Crew joins varsity spring sports in having an outstanding March
Aside from basketball, this has been an eventful last week or so for many of Baylor’s athletic programs. Men’s tennis beat No. 1-ranked Tennessee on Tuesday for the program’s first-ever win over a top-ranked team. Women’s tennis beat No. 3 Miami on Monday. Baylor softball took two of three on the road at No. 4 Arizona over the weekend. Both men’s and women’s track and field finished among the top 16 at the NCAA Indoor Championships. And Baylor baseball head coach Steve Smith, BSEd ’86, earned his 600th career win Tuesday (all at BU).
But it hasn’t just been the varsity sports getting in on the action. Baylor crew, a co-ed club team, outpaced bigger and better-equipped teams from all over the state to claim multiple top finishes at the Heart of Texas Regatta in Austin earlier this month. As a club sport, crew doesn’t have some of the advantages of varsity sports; for instance, instead of a 17-year veteran and full-time professional head coach like baseball’s Smith, Baylor crew has a 21-year-old senior, Grey Rogers, who coaches the squad. But just like varsity student-athletes, the club team’s participants put in long hours and go to tremendous lengths to represent Baylor in competition.
At the Heart of Texas Regatta, the Baylor team claimed six top-eight finishes despite not having enough boats to enter every race. The men’s Varsity 4A boat (Todd Underwood, Bram Smith, Josh Brame and Stanley Shen, coxed by Grey Rogers) placed first in its event, while the men’s Novice 8A boat (Jonathan Lo, Ryan Giang, Marijan Veselinovic, Kevin Lindley, Mitchell Finley, Andrew Franco, Isidore Lozano and Hoang Bui, coxed by Gabby Saucedo) placed second. (See photos from the regatta here.)
Sic ’em, Baylor crew!