a boat from the University of Wisconsin.
Whereas men’s rowing is not an NCAA-sanctioned sport, the IRA National Championship is the premier championship event in men’s collegiate rowing. Also, men’s rowing does not segment competitors into separate divisions, meaning MSOE’s finish truly makes it the sixth-fastest collegiate Men’s Lightweight 4+ team in the nation.
The Raider crew qualified for the Grand Final by taking third in their four-boat preliminary heat, besting a boat from MIT by five seconds despite finishing over seven seconds behind both the Harvard and Wisconsin crews. In the Grand Final, MSOE seemed to run out of gas, finishing the course in seven minutes, two seconds, a time nine seconds behind fifth-place Yale and 17 seconds in back of the champion Crimson.
The finish not only marks the first time an MSOE crew has competed in the IRA National Championship but also the first time one has reached a Grand Final. Manning the historic entry were Allen (Jr./Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich./CVE) in the stroke, or forward-most, seat, Lang (Sr./Wittenberg, Wis./Bioengineering) and Engebretsen (Sr./Stevens Point, Wis./AE) in the middle Dorus (Jr./Des Plaines, Ill./SE) as the bowman. The four took instructions from Kelnhofer (Jr./Hales Corners, Wis./ME).
The trip to nationals wraps up MSOE Rowing’s most successful season in its six-year history and caps a metoric rise to becoming a national competitor in the oldest American intercollegiate sport.
“To come as far as we have, this quickly, is quite an accomplishment,” said coach Chuck Stollenwerk. “We are on the national stage now and I can only see better things to come. We’re excited to keep building on what we’ve done.”
The success of MSOE Rowing in 2013 has not gone without notice, particularly for the powerful Dorus, who was recently invited to attend the elite USRowing Mendota Developmental Camp. Dorus is the first-ever MSOE rower to receive such an invitation from USRowing, the organization which selects, trains and manages the teams that represent the nation in international compeition, inlcuding the Olympic Games. The camp will be held June 20-Aug. 1 in Madison, Wis.