A big, hearty welcome back for UW crew

The afterglow of Saturday's glorious day for Washington rowing continued Tuesday with a homecoming celebration.

About 300 boosters and alums attended an event at Conibear Shellhouse, where UW president Mark Emmert spoke to the rowers while standing under the shell used by Huskies in 1936 to win the Olympic gold medal.

"The university has an incredible sports history in all of our sports, but none of them has the long, long tradition of success that rowing has — from this famous shell all the way to up to the present," Emmert said. "To be part of that is something that you guys will get to remember all of your lives. We are so enormously proud of you."

The top-ranked Huskies' varsity eight won the featured event at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association regatta at Cooper River in New Jersey. The second-varsity and open-four entries also won. The freshman eight was third.

The varsity eight finished less than a second ahead of Harvard and Stanford, who tied for second.

To the delight of the partisans at the celebration, coach Bob Ernst said the UW "destroyed Harvard in the last 300 meters, and Harvard needed to be destroyed."

The combined performances of three wins and a third gave the Huskies the overall team title. The Huskies won varsity eight for the first time since 1997 and the 12th time in school history.

Emmert, a UW grad who knows starboard from port, had called Ernst in New Jersey immediately after the regatta to congratulate him.

Although the varsity eight had only two seniors, it is likely to have a different look next year because of the Olympics. The three Canadians in the boat — Will Crothers, Rob Gibson and Max Lang — leave for the Canadian rowing camp this week. Junior Heath Allen is heading for U.S. elite camp at Princeton, N.J., with senior David Worley.

"It's their dream to be Olympians," said Ernst. "Those are the kind of kids we want in our program — world-class athletes. We want them to follow their dreams."

Because the crew, including sophomore coxswain Katelin Snyder, headed to U.S. women's U-23 camp, is dispersing, Ernst said the Huskies won't row in the Henley Regatta in England.

"My personal policy is that we are only going to go there when we can take all our best players," he said.

Senior Aljosa Corovic said he has been surprised at how just about everyone on campus, from professors to fellow students, has been aware of the triumph.

"Everyone is tapping you on the shoulder and saying, 'Good job,' " he said.

As Emmert told the rowers, "This is a great day to be a Husky."

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