We were happy to see so many of you at Crew Classic this year! We were also excited to have both the Varsity 8 and Novice 8 racing in finals on Sunday. The Varsity 8 pretty handily took out Long Beach in their heat, and secured a 6th place finish in the Petite Final on Sunday. The Novice 8 took 2nd in their heat – behind only Cal – which landed them in the Grand Finals on Sunday, where they narrowly missed the podium by finishing 4th overall. In addition to the boats making the Sunday finals, the team was also able to field a 2nd Varsity 8 that raced on Saturday to round out their showing at the event. With two 8’s of athletes on Varsity, and almost a full second eight of novices, the team is continuing to use their numbers to drive inter-squad competition as they prepare for WIRAs.
As the Sunday Finals drew to a close, we once again fired up a 6-foot grill to cook and serve over 60 pounds of Carne and Pollo Asada for our annual team, alumni, and family BBQ. As with all of our previous years of hosting the event, the team was very grateful to meet and greet the alumni in attendance, and nobody walked away hungry!
After all of the BBQ had been cooked, all of the Alumni in attendance gathered at the tent to kick off the 10th Anniversary Annual Meeting of the H. Del Beekley Rowing Foundation. This year we highlighted the successful events of the past year, then took a stroll down memory lane to remember some of the major successes we’ve had over our first decade. While an official copy of the meeting minutes will be available on the Beekley Rowing website, we wanted to introduce you to your new Board of Directors for the coming year.
- President → Andy Olson. Andy originally started the foundation 10 years ago, re-joined the board as President last year, and has happily accepted the job for another year.
- Vice President → Bernard Aparicio. Bernard accepted the VP role after serving the board last year in one of our At Large positions where he proved to be a very passionate and valuable asset.
- Secretary → Brandt Watson. Brandt also spent last year serving the Board in an At Large position where his efforts promoting the team and events on Social Media made him an obvious choice to fill the role of Secretary.
- Treasurer → Steve Lewis. Steve returns for his third year as Treasurer and remains as passionate as ever about supporting the goals of the alumni and the board.
- At-Large → Matt Stewart. Matt participated in several events and helped the Board prepare the Boat Fund and Membership mailer this year and is looking forward to officially serving in the coming year.
- At-Large → Haakon Christoffer Jonsmyr. Chris is finishing up his final year as team Commodore and will be transitioning to an At Large role to continue helping the team in the coming year.
A special thanks to Dan Smith who stepped down this year after serving as the Foundation’s secretary for the last 9 years. He is by far the longest serving officer the Board has seen and has certainly been the glue that has connected the Board through the years.
The newly elected Board will be continuing last year’s focus of reconnecting the alumni and the team through communication and events. Additionally, the Board is dedicated to do the work necessary to raise the funds needed to put an updated 8-man racing shell in the boathouse during the upcoming season. Many alumni have already generously contributed, so we’re off to a great start in building the fund. At this point, we are working with the team and coaches to find the desired boat and get a final price so that we can accomplish this goal.
If you missed Crew Classic and are looking for the next alumni event, you’re in luck. Have you been itching to get back in a racing shell on beautiful Mission Bay? Well here’s your chance! On Saturday May 5th at 7:30 am, come down and relive the glory days as you join with fellow alumni to give the current Aztec oarsmen a run for their money. We are looking to put together several eights with former rowers and coxswains from every era. A $20 buy-in gets you a seat, first come, first served (fitness not required). If you would like to participate, contact us (info@beekleyrowing.org) or a member of the board and we will reserve your seat. After the rowing, the team will be celebrating the end of their year “Cinco de Mayo” style with a taco cart run by the family of a fallow alumni. Any participants or spectators interested in sticking around for the food are being asked to contribute $10 to offset the cost. So come down and show your support for SDSU Men’s Crew as the athletes prepare for ACRAs (American Collegiate Rowing Association Championships in Gainesville, GA).
Please contact us if you have any questions!
Go Aztecs!