Spring 2021

THE

PULLHARD A COUGAR CREW PUBLICATION

2 0 21 , I S S U E 1 SPRING

Missing in Action Lost History 05

An Inside Look: Kami Hamilton 10

Mt. Saint Helens & The Pac-10 Championships 14

Alumni Spotlight David Reeder 18

INSIDE THE SPRING EDITION 02

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Missing in Action

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Coach Update

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CCAA Update

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Novice Spotlight: Cedar Cunningham

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Inside Look: Kami Hamilton

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Erg Rooms, Past and Present

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Pac-10s 1980 When St. Helens Blew

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Alumni Spotlight: David Reeder

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Congrats Cougs

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Power 10 Update

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Planned Giving

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Behind the Pull Hard

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MISSING IN ACTION I

In the spring of 1973 Coach Bob Orr ordered the first new boats purchased by the Cougar Crew using funding from the ASWSU, and contributions from the oarsmen and their parents. He and the crew selected the names for these historic boats which arrived on the Snake at the Almota shellhouse Fall of 1973.

Cougar One was the best name we could have ever selected for the 8+. We should always have a boat of that name in our shellhouse. She handed Washington its first defeat by WSU and is thus our Husky Clipper.

Spirit of ‘73 was selected for the 4+ chosen to honor the people who donated money to purchase the first small boat in the program. Contributors included those from the graduating class of 1973, none of whom rowed in either shell. Two great choices for our first two new red cedar Pocock’s.

These boats served the program with pride and many oarsmen rowed in them during their 20 years of service. Sometime in the mid 90’s they were loaned, sold or given away. A decade of search and effort has come to nought; no definitive answer on how or when or to whom they were given has been discovered. To date there is one solid clue: Jeff Earle, an oarsman in 1994, said he was in the Cougar One on it’s last day

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on the water. He thought it was sold to a restaurant in Spokane. We have pursued that lead and come up empty.

The Spirit of ‘73 is christened in the Coliseum, Dad’s weekend, 9 March 1974, WSU vs UW basketball half-time. She is the first small boat in the Cougar shellhouse. Photo Credit: courtesy of The Hilltopics.

In Search of the Cougar One & the Spirit of ‘73

Cougar One, crewed by the Men’s Lightweight Varsity, hands Washington their first-ever defeat by WSU (note the Husky bow-ball at the extreme right edge of the image). UW at WSU, 4 May 1974, Snake River, Almota WA. Len Mills photo courtesy of the Daily Evergreen.

All restaurants in the State of Washington have been contacted; the buyer for TGIF was found and interviewed; we have contacted programs along the entire West Coast as far north as Alaska. Currently we are pursuing leads associated with the Ram Corporation and a private boat-stash in California.

Contact the Pull Hard Editor with your inputs (pullhard@ cougarcrew.com).

All leads will be followed up. Let’s find these boats or know their fate. Let’s find them now!

Jim Rudd ‘75, Mike Klier ‘75

“I remember going over to Pocock Racing Shells, which at that time was located in Conibear Shell House at UW, and looking at the newly completed Cougar One. [Dick] Erickson was with me and he said, ‘That’s going to help them a lot over there in the Palouse’.”

- Bob Orr, first coach of the Cougar Crew.

The founding members are searching for the legacy of our program in the form of these two historic shells.

We need all the help we can get. All information, any hint, clue or rumor regarding the location, fate or any sighting of these boats is sought. We intend to purchase, restore and exhibit our heritage.

Jim Rudd ‘75, Mike Klier ‘75

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COACH UPDATE T

A Note from Head Coach Peter Brevick

raining for Cougar Crew during the pandemic has continued to require high levels of flexibility and dedication from the athletes. This year students were asked to stay away from Pullman if they left town for Thanksgiving, leading to an 8-week winter break for most students. After a very long time apart, and no winter camp due to pandemic travel restrictions, we resumed training as a team the first day of instruction, Jan 19th. All land training continues to be distanced, and all indoor training is masked. We continued using ergs on the SRC backyard basketball courts for the first month but were able to shift to under the student section of Martin. That let us stay dry if it was raining or snowing, a good thing to have in February! It also let us have some limited numbers back in the erg room in the Hollingbery Fieldhouse to use sliders and Gamuts, both are erg modifications that more closely simulate on-the-water rowing. It was great to be back after over eleven months away! We were able to start getting on the water in early February, but a cold snap then kept us off for a few weeks. Once the roads cleared up we were back out on the Snake, continuing to row small boats by household. With the improving pandemic situation, and Washington moving to Phase 2 pandemic restrictions, the team is excited to start rowing masked and in fours soon!

The largest unknown during the pandemic has been competition. While we won’t get to have an in person ACRA regatta this year, we are excited for several racing opportunities this spring. We’ll start the year off with on the water racing for Class Day honors March 17th. The next week we will participate in the first, and hopefully only, ACRA Indoor Rowing Championship on March 27th. We follow that with the University of Oregon, April 10th, and Gonzaga on April 13th, with both of these races likely to be done in fours.

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If the pandemic situation continues to improve, we’ll again meet Gonzaga, this time in eights, later this spring for the Fawley Cup. We’ll finish out our year with the Pac-12 Championships May 16th. All on the water racing is still to be confirmed, but the likelihood of our racing continues to improve.

All the uncertainty and challenges with training and racing have been an undeniable struggle. Through it all though, I have been regularly reminded how grateful I am to work with such dedicated athletes and be supported by such dedicated alumni. The Cougar Crew has known for decades that it will be a Hard Pull for rowing at Washington State, and the past year that has been truer than ever. With all these challenges, we remain committed to the process, continuing to work on ourselves, as rowers, as coxswains, as coaches, to improve as athletes, as students, as people.

Head Coach, Peter Brevick Go Cougs!

A Note from Vice Chair Danny Brevick Greetings Cougar Crew Nation!

2020 was a tough year and 2021 has yet to get much easier. I am proud to report that despite adverse circumstances, Cougar Crew is doing well. The Athletes, Officers and Coaches have been monitoring the ever-changing conditions, keeping people safe, and preparing to be in fighting trim when we escape this pandemic. We held a CCAA board meeting January 30th via Zoom and streamed it on Facebook Live, including an option to post a comment or question to the board in real time. Good stuff! The agenda was not unusual, but like everything these days, somewhat COVID-driven. Noteworthy highlights: •Our income from Rent-a-Rower, Football Parking and Tables & Chairs (my fave) has declined due to COVID and social distancing. The loss, however, has been balanced by lack of travel—always a big expense. Despite the savings, we anticipated a deficit coming into the fall. Athletes and alumni both stepped up and helped bridge the gap. The Erg-A-Thon raised $36,228.

•The CCAA Board has several positions with a four-year term typically held by alumni. Alumni Representative Alyssa Kodama (’16) has requested early release from her term. The board is grateful for Alyssa’s contributions and we wish her all the best.

The board is also happy to announce that Mitch Williams (’10) has agreed to complete Alyssa’s term, which expires in 2022. Mitch’s valuable experience in the fresh and growing field of digital marketing has already made a visibly positive impact on CCAA communications.

Mitch Williams (‘10)

CCAA UPDATE

•In the Better Late than Never Department, we have postponed our 50th Anniversary Gala event to Spring 2022. Until then (depending on the course of the pandemic), we hope to see you at smaller gatherings, possibly including Head of the Lake in Seattle, or a football game in Pullman. Stay tuned!

In closing, I want to make a special request.

Recruitment has been complicated by the pandemic in three ways: First, the on-campus student population is about 25% of normal, greatly diminishing our traditional recruiting pool. Second, on-the-water training under social-distancing is not impossible, but a bit complicated: boats with coxwains not allowed; fours and quads are the biggest boats allowed; only athletes living in the same household may train in a boat together.

Third, for now, all on-water racing has been cancelled.

Ergometer competitions are increasingly sophisticated and can certainly be an exciting challenge. Still, nothing quite like a real regatta. So, when you talk to someone college-bound whom you suspect might enjoy “Type 2 Fun,” please take a moment to share your rowing experience and describe the warm welcome they will get from Cougar Crew.

It has been way too long since I have seen many of you, so please accept an extra firm socially distanced handshake via text. Looking forward to seeing you live and in person.

Vice Chair, Danny Brevick (’05) Go Cougs!

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NOVICE SPOTLIGHT

EDITOR’S NOTE The last six months have been challenging for everyone. I have been very curious about the experience of our novices, as their development is crucial to future success. Assistant Coach Devon McCornack (’19) connected me with Cedar Cunningham, class of 2023.

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tanding six feet eight inches, Cedar’s name seems appropriate. Originally from Renton, he was drawn to WSU by the size of the school, the feel of the campus, and the collegetown atmosphere. His father works for T Mobile, and his mother works as a contractor for Facebook. He has two younger sisters, and he is the lone athlete in the family. Coming from a football background, he also had a brief stint as a swimmer. His multifaceted track and field career included javelin, high jump, shot put, and the 400-Meter run. He never expected to perform on the collegiate level, he just loved the competition. Asked how he found rowing, he credits his parents and his neighbors.

When Covid-19 hit early last year Cedar was in the second semester of his freshman year. He moved back home in March.

Among his new neighbors, the Cummins family had rowing experience. Serious rowing experience. Cedar knew they had rowed in the Olympics.

Curious, I did some research and found that Bob Cummins was an IRA champion for Washington and a world champion in the

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CEDAR CUNNINGHAM

late 1990s while still an undergrad. Anna, Bob’s spouse, is a dual Olympic medalist, winning silver in 2004 and gold in 2008 in the US eight. When I updated Cedar, he said “It’s surprising to hear hear about them in such an accomplished way. I just know them as my next-door neighbors helping me out with my erg form.”

Not a bad introduction to the sport.

The Covid-era novice squad has been, so far, smaller than Coach Brevick would prefer. Only eight athletes started out in Pullman in August 2020, with another eight training together remotely through a virtual format. The group began working together at different times from the varsity squad, entirely on the erg, with a focus on technique rather than on power and endurance.

Cedar says he has been on the water only once so far this year.

With time they were integrated and began training with the varsity, adding morning sessions and increasing volume progressively.

The loss of comradery and connection through rowing together in boats requires other kinds of satisfaction and gratification.

Says Cedar: “Just being at practice and watching someone do something better than me is inspiring [me] to be better.”

As anyone who has gripped an oar will know, the benefits and satisfactions of the sport are many and various. Cedar says the biggest take-away he has so far is the value of discipline, especially working out early, and loving the process. He particularly enjoys the process of measuring progress: seeing what he can do in the beginning and working toward tangible goals. These are habits with implications and repercussions well beyond athletic practices and routines.

WSU COUGAR CREW

The lack of connection between teammates is a big challenge.

There are no group meals at dining halls, no encouraging slaps on the back between hard pieces on the water. Ergometers are socially distanced, so athletes can’t see their teammates’ numbers.

Cedar says the coaching staff does its best to emphasize how team-oriented the sport is, but of course it doesn’t feel that way.

Despite these challenges, Cedar has dug in, fueled by the drive to compete, to push, to see steady improvement. His goals?

Cut down erg times, continue to improve, become the best on the team. He hopes to actually row this spring, “I have zero skill on the water” [laughs] and help build the comradery and solidarity that makes for winning crews.

CEDAR CUNNINGHAM

Thanks for taking the time Cedar, and as always, Go Cougs.

—David Herrick ‘14

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INSIDE LOOK

KAMI HAMILTON GETTING TO KNOW THE TEAM A peek at the coxswain’s goals & experiences in Cougar Crew

‘22 KAMI HAMILTON to her roommate, Ciara McCall.

Kami first started off as a rower, but after two years she switched to coxing, due to an injury that caused her to lose feeling in her arms when she rowed. The numbness would interfere with hand movements, then cause her to lose her grip on the oar or erg handle.

Although Kami is small in stature, the transition to coxing presented a completely different set of challenges.

At first, being a coxswain felt awkward and uncomfortable, but Kami says she is now focused on building her leadership and strategic thinking skills.

Coxing has made Kami zero in on technique and how

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unior Coxswain Kami Hamilton is from Sedro-Woolley, WA. A straight-A student in high school, she chose WSU because, she says, she was drawn to the spirited atmosphere that set it apart from every other campus she visited. She also says WSU’s broad range of disciplines allowed her to explore a bit before choosing a major. Kami has appeared twice so far on the President’s Honor Roll and expects to graduate in 2022 with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the Honors College.

Kami had no prior rowing experience.

She did however have thousands of hours sprinting around on soccer pitches as a defender. Starting at age five, she played soccer through middle and high school. As a high school senior, she was co-captain of the varsity team, competing both in and out of state. In her freshman year at WSU, Kami went looking for an outlet for her athletic talent and discovered Cougar Crew thanks

a coxswain can help rowers improve. Her biggest challenge at this point is lack of experience on the water.

Thanks to COVID-19 she only has three practices as cox under her belt. Like fellow coxswains in the pandemic, Kami evaluates technique, makes calls and collects data during practices. She still enjoys joining workouts when she can and is still one of the fastest runners on the team. Kami misses the physical challenge of rowing, of watching her erg scores climb, but says she is finding new and different satisfaction in the mental challenge of coxing.

WSU COUGAR CREW

Kami Hamilton pictured in bow For Kami, rowing and coxing are exciting because each row is different, presenting a fresh set of problems to focus on and improvements to make. “I have learned that with focus and discipline, I can push myself further than I think. Sometimes a workout will seem like an impossible mountain to climb, but by the end of practice, I have somehow finished it. Whenever I feel overwhelmed, I just focus on one thing at a time and end up accomplishing what I wanted.” In the next year Kami hopes to become a better leader on the team, grow as a coxswain and get back to coxing boats on the water.

— Jaime Tom ‘22

Kami Hamilton pictured in bow

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ERG TRAINING PAST AND PRESENT

Raquetball Court Erg Room

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major part of college rowers’ training now happens in the erg room. Our first erg room was set up in the basement of Spillman Hall in 1996. We had trained for four years in Spillman when the building was slated for demolition.

As Spillman was disappearing, space opened in the Fieldhouse Annex. Built in 1980, the Annex was a homely little concrete box of infill construction between Hollingbery and Bohler. It housed racquetball courts and a dance studio. At the millennium, racquetball moved to the new Student Recreation Center immediately northeast of Beasley Coliseum and the team acquired two of the vacated courts. The new facility was convenient to access and better-lit than Spillman Hall, but it lacked adequate ventilation. A full team of rowers doing erg

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pieces needed a much more generous air supply than four racquetball players.

By Spring 2010, we had outgrown the space due to growing numbers and accumulated equipment. We then moved upstairs to the disused dance studio—five times the size. Two years later, the demolition of the Annex sent us to our current erg room on the fourth floor of Hollingbery, a space formerly housing batting cages. UREC retrofitted the space with sweat-proof matting and large mirrors and helped us purchase large fans for ventilation.

WSU COUGAR CREW

Erg Room, Hollingbery Feild House, WSU Due to COVID-19, since March of last year up, we have done our erg work on the basketball courts behind the student recreation center. Moving the machines, stored in the garage, to the outdoor courts for each workout, plus winter weather, sometimes pose serious challenges. Fresh air? Not so much.

Sunrise and sunset workouts can be glorious, and we feel lucky to engage in actual, present-and-accounted for, as opposed to seen-on-video, workouts. Almost like being on the river. Almost.

The team is grateful for our well-serviced fleet of Concept II machines and for our niche in Hollingbery to store and use them (when a pandemic isn’t raging), but it goes without saying we are all dreaming of the day we get to push off in an eight. It can’t come too soon.

- Jaime Tom

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Monday morning wake up call. Louise (Hill) Thomas bought a copy of this Oregonian before we left Portland. Her parents and two sisters had recently moved to Vader, a few miles north of the I-5 Toutle River Bridge.

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WSU COUGAR CREW

PAC-10S 1980

WHEN ST. HELENS BLEW

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he 1980 Pac-10s were raced at Redwood Shores, 10 miles southeast of San Francisco International Airport on an attractive but narrow course suitable only for dual-race format.

Finals were on Sunday, May 18. First up, 8:30am, the Men’s Heavy 8: Washington vs California. UW coach Dick Erickson recalled race conditions as “perfect.” Hint of things to come: the Huskies borrowed a Carbocraft and Karlisch oars from UBC. This was the first Husky crew that ever raced without Pocock equipment.

When the crews left the line, the Bears were favored. The Huskies trailed by a seat at 500 meters. When Cal made a move, the Huskies, under-stroking their opponent, parried successfully.

At the 1,200-meter mark, the crews were trading bow balls. UW prevailed by under one second. The finish time of 5:42.17 beat the course record by 10 seconds. Minutes earlier, 700 miles north of the course, Mount St. Helens had blown its stack.

Thirty-year-old US Geological Survey scientist David Johnston was a Husky Geology PhD and one of many scientists at the USGS Earthquake Science Center in Menlo Park, minutes from Redwood Shores. Assigned to the St. Helens monitoring team, Johnston believed scientists should accept risks to mitigate natural disasters. His work, and that of colleagues, persuaded authorities to close the mountain two and a half weeks before it erupted, an unpopular decision that saved thousands of lives.

On Sunday morning, Johnston was measuring volcanic emissions from an observation post considered acceptably safe, six miles north of the summit. At 8:32am, in a voice described as “excited, not frightened” by the lone radio operator who heard it, he radioed: “Vancouver! Vancouver! This is it!” Moments later Johnston died in a pyroclastic flow or surge: a super-dense cloud of volcanic gasses, pulverized stone, ash and magma. Most pyroclastic clouds are gravity-driven and average around 65 mph. Propelled by an explosive blast wave, the flow that killed Johnston reached speeds of 670 mph and temperatures of 680°F. (“PDC,” for Pyroclastic Density Current, is geological shorthand for these emissions, which may be hot or cold. This was a cold PDC. Thumbs up to Susan Ernsdorff (’80) for that clarification.)

the volcanic vent. Almost instantly, rising magma reached groundwater. The titanic fresh-lit steam-fired blast furnace produced a lateral eruption, kicking the already fast-moving landslide in the behind. The top 1,300 feet of the cone partly slid, partly flew north, leaving a mile-wide horseshoe-shaped crater.

The mixture of rock, tephra and ice was estimated at seven-tenths of a cubic mile.

Dave Emigh (rowed 1972–1973; Frosh Coach 1976–1979) was working at the Boeing plant in Everett at the time. He wrote: “For weeks prior to the eruption, Boeing test pilots would try to fly around St. Helens. Their descriptions of steam plumes, ash columns, gray fallout on the peak, would circulate through the engineering department.”

On the morning of the 18th, Emigh was his leaving his Everett home for rowing practice at LWRC. Hearing a boom, he thought someone crashed into his garage. Then he heard an echo. The second boom was louder than the first, and it wasn’t an echo: it was Spirit Lake and the Toutle River, blanketed by pyroclastic flow, exploding in a cloud of steam. Before sunset, 7,000 deer, elk and bear; 250 homes; 230 square miles of standing timber; 185 miles of highway; 57 human beings; 47 bridges and 15 miles of railway were gone.

For the Cougs back at Redwood Shores, the first hint of trouble ahead came via shop talk. A puzzled Dick Erickson told Coach Struckmeyer that his usual post-race chat with the Seattle Times sports desk never happened: “Sorry, can’t talk right now.

The mountain just blew. Click.” More specific, and increasingly alarming, information accumulated gradually as the day rolled on.

WHAT EXACTLY HAPPENED? First, a magnitude 5.2 quake dislodged the peak, triggering the largest landslide in recorded history. The debris avalanche exposed the cryptodome, a reservoir of semi-molten magma rich with compressed gasses that had been growing since March. Its massive lid removed, the cryptodome exploded, uncorking the

1980 PAC-10 Regatta Program Cover

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1980 Pac-10 Championships and the Eruption of Mount St. Helens

LONG SLOG HOME TO CLOSED WEEK By 1:00pm, the show was over. The Men’s Light 8 were the great consolation, trailing only the Dawgs. The men’s Heavy 8 finished fifth behind UW, Cal, OSU and UCLA. Equipment loaded, two chartered Greyhound Scenicruisers hauled the Cougar rowers a few minutes south to Menlo Park, where Bill and Jeanne Lane, parents of JV oar Bob Lane and publishers of Sunset Magazine, treated the entire squad to a lavish buffet. Sunset’s “Laboratory of Western Living” was a park-like nine-acre campus a few blocks from David Johnston’s USGS office. Coach Ken and co-pilot JV Coach Doug Engle (rowed 1975–79) left the party early in the signature green Chevy pickup, shells and blades in tow. Splendid late lunch in California sunshine concluded, the highway stages loaded once more and commenced the 900-mile journey north.

The convoy next rendezvoused around 6:00pm at an enormous truck stop near Dunnigan, CA. There, according to several different rowers, we first learned St. Helens had erupted.

A convenience store cashier ringing up mass quantities of beer and munchies asked our destination and replied we might have trouble getting home. Our response was bemused skepticism.

We’d been hearing false alarms for a couple of months.

The next leg-stretcher, two hours plus north, was likely at a big I-5 rest stop close to Redding, CA. While carefree bus riders were doing the party-hearty, Ken and Doug were navigating the shell trailer and listening to the radio. It was likely here Ken advised us that main routes to eastern Washington were closed.

According to Women’s Coach Gene Dowers: “It wasn’t until well after dark that we knew we wouldn’t be able to go back to Pullman. Ken was more worried than I’d ever seen him.”

Around six in the morning, exhausted Cougs flooded the Greyhound bus terminal in Portland, the coming hours of their journey now a completely open question. Many tried to sleep on uncomfortable plastic chairs. Thanks (probably) to the efforts

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of Ken Abbey back in Pullman, arrangements had already been made for the team to bivouac at Husky Hilton. At daylight, we would drive due north for Seattle, gambling that the I-5 bridge over the Toutle River would be open and we would be permitted to cross.

By 9:00am on Monday, May 19, barely 24 hours past the most violent phase of the eruption, we boarded our buses and got back on I-5. East of the mountain, the big concern was volcanic ash, so heavy in places like Ephrata (four inches), that it turned midday into darkest night and blanketed everything in a choking, abrasive powder of cement-like consistency. More than 500 million tons had already dropped on parts of Washington, Oregon and Idaho.

St. Helens aerial view looking north. Mt. Rainier in the background.

CREDIT: United States Geological Survey

WSU COUGAR CREW West of the mountain, all eyes were on the North and South Forks of the Toutle River, where initial volcanic lahars (hot mudflows) had filled miles of the watercourses with debris to depths of 600 feet. Melting snow had increased the normal volume of water, over and above the massive mudflows, leading to numerous instant lakes and ponds, any of which might drain suddenly without warning. The I-5 bridge over the Toutle, 60 miles north of Portland, stands immediately east of where the Toutle joins the Cowlitz.

Until we arrived at the bridge, we had no way of knowing whether we would be allowed to cross. We crawled forward slowly on queue, but probably within half an hour a state patrolman waved us through. We were home free. Well, almost.

David Johnston at USGS observation post Coldwater II, 1900 hours, May 17, 1980. Coldwater II was re-named “Johnston Ridge” in his honor. The US Forest Service Johnston Ridge Observatory is now the interpretive visitor center for St. Helens. CREDIT: Harry Glicken. Public domain.

Once in Seattle, some of the crew stayed in the Husky house.

Some rejoined family. Everyone waited and watched the news.

By Tuesday it was clear that I-90 would not reopen anytime soon.

Early Wednesday, we clambered aboard our Greyhounds and rode back to Portland, then east to Walla-Walla. At the WallaWalla Greyhound terminal, drivers advised us that the route through Colfax was impassable and we would re-route through Lewiston. The southerly route was judged superior, but arrival in Pullman could not be guaranteed. This news so frustrated one weary oarsman that he punched the window next to him, damaging the glass. What happened to his hand is a mystery to the author. Fifteen hours after leaving Seattle, Cougar Crew had returned to home base.

Tina (Randall) Monsaas recalls: “By the time we arrived it was dusk or dark. Drop-off was far away from my dorm. Dust billowed whenever I stepped off the sidewalk. No one was outside. It was like the Twilight Zone.”Our long bewildering trip had ended. It was the week before finals.

Mapping the damage. CREDIT: US Army Corps of Engineers

EXTRA NOTE Readers may be wondering: Did Flip take Geology 101 (“Rocks for Jocks”)? No, I didn’t. Maybe I should have. Many teammates helped me remember this story. Special thanks to Randall sisters Kathleen and Tina (now Monsaas) and Louise (Hill) Thomas. Thanks as well to Tom Anderson, Dave Arnold, Eve Boe, Lisa (Coble) Curtis, Gene Dowers, Dave Emigh, Doug Engle, Susan Ernsdorff, John Holtman, Mike Pabisz, Mark Petrie, Kari and Steve Ranten, Tim Richards and Ken & Marj Struckmeyer. If I have forgotten someone, please accept my apologies.

—Rich “Flip” Ray (’80)

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ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT

D AV I D R E E D E R (‘ 8 8 )

DAVID REEDER EDITOR’S NOTE While I was doing program research, I stumbled across David quite by accident. I immediately noticed his success with the strong lightweight crews of the mid 1980’s and that he has a long track record as both a coach and an educator. Since 1999 David has been teaching and coaching at Northfield Mount Hermon, a boarding school in central Massachusetts close to the Vermont and New Hampshire borders. These combined elements compelled me to reach out and get to know him more. I hope you enjoy getting to know him as much as I did.

David Herrick ‘14

David Herrick: When did you row for WSU? David Reeder: I started fall of ’84 my sophomore year and finished in 1988, so I took the five-year track.

DH: What got you into rowing?

DR: A group of guys in my dorm were on the team and they sounded like they were having fun. I was in the marching band and had never been an athlete. I was convinced to try it out.

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It was great learning something new, being on the river, and gradually learning what it meant to be an athlete. My first race was against Gonzaga in the fall, we raced below the dam.

There was a competitive switch that turned on for me and from that point I was hooked. I can thank my teammates and Coach Struckmeyer for that.

DH: Any particularly strong memories of your time at WSU? DR: That first year we had some veteran guys, very committed athletes and smart too, engineering and math types. They were pretty excited about the team; they had been working hard building it. We won PAC-10’s that May for the first time. We loved beating the Huskies. Then we did it again next year. My wife, Mary Farrell (an alum of the women’s team), reminded me we used to skip rocks before practice, trying to hit the pylons.

DH: You have two PAC-10 titles to your name as a lightweight, who were your biggest competitors during those seasons?

DR: UW of course, they had lightweights then, so did Oregon State. The southern California schools were particularly fast, Cal, and San Diego State. We usually had them in mind. We went to the Crew Classic and suddenly were racing Yale and Penn and realized we could compete with them; I think we took 3rd. We loved racing them when we got the chance, I don’t think they paid us much attention though.

WSU COUGAR CREW DH: What was your motivator to start coaching?

DR: I remember I wanted to stay connected to rowing. I moved east on a whim and landed in Boston. While I was there, I was looking for teaching positions. I interviewed at a boarding school just outside the city and they had a pretty historic program, and they said “great you can help with the team” so I did that for two years. Then I moved back to Seattle and coached at Mount Baker for four years. I find it exciting to help develop a team— considering training philosophies, helping high school kids figure it all out—I really enjoy that.

DH: How did you land at NMH? DR: I was in graduate school at Dartmouth working towards a PhD, but my wife and I started a family, so we did a big search around New England, and I knew I wanted to coach. NMH had an opening in the science department, and their rowing program is quite established. We thought it would only be a few years but gradually we realized this is where we are.

DH: What has practice looked like for you in the last few months?

DR: It was a blast to row this fall, despite everything, since we had a bubble on campus. The kids were so grateful to row together. Initially we thought it was going to be small boats, but we rowed in 4’s for most of the fall, the kids wore masks the whole time. They even competed in the virtual Head of the Charles. We trained daily, but we had a rigorous testing protocol on campus, and luckily, we’re in rural area so the case count stayed low. It was fun to see them compete against each other too.

NMH VARSITY 4+ - HOCR 2019 DR: I’ve been hiking a lot, Mary and I enjoy the woods behind the school. We hike with friends in the area. Plus, balancing family life, coaching basketball for my son, swimming for my daughters.

But since the pandemic shut everything down it was nice to get out and not worry about the other pieces of our life.

DH: Any favorite parts about living in central Massachusetts?

What’s the area like?

DR: It’s beautiful, but not as dramatic as out west. I was a park ranger in and just after college. Very hilly, lots of woods. More rural than you would expect. The Connecticut river is beautiful, I do some kayaking out there too, can’t get enough of that.

DH: Any indication about a spring season?

DH: Do you prefer the east or west coast?

DR: Not yet, we’ll have a NEIRA coaching meeting in a few weeks.

DR: Well this is home now, but every time I head out west it just feels right. When I’m in eastern Washington especially it just feels like home.

DH: For our readers who aren’t as familiar with the boarding school scene, can you describe what a typical spring season would look like? Who the major players are, if you have a rivalry with anyone, what boat classes are raced, etc.

DH: Do you think you’ll make it out to Pullman for Cougar Crew Days, whenever it can happen?

DR: It’s quite different from my experience in Seattle. Each team has one type of boat they race. We can race twice a week, on Wednesday and Saturday. I wouldn’t say we have as developed a rivalry as others, but we have great racing relationships with other schools.

DR: Yes! I couldn’t make it to the 50th which was disappointing because we had a training trip to South Carolina that weekend.

Though that wound up being a moot point. We have some friends we haven’t seen in a long time and need to.

Thanks for taking the time David, and as always, Go Cougs!!

We also went from an 8’s program to a 4’s program, and we didn’t race last spring, so we still need to build new rivalries and relationships since we won’t be racing schools we traditionally have. Deerfield is just down the river from us, they are very fast and set a good standard.

DH: When you aren’t coaching or teaching, how do you spend your time?

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CONGRATS COUGS WINTER ‘21 MATT ELLIOT & CHRISTINE HERTOGS

MITCH & KIM WILLIAMS

On December 4th, 2020

On December 1st, 2020

Matt Elliot (’17) became engaged to Christine Hertogs.

Jaz Gill (’14) was hired as a career firefighter by Whatcom County Fire District 7, working out of Station 42.

He began volunteering with WCFD7 in 2016 following his graduation from WSU. He worked as a volunteer firefighter for the department for four years prior to being hired full time.

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THE PULL HARD

SPRING 2021

POWER 10 UPDATE

Delivering a Stable Income Base to Team, With Room to Grow As of early 2021, we stand at 78 members strong in the Power 10 Campaign, projecting to a total of $17,000 by the end of the fiscal year in June 2021. These funds serve an important resource for the team by helping offset day to day operating expenses like coaching, travel, and equipment.

“The Power 10 campaign is a great source of budget-able income for the team. A monthly donation of $20 per month has a huge impact when combined with 100 other Power 10 teammates.”

- Doug Engle, Cougar Crew Alumni Association Financial Advisor “The Power 10 Campaign acts as a living endowment, providing critical financial support directly to the team as we build the endowment to a sufficient level to eventually support the team more fully.”

- Ernie Iseminger, Cougar Crew Alumni Association Development Officer The powerhouse 1980’s era and venerable 2010’s era are neck and neck in the Power 10 Regatta at 21 donors each! The 2000’s and 1990’s are still in the fight at 12 and 11, respectively, with the 1970’s not out of it yet with 7. Friends of Cougar Crew are clocking in at a much appreciated 7 Power 10 donors.

To join the Power 10 Campaign through the WSU Foundation, navigate to www.cougarcrew. com, click ‘Support’, and click the ‘Power 10’ button.

THANK YOU POWER 10 MEMBERS! Alan Scott, Alexander Weatbrook, Allison Thomas, Andria Day, Ann Rorie, Ashley Vu, August Boyle, Blaine and Susan Beardsley, Charles Remington, Colby Farvour, Colleen and Patrick Andreotti, Craig and Lisa Curtis, Curtis Treiber, Darrin and Lisa Clark, David and Arienne Arnold, David Herrick, Donald and Melinda Ernsdorff, Devon McCornack, Doug and Lori Wordell, Douglas and Carol Lindahl, Douglas and Renee Engle, Eric Zook, Dr. & Mrs. David Henry Reeder, Ernest and Alice Iseminger, Everett M. Schneider, Garrett Lyman, Gerard and Kristina Martin, Graham and Danielle Condit, Griffin Berger, Gunnar Newell, Guy Marden, Jacob Logar, James Flynn and Marcia Muto, Jeff and Samantha Olson, Jess and Victoria O’Dell, Jim and Vickie Rudd, Joe Sudar, Joey and Frankie Tennison,

John and Bonnie Lafer, John and Kristie McBride, John and Shirley DeLong, John Gehring, John Sanders, Joshua Proctor, Kent and Rocio McLeary, Kerin McKellar, Kimberly and Greg Miller, Kramer Wahlberg, Lori and Roeland Collet, Lucas Hunter, Lucas Jones, Marietta Hall, Mark Wascher, Mark Petrie, Mark Hoffman, Mitchell Williams, Patrick and Mary Pursley, Patrick Kvietkus, Peter Brevick, Philip and Pamela Sprute, Richard Ray and Kathleen Randall, Robert and Jeana Obom, Robin Brown, Ryan and Sarah Hui, Ryan Herrington, Ryan Krastins, Scott and Diana McCornack, Sean and Linda Gibson, Sean Martin, Steve Huhta, Thomas C. Anderson, Thomas Gould and Virginia McCabe, Vanessa Blake, Tim Richards, Tom Caudill, Vincent Xaudaro and Coleen Thompson, Weston Spivia, William Miedema

PLANNED GIVING You Have the Power to Change Cougs’ Lives

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THE PULL HARD

SPRING 2021

WSU COUGAR CREW We know how proud you are of being a Washington State University Coug. Not only that, you’re part of a special breed of Cougs—crew alumni! Did you know that you can use your commitment to WSU to change the life of a student? After you turn 70 ½, you’re required to withdraw annually from your IRA, however, if you transfer those funds directly to the WSU Foundation, you can support the areas you care about and avoid paying income tax. When you make a gift through your will, revocable living trust, or beneficiary designation in support of WSU, you can maintain your current lifestyle and commitments while supporting the next generation of Cougs. It’s a winwin. Learn more about how you can change lives and make a tax-smart decision at the same time by visiting giftplanning.wsu.edu, calling 800-448-2978 or emailing gpoffice@wsu.edu.

cougarcrew.com

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BEHIND THE PULLHARD 24

THE PULL HARD

SPRING 2021

WSU COUGAR CREW EDITOR | DAVID HERRICK pullhard@cougarcrew.com David Herrick is the primary editor for The Pullhard, and rowed from 2010-2014. He is currently an assistant coach for the woman’s team at Oregon State.

DESIGNER & PUBLISHER | EZEKIEL NELSON zeke.nelson@outlook.com Ezekiel Nelson has been the layout and graphic designer for The Pullhard for the past two years. He started this position in his senior year as the team publisher. Recently, Zeke has received his Master’s of Architecture and now works for an architecture firm in Wyoming

TEAM PUBLISHER | JAIME TOM jaime.tom@wsu.edu Jaime Tom is third year coxswain and the current team publisher. She is from Hawaii and is pursuing her undergraduate degree in Marketing.

EDITOR EMERITUS |RICH RAY rich_ray@earthlink.net Rich “Flip” Ray (’80) values most that which can be neither bought nor sold: the friends and experiences of a lifetime; is keenly aware of the limits of reason and the destructive power of capital; writes sporadically on topics political; cultivates a proletarian optimism in the decency and wisdom of ordinary people. He lives happily with Kathleen Randall (’81) in Manhattanville, West Harlem, NYC.

cougarcrew.com

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THE

PULLHARD @WSU_CougarCrew

@wsucougarcrew

WSU Men’s Crew

cougarcrew.com