Published: April 16, 2009 11:05 pm      

COLLEGE ROWING: NT grad picks up oar in college, finds success

AMHERST — Britt Marshall had never rowed a boat before. Not even at summer camp. She competed in basketball, swimming and track and field at North Tonawanda High School, and came to the University at Buffalo two-and-a-half years ago to study biology.

At the suggestion of her lab partner, Marshall determined she could fit 5:30 a.m. practices into her first-semester schedule, and joined the UB rowing team.

“I missed playing sports in high school so I thought I’d give it a try,” said Marshall, whose father, Dale, is the NT city engineer. “And I loved it.”

As a beginner, Marshall was cast as a novice, with the other walk-ons, training with the rest of the team but racing in a different boat from the varsity crew on scholarship.

But rowing is perhaps the only Division I sport that can turn a raw athlete into an Olympic-caliber performer after four years of college training, according to UB coach Rudy Wieler ,who guided the Canadian Women’s National team to a silver medal in 1984.

By the end of her sophomore year, Marshall had joined the Varsity Four boat roster, and this year she’s the all-important coxswain for the Varsity Eight boat, along with another former novice, Tara Rudkowski, Westside Rowing Club alumnae (Sasha Bailey and Caitlin Streicher), two products of the rich rowing culture of Niagara Falls, Ontario, (Melina DiCosimo and Lauren Sexton) and three other recruited athletes (Sam Masucci, Ashley Hanhurst and Bridgette Yannes).

“She’s evolved nicely,” Wieler said of Marshall. “She joined the varsity team behind two seniors. As the third coxswain, she took her lumps, worked hard and was attentive. This year, we recruited some girls that had some experience, but so far, she’s come out on top.

“I think it’s a credit to her passion, and I think it’s a demonstration of maturity.”

At last weekend’s Knecht Cup — a mid-major measuring stick race, according to Wieler — the Varsity Eight boat won both semifinal heats as well as the Grand Final, and posted the two fastest times in the field of 18.

Marshall and her crew won the Grand Final by a full boat length, which she said is “very rare.”

“We just proved we are at the top of the heap of mid-majors,” Wieler said. “When I got here eight years ago, there were 83 or 84 teams (nationally), and we were probably 81st. Now I think we’re top 25. We beat Duke this year. We should’ve beat Indiana except we had four kids on the varsity who got sick. We raced well against Louisville.”

And this weekend, UB will test itself against another top-ranked program, Northeastern, at the Colonial Athletic Association championships in Philadelphia. The Bulls joined the CAA as an associate member this spring.

Rowing, like football, currently doesn’t award automatic qualifiers to the NCAA tournament for winning a conference championship. But Wieler said he expects that to change over the next couple years.

Britt Marshall might miss out on that chance. But she could race vicariously through her younger sister, Emily, whom she recruited onto the team last year. Or perhaps, one of the like-minded girls she encourages to take up the sport.

“I believe West Side is a very good program for young women, if they are interested,” she said. “And if you played sports in high school and you go to UB, take a look at the rowing team. If you are determined enough to get up and go to practice every day and work hard, you will do well.”