Pac-12 announces 2017 Rowing All-Conference honors and end of season awards
STANFORD’S NARODE NAMED WOMEN’S ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
CALIFORNIA’S FARALISCH VOTED WOMEN’S NEWCOMERS OF THE YEAR
WASHINGTON’S FAROOQ TABBED WOMEN’S COACH OF THE YEAR
CALIFORNIA’S WEGRZYCKI-SZYMCZYK VOTED MEN’S ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
STANFORD’S WERTZ SELECTED AS MEN’S ROWING NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR
WASHINGTON’S CALLAHAN NAMED MEN’S ROWING COACH OF THE YEAR
SAN FRANCISCO - The 2017 Pac-12 Rowing All-Conference honors, including All-Pac-12 teams, were announced today by the Conference office. STANFORD senior Ruth Narode was named the Pac-12 Women’s Rowing Athlete of the Year. Women’s Rowing Newcomer of the Year was honored to CALIFORNIA’s Juliane Faralisch. Head coach Yasmin Farooq of WASHINGTON earned Women’s Rowing Coach of the Year honors. On the men’s side, California junior Natan Wegrzycki-Szymczyk garnered Men’s Rowing Athlete of the Year honors for the second-straight year. Stanford’s Brennan Wertz received Men’s Rowing Newcomer of the Year recognition. Washington’s Michael Callahan was named Men’s Rowing Coach of the Year.
The Athlete of the Year and Newcomer of the Year awards are voted on and nominated by the Conference’s coaches. Candidates for Athlete of the Year must have participated in the varsity eight race at the Pac-12 Championships.
PAC-12 WOMEN’S ATHLETE OF THE YEAR – Ruth Narode, Stanford
Narode, a senior human biology major from Portland, Ore., primarily rowed in the fifth seat in the varsity eight all season long. Narode and the Cardinal varsity eight won 10 races this year. The varsity eight took third at the Pac-12 Championships and second at the NCAA Championships. The second place finish by the varsity eight assisted the Cardinal in placing sixth as a team at NCAA’s. Narode has been a three-year team leader.
PAC-12 WOMEN’S NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR – Juliane Faralisch, California
Faralisch, a freshman from Heidelberg, Germany, was named the Pac-12 Women’s Rowing Newcomer of the Year after making an immediate impact in Cal’s First Varsity 8+. The third consecutive Golden Bear to win the award, Faralisch spent the majority of year as the Bears’ three-seat, helping the First Varsity 8+ go undefeated in the regular season and claim third at the NCAA Championships. An intended business major, Faralisch spent the last three summers competing for the German National team, and earned a silver medal in the Women’s Quadruple Sculls at the 2016 U23 World Championships.
PAC-12 WOMEN’S COACH OF THE YEAR – Yasmin Farooq, Washington
Farooq, in her first season at Washington, coached the Huskies to a 2017 NCAA National Championship after completing a clean sweep of all three grand finals, the first program in the 21-year history of the NCAA Rowing to do so. Washington won the varsity eight, second varsity eight, and varsity four grand finals. A similar story can be told of the Pac-12 Championships where Washington also took home the title. Before her time at Washington, she spent 10 season as head coach at Stanford, where she was honored with the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association National Coach of the Year in 2009, she has also been named the CRCA West Region Coach of the Year in 2009 and the Pac-12 Coach of the Year in both 2008 and 2014.
PAC-12 MEN’S ATHLETE OF THE YEAR - Natan Wegrzycki-Szymczyk, California
Wegrzycki-Szymczyk was named the Pac-12 Men’s Rowing Athlete of the Year for the second consecutive season and earned All-Conference recognition for the third consecutive season. Wegrzycki-Szymczyk is just the second athlete to earn this award in back-to-back seasons and marks the third consecutive year a Golden Bear has earned Athlete of the Year honors. A junior majoring in sociology, Wegrzycki-Szymczyk stroked the Bears’ varsity eight, which went undefeated in the regular season and spent the majority of the year ranked No. 1 in the nation. Wegrzycki-Szymczyk competed for his native Poland at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, finishing seventh in the men’s single scull event.
PAC-12 MEN’S NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR – Brennan Wertz, Stanford
Wertz, a sophomore from Mill Valley, Calif., rowed primarily in the seven seat of the varsity eight all season long. Wertz and the Cardinal placed second in their final at the IRA National Championships, assisting Stanford in placing 16th in the final team standings. Wertz was studying abroad in Berlin, Germany leading up to the season. He also rowed with fellow All-Pac-12 honoree Jovanni Stefani in the U.S. pair that won bronze at the U23 World Rowing Championships in the summer of 2016.
PAC-12 MEN’S COACH OF THE YEAR – Michael Callahan, Washington
Callahan has spent 12 years at Washington with this year being his eighth year as head coach for the men’s rowing team. In June 2015, Washington men’s crew made history by winning their fifth straight and 18th overall IRA National Championship and ninth straight Ten Eyck trophy (team points title), an achievement unseen in collegiate rowing. At the 2012, 2013 and 2015 Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) Regattas, Washington achieved perfect sweeps by all five Husky boats—a feat unmatched by any crew in the history of the regatta. At the 2017 IRA National Championship, the Huskies took home the Ten Eyck Trophy, but fell short by just a foot in winning the varsity eight grand final.
By claiming the varsity eight competitions at the Pac-12 Championships, the Washington men and women headline the 2017 Pac-12 Rowing All-Conference teams, which were also announced by the Conference office Wednesday.
Members of the All-Conference rowing teams are based upon each institution’s finish in the varsity eight race at the Pac-12 Championships, which were held on Lake Natoma in Gold River, Calif. The Conference champion provides four members of the All-Conference team, the second-place crew provides three members, and the third-place finisher provides two. All other participating crews receive one selection each.
WOMEN’S ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM
Elise Beuke, WASH
Katy Gillingham, WASH
Chiara Ondoli, WASH
Phoebe Marks-Nicholes, WASH
Inger Kavlie, CAL
Rowan McKellar, CAL
Kendall Ritter, CAL
Stephanie Grauer, STAN
Ruth Narode, STAN
Tess O’Leary, OSU
Marie Jacquet, UCLA
Ida Gørtz Jacobsen, USC
Ieva Adomaviciute, WSU
MEN’S ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM
Guglielmo Carcano, WASH
Stuart Sim, WASH
Ezra Carlson, WASH
Arne Landboe, WASH
Natan Wegrzycki-Symczyk, CAL
Joachim Sutton, CAL
Maarten Kurkmans, CAL
Jovanni Stefani, STAN
Brennan Wertz, STAN
Thomas Jeffries, COLO
Scott Seymour, ORE
Spencer Smith, OSU
David Kerns, UCLA
Devon McCornack, WSU