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Lehigh Rowing Blog with Director of Rowing Liz Meltzer

Liz Meltzer was named the Steven J. ’69 and Karen A. Lee Head Rowing Coach on August 17, 2007.  During her time at Lehigh, which also includes a two-year stint as an assistant coach, Meltzer has been responsible for a number of duties, including the planning, organization and oversight of the rowing program’s recruitment effort.  Through her efforts, the program secured commitments from 28 rowers in June of 2007, making up the first-ever Lehigh rowing recruiting class.  On the water, the Washington, D.C. native led the Lehigh freshmen women’s crew to a second place finish at the 2006 Navy Day Regatta, as well as first and second place finishes at the 2006 Frostbite Regatta and a top-ten finish at the 2007 Dad Vail Regatta.  Prior to coming to Lehigh, Meltzer served as the head coach of the American University rowing program in Washington, D.C. for three years.  Check back soon for her latest update.

A good beginning - September 16
Hello to all of my loyal readers!  Classes have begun at Lehigh (ok, they started three weeks ago, but I’ve been busy) and the Lehigh rowers are hard at work on the water, on the ergs and in the weight room.  We have a great schedule ahead of us this fall season, beginning with the Head of the Potomac on September 27 in the nation’s capital.  We will host a pair of races at the Steiner/Steinberg Boathouse in Allentown including one with Iona and Franklin & Marshall on October 3 and our annual Brown and White dual on November 7.  In addition we will once again travel to New England to compete in the Head of the Charles the weekend of October 17, while the week before, we’ll make the short trip to Philadelphia to take part in the Navy Day Regatta.

With quite a few practices under our belts I have to say I am excited about the progress our freshmen have made thus far as well as the great job our upperclassmen have done in integrating the newcomers into our team.  We had high hopes for this newest group of Mountain Hawks and they have not disappointed up to this point.  Our upperclassmen have not only done a nice job of leading our younger members this fall but it is evident they put in a good amount of work over the summer months and that makes the coaching staff happy campers.  Needless to say it hasn’t stopped the coaches from putting our team through some tough workouts….with plenty more still to come!

In addition, we’ve had a re-structuring of our teams this year and are proud to announce that Lehigh Rowing now offers two levels in which to compete – one at the varsity level and another at the novice level.  The novice level is for those who want to row but don’t have the necessary experience or desire to be a varsity rower.  Things have gone well so far with our new structure and we’re eager to build both the varsity and novice rosters as we continue to move forward.

Another dot on the radar is our upcoming Senior Day, which will take place on October 26.  You can get all of the details right here.

That’s about it for now, as always I have been doing plenty of recruiting which entails sending emails, meeting with potential prospects and coordinating official visits.  There is a lot going on within the rowing program right now.  I’ll continue to keep you updated as we head towards the opener in two weeks.

Roger That…

Coach Meltzer

TO RETURN TO THE LEHIGH COACHES BLOGS HOME, CLICK HERE.

During the summer of 2009, Coach Meltzer was afforded the opportunity to coach in the 18th Maccabiah Games, which took place in Israel and included over 9,000 Jewish athletes from over 60 countries across the world.  During her time overseas, Meltzer checked in periodically with blog updates.  Check out details from her trip below!

June 28 – Departure
Team USA left Newark International Airport for a ten-plus hour flight as we headed to Israel.  Luckily the flight wasn’t too early, which allowed me to get completely organized (even though I still felt like I was missing something!).  I had a chance to catch up on some Z’s as well as read a book or two on the flight, and before I knew it, we were touching down at Ben-Guiron Airport in Tel Aviv.  After gathering our luggage it was off to our hotel in Ramat Gan, where we quickly settled in and had our first team meeting.  While staying in Ramat Gan I stayed with the assistant coach of the women’s soccer team, Abby Richter.  Abby is an assistant coach at Kent State in Ohio and we got along great.  After unpacking and swapping coaching stories with Abby it was time to go to bed and boy did it feel great to sleep!

June 29 – Practice begins
It was evident from the very first time we hit the water that Team USA is quite talented and has a chance to do something special here at the Maccabiah Games.  However, the coaching staff knew that talent alone would not be enough to carry us; we needed to work very hard to compete with talented athletes from across the globe.  And so, two practices a day were a necessity, even in the heat.  The sun was hot, the air was thick, but it was very exciting to be working with our national team knowing we had only two short weeks before our first competition. As the equipment we were using was very different than what we tend to use in the states, it was extremely important for us to spend time in the shells before the competitions in order to make the proper adjustments and then fine tune the rigging before race day.   While at the boathouse we were introduced to a young man that would make our trip that much more enjoyable; Sar Gross is the social relations coordinator at the rowing center in Tel Aviv and from the first moment we met him, he made us feel right at home.  Thanks for everything Sar, we miss you!

July 3 – Touring time
Following a few days of practice we had a chance to tour Israel beginning today.  Our first stop was at a tank museum in Latrun.  Some quick background on Latrun; it is Israel’s official memorial site for fallen soldiers from the armored corps, as well as one of the most diverse tank museums in the world.  The cornerstone for Yad La-Shiryon (as it is officially known) was laid on December 14, 1982.  The site was created through the initiative of veteran officers of the armored corps in cooperation with the armored corps.  This was a very cool stop and quite interesting to learn the story of how this place came to be.  After our time at Latrun we headed for an archaeological site where we had a chance to go caving or spelunking, which refers to amateurs without the proper knowledge exploring caves.  And by the looks of it, we were all amateurs!  One of the young men on the United States wrestling team was a little too big to make it through the caves and got stuck, so needless to say he turned back and met the group at the end.  This was a very interesting few hours and something I’ll never forget.  I could not believe how far below the ground we were and how small some of the openings were to climb through!  Overall a great day, but I needed some sleep and so we returned to our hotel for some much needed rest.

July 6 – Jeeps, Bikes and Water Parks
More touring today.  We traveled to visit Mount Herzl, which is a hilltop and national cemetery in Jerusalem, named for Thedor Herzl, the founder of modern political Zionism. Herzl’s tomb lies at the top of the hill.  As you can imagine, not only was this a moving experience but it had incredible views that were breath-taking.  Following our visit to Mount Herzl we traveled north where we drove jeeps through Mount Gilboa.  This is a ridge above the Jezreel Valley and was nothing short of incredible.  We also went mountain biking during our stop and for awhile I thought I had found a new sport.  Unfortunately my new-found love was put to a stop when I suffered a flat tire and was forced to walk my bike back while my teammates whizzed past me with a chuckle.  Very sad!  By this time we were getting tired and a little warm as well.  So what better way to cool off than with a trip to a water park!  We headed to Kinneret or the Sea of Gallilee as westerners refer to it, and had a chance to cool off at a small water park near the Tzemah Junction.  This was a great day to wind down after a long day of touring.  Overall another fantastic day of seeing the country and spending time with my fellow United States teammates.

July 7 – Gettin’ low, low, low
After traveling through caves and dealing with a flat tire what better way to continue our trip but to head to one of the coolest places on earth – the Dead Sea.  For those of you who don’t know, the Dead Sea has the lowest elevation on the Earth’s surface – 1,385 feet below sea level.  It is also one of the world’s saltiest bodies of water with 33.7% salinity.  Because of this, you can float in the water! Very cool!  The Dead Sea is listed as one of the 1,000 places to visit in your lifetime and I can happily say I can check it off my list now!  After floating in some salty water we traveled to Masada, which is a site of ancient palaces and fortifications on top of an isolated rock plateau overlooking the Dead Sea.  More incredible views and breathtaking stories as we stood nearly 1,000 feet above the ground.  A very cool way to end our day.

July 12 – Let the rowing begin!
We opened our rowing competition today and needless to say the United States quickly established itself as THE country to beat.  Our rowers blew through the time trials and were eager for more action.  The events we entered were the men’s and women’s single sculls, the men’s and women’s double sculls, the men’s and women’s pair, and the men’s and women’s four.  Like I mentioned, we came out of the gate very strong and set ourselves up nicely for the quarterfinal and semifinal races.

July 13 – Opening Ceremony
Without question the Opening Ceremony was one of the highlights of our entire trip.  The United States had the largest delegation of athletes at the Maccabiah Games with nearly 1,000 athletes on our team.  After arriving at the National Stadium in Ramat Gan we were shuffled into the bowels of the facility where we waited for a long, long time.  It did provide an opportunity for us to mingle with athletes from other countries and when we finally received word to line up and prepare to march out I have to admit I had butterflies in my stomach.  Once we marched out of the tunnel we were greeted by nearly 30,000 screaming fans, including a very large group of followers from the United States.  It was nothing short of amazing!  After making our way to the spot we were assigned I quickly shifted my focus on locating my family in the stands.  After many long minutes of searching and attempting numerous phone calls, I finally spotted them!  It was very cool to have my brother Max next to me and look into the stands to see my family cheering for us.  I could hardly contain my excitement!  The ceremony lasted four hours (yes, four hours!) and when it was finally over I was starved and exhausted.  We were bussed back to our hotel and before I laid down to slumber I snacked on a delicious falafel.  YUM!

July 14 – Family Time
I woke up early this morning and met up with my family as we set out for Ashdod to watch my brother Max and his teammates hit the mats for some serious wrestling action.  It was great to see Max wrestle after a few years of hiatus but I must admit – I was just as nervous as ever watching him out there!  Luckily he put everyone in my family’s nerves to rest and worked his way through the bracket to a gold medal.  Not only that, but of the ten gentlemen on the United States team, nearly everyone earned a medal at some point through the Games.  Congratulations USA Wrestling!

July 15 – The rowing continues
Today was another strong day for USA Rowing as we advanced at least one boat to every single gold medal race.  Go USA!  It’s great to see how all of the team’s hard work from those two and three-a-day practices are paying off now.

July 17 – Gold medals and more gold medals
In what was the final day of the rowing competition, Team USA left its mark, winning gold in every event we entered!  In some of the races, we placed second, giving us even more medals!  I was so proud of our team and glad to see their hard work rewarded.  Tomorrow is the medal ceremony

July 18 – Sightseeing and more medals
We ventured to one of my favorite places in all of Israel today – Jerusalem.  The two-hour drive takes you back in time as you step into a land of stone buildings, beautiful places of worship and an incredible amount of history.  To think that some of the places in Jerusalem are three and four thousand years old is just awesome.  We did a little bit of shopping (of course!), had a delicious lunch and toured the Jewish quarter, Christian quarter, and Muslim quarter before making our way back to Tel Aviv.  Once there we headed to the rowing center where it was time for our team to collect their hardware.  I could not have been any more proud to see members of the American team on the medal stand, and in particular the number-one spot, for each event.  We came in with high expectations and not only met, but exceeded them.  We posed for some photos, swapped a few stories and after grabbing a bite to eat, it was time for bed.

July 21 – The tour train comes to a stop
With only a few days left before we head out we wanted our final day of touring to be a special one and it certainly was!   We headed for Jaffa, which is an ancient port city believed to be one of the oldest in the world.  How cool is that?!?  Jaffa is located south of Tel Aviv on the Mediterranean Sea and was nothing short of gorgeous.

July 22 – Netanya, here we come
Today was a busy day.  We started it off with a cab ride to Netanya, which is in the Centre District of the country and also happened to be where my brother was staying.  The rest of my family left Israel on the 19th leaving Max and me to tour the country solo.  After meeting up with my brother and some of his teammates we hit the beach for a few hours of soaking in the sun.  Following a lunch break and more sun time we traveled to watch the gold medal game in men’s basketball, played between the United States and Israel.  After many lead changes and nail biting minutes of play, the United States emerged victorious and won the gold.  If watching a wonderful hoops game wasn’t enough we then had the chance to watch some rugby!  And who better to watch play this mix of football and soccer but Australia and Great Britain!  This was definitely the first time I saw rugby as we descended upon Herzliya Stadium.  Quite a violent sport I must say, but as you might expect the American men loved it.  They must have felt like they were in their living room on a Sunday afternoon watching the NFL.  Once the game ended we made our way back to Tel Aviv for what was our last night in town.  While we were anxious to return to the United States we also knew that a trip-of-a-lifetime was quickly coming to an end.

July 23 – Closing Ceremony
In what felt like a blink of an eye we were at the Closing Ceremony.  As I took in the scene I had a chance to reminisce my near month-long trip in Israel.  The pre-camp practices where it felt like we were in the middle of an inferno it was so hot, the wonderful places we toured, the time I got to spend with my family, the incredible food that is throughout the country, the medals…and more medals that our team won, and of course the people I had the pleasure of meeting and spending time with – those on my team, the other U.S. athletes and the people of Israel, always accommodating, always very pleasant to be around, always will be remembered.  I will never forget my time spent here at the 18th Maccabiah Games and I will always remember what a wonderful experience it was.  And who knows, I may just come back for the next Games, in 2013!!

Shalom from the Holy Land,

Coach Meltzer

TO RETURN TO THE LEHIGH COACHES BLOGS HOME, CLICK HERE.

June 10 – Summer is upon us
Whew! Finally able to take some sort of a breather now that the academic year has come to a close.  But not too much relaxing because there is still plenty going on in the Lehigh Rowing world.  Let me first get you caught up on what has happened since my last entry.  We hosted the annual River Cup on April 18 as we went head-to-head with our rivals from Lafayette.  New this year we also began the awarding of the Neuweiler Plate which pits us versus Lafayette, Penn State and Franklin & Marshall.  We were able to defend our River Cup crown, but it wasn’t easy.  Lafayette’s crews continue to get faster and the Leopards put up a strong fight before we were able to hold them off and retain the Cup.  We also won the first-ever Neuweiler Plate which is something we hope to continue in the years to come.  Later that day the rowing program hosted its annual banquet.  We had a very nice evening at Saucon Valley Acres as a large number of alumni, parents and friends of the program gathered with our current team members to celebrate the achievements of the past year and also relive past times.  Always one of my favorite nights of the entire year!

In early May most of our team wrapped up its season with a trip to Philadelphia to compete in the Dad Vail Regatta.  Overall we had a solid finish to our season as three crews advanced to the semifinals and our men’s varsity 8 crew raced in the Petite Final.  I was especially happy for our women’s varsity 8 crew because they worked extremely hard throughout the spring season but did not always see their efforts rewarded on the water.  So the Dad Vail was a nice way for them to finish the season and realize their hard work did pay off in the end.

The next weekend we took our men’s varsity 8 crew to Oak Ridge, Tennessee where we competed at the ACRA National Championship.  I cannot say enough about this group of young men and their accomplishments.  We qualified for the Grand Final and finished fifth in what was an incredibly tight and very exciting race.  These young men, particularly our seniors, left a true impression on our program and we’ll never forget their accomplishments.  Folllowing the races we received wonderful news that senior Joe Loguidice was named a First-Team All-American and junior Eric Harper earned Third-Team recognition.  Read all about it here.

Congratulations Joe and Eric!

With the season now behind us, our efforts turn towards recruiting, summer camps and continuing to move forward with plans for the future of our program.  We announced our women’s recruiting class recently.  I encourage you to check out the wonderful accomplishments of the future Mountain Hawks here!

The announcement regarding our men’s class will be coming soon, so check back to Lehighsports.com… 

As for me, I’m getting set to head to Israel in a few weeks where I will be coaching the United States Rowing team in the 2009 Maccabiah Games.  This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and one that I am looking forward to.  I can’t wait to get to work on the water with our athletes.  Go U.S.A.!

While I am in Israel, my assistant coach and former Lehigh rower Denise Julian will be hard at work running our summer camp operation.  This is a wonderful opportunity for anyone in grades 7-12 to learn about the sport of rowing and see what it’s all about.  Once again this summer we’ll also be offering our Masters and Juniors camp series, which is available to anyone in grades 7-12 or 23 and older.  Learn more about our camps here.

That’s about it for now.  I have to get back to sending recruiting emails and finalizing our schedule for the 2009-10 season.  It may be the summer months but you wouldn’t know it around here! 

Auf Wiedersehen!

Coach Meltzer

TO RETURN TO THE LEHIGH COACHES BLOGS HOME, CLICK HERE.

Busy, Busy, Busy! – April 9
I was able to sneak away for a few minutes in between buying food and supplies for this weekend and taking our trailer down to New Jersey for the Knecht Cup and wanted to update you all on the latest happenings of the Lehigh Crew.

We competed at the Murphy Cup on March 28 and our men’s varsity 8 continued their strong year by winning the petite final.  We had seven crews in action that day and each one made great progress from our season opening race just two weeks earlier.

On April 4 we hosted Iona and Franklin & Marshall on the Lehigh River and what a great day for the Brown and White!  Five crews, including the women’s varsity 8, varsity 4 and freshman 8, along with the men’s varsity 8 and freshman 8 crossed the finish line first.  The wind was nothing short of ferocious, but our student-athletes simply would not let it be a factor as they maintained focus and had a very strong day of racing.  The very next day our men’s and women’s varsity 8 crews traveled to Virginia where they competed at the Occoquan Sprints.  The men won both their opening heat and final, while the women placed third in their final.

At this point of the season, I am very excited about the work our men have done; they really picked up right where they left off last season.  Our women have been able to apply many of the things we’re doing in practice and have improved tremendously throughout the season; I think I speak for everyone on the women’s team when I say we’re ready to see the hard work pay off with improved results on race day.

This coming weekend we head to the Knecht Cup which as many of you know will be a VERY competitive field on both the men’s and women’s sides.  I know our student-athletes are very excited about the weekend and I am equally excited to see what we can do in New Jersey.

Once the Knecht Cup is over, we host our annual Junior Day on Monday, April 13.  This is a great opportunity for potential future Mountain Hawks to come to campus and learn more about not only the rowing program, but everything that this wonderful University has to offer.  For more information on the entire day, click here.

If the Knecht Cup and Junior Day aren’t enough to get your Lehigh Rowing fill, fear not!  We host one of my favorite events of the entire year on Saturday, April 18 and that is the River Cup.  This is when we go head-to-head versus our archrival Lafayette and see if we can retain the River Cup for one more year.  The racing gets underway at 9:00 AM at the Steiner/Steinberg Boathouse and is sure to attract a great crowd, including many of our former rowers who will have a chance to compete in Alumni 8’s.  Very exciting!

Our alumni then head back to their hotels and get cleaned up for our banquet that same evening.  This is another wonderful opportunity for our alumni to interact with not only our current student-athletes and coaches, but also the families of our student-athletes.  We take time that night to look back on the past year, recognize achievement and of course, have some fun.  We have quite a large number of people signed up and ready for the banquet, but in case you have not signed up yet, or need to sign up a few other people, you can do it right here.

Wow, lots and lots going on right now and more is sure to come.  I need to get back to loading the trailer and then heading to the Garden State.  I’ll be in touch soon to give a recap of all of these events.

And…I’m out

Coach Meltzer

TO RETURN TO THE LEHIGH COACHES BLOGS HOME, CLICK HERE.

The Mountain Hawk express is off and running in the 2009 season! – March 17
Following a great showing at the South Mountain Erg Sprints, we worked our way into two-a-days over Spring Break. While the majority of the Lehigh student body hit the beaches of Cancun, we braved the frigid temperatures and blizzard-like conditions to get some good water time in on the beaches of Allentown, Pa. We lost a couple of practices due to ice-chunks in the river, but all in all we got a great week of training in on the water and off.

We didn’t waste too much time, jumping right into racing down in Philadelphia against St. Joseph’s, Drexel, Delaware, and La Salle, some of the fastest crews on the east coast year in and year out. Because it was so early in the season, our crews raced fairly conservatively, really trying to feel out what our strengths would be over the course of the season. The Varsity 8 rowed an intelligent and smooth race, settling into a comfortable, powerful base cadence. We distanced ourselves from La Salle early, and stayed level with Drexel for the first 1000 meters. St. Joseph’s and Delaware were very clean and sharp, rowing a bit higher than we could manage this early in the season. As we continued to push away from La Salle in the third 500, Drexel inched away from us, breaking open water in the last 500. We crossed the line in 4th of 5 crews. With such stiff competition early in the season, we now have a much better sense of where we are at and what sort of speed is out there. With a few more weeks of training and refining our race plan, we’ll be excited to knock heads with these crews again in the coming weeks.

The JV8 had a solid race as well. This is a very young crew, the youngest we’ve ever boated in a JV8. This year’s crew has no seniors, one junior, four sophomores and four freshmen, so we are pretty excited for the future. They certainly had their work cut out for them, but they held their own. We expect the JV8 to pick up quite a bit of speed over the course of the season.

The Freshmen 8 did a nice job as well. St. Joseph’s and Delaware again proved to be a bit too quick at this point in the season, but our little 2012’s dueled Drexel like seasoned veterans. They fell behind early, but stayed poised and controlled, sticking to their race plan. They pulled even at the halfway point, and slowly broke contact with Drexel in the 3rd 500. They finished 3rd of 6 crews, ahead of Drexel, La Salle, and Delaware’s B boat.

The race of the day was the Men’s V8. In a battle of two of the top teams in the Dad Vail league, the Lehigh-Drexel bout was everything the crowd hoped it would be. Drexel inched out early to about a three-quarter length lead at the 600 meter mark. The Mountain Hawks stayed focused and controlled, withstanding several attempts by a powerful Drexel crew to break open water. Lehigh slowly reeled in the Dragons, making a pass in the 3rd 500, finishing with a well-earned one-half length victory.

We’ve got a few weeks off before we make our way down to the Schuylkill again for the Murphy Cup at the end of March. We hope to see you all there!

Over and out,
Coach Meltzer

TO RETURN TO THE LEHIGH COACHES BLOGS HOME, CLICK HERE.

Winter Training Kicks into High Gear - January 21
Hello to everyone out there!  Greetings from snowy Bethlehem!

I recapped our winter training trip last time, and now I'd like to get you caught up on end of our fall season, as well as some upcoming events.  We had a wonderful time on our trip up to Boston for the Head of the Charles in October.  Not only did our team perform well, but we had the chance to christen several new boats, as well as spend quality time with friends, families and alumni along the banks of the river throughout the weekend.  We then had a very strong finish to our fall season, which included a pair of first place finishes at the Frostbite Regatta in November by our women’s varsity 8 crew and women’s freshman/novice 8 crew.

Following that race we turned our attention towards winter training.  This is a very tough phase of training for our student-athletes and coaches because we are forced indoors for an extended period of time.  Being outside in the sun on the water seems like it’s so far away right now, but this is a critical time for our program.  This is where we begin to build our strength, increase our stamina and build overall team chemistry and as coaches we demand a lot from our student-athletes.  Our winter training kicked into high gear right as the calendar turned to 2009 as the Lehigh Mountain Hawks headed to Austin, Texas for one week.  What a great trip we had (you can read all about it in my blog posting below). 

We’re now back on campus and the students have begun the second semester of classes, which means everyone is busy-busy with reading, quizzes, papers, you name it.  In addition, we have our morning workouts every day which consist of lots and lots of time on the erg machines as well as some strength training mixed in.  We’ll hold our annual South Mountain Erg Sprints on February 28 with our first official race slated for March 14.

In other news, yours truly was recently named as an Assistant Coach for the Maccabi USA Rowing Team for the upcoming Maccabiah Games, scheduled for this summer in Israel.  Read all about it here.

That’s about it for now.  I am getting ready to head out to one of our Team Building Meetings, which is a new initiative we began this year and one that has yielded positive results.  I’ll check back soon for my latest update.

Go forth and prosper,
Coach Meltzer

TO RETURN TO THE LEHIGH COACHES BLOGS HOME, CLICK HERE.

Austin, Texas; The Maiden Voyage – January 12
I’d say Austin, Texas is the best kept secret in the country for winter training venues, but row2k.com kind of blew up our spot by posting a poll last week, asking the rowing world what its destination of choice is for winter training. Aside from “my erg room,” Austin was the overwhelming favorite. It seems that Tampa has been dethroned, and the word is out on Austin.

We gathered as a team on New Years Day, and we headed out early the next morning for beautiful Newark, N.J. We traveled as a squad by plane, with only a few stragglers meeting up with us in Austin. A total of 65 rowers, men and women, in addition to the coaching staff made the trip south. The traveling went smoothly, and we arrived safely at the Holiday Inn on Town Lake, just a mile or so from downtown Austin. Everyone in Austin is amazingly friendly and hospitable. They made us feel right at home for the entire trip.

In addition to the current coaching staff, Christine Porcaro ’08 and Denise Julian ‘07, two formers Lehigh captains, also joined the staff to help coach. Their assistance was infinitely helpful, particularly in designing and running land workouts for the women’s crews between water practices.

Texas weather, for lack of a better term, is slightly bipolar this time of year. We had days when it was 75 degrees and sunny, followed by days when it was 30 degrees and rainy. Save for two ugly morning rows, the weather cooperated for the most part. The last few days were about as good as it gets; mid 70’s, sunny and dry.

Needless to say, I am sold on Texas, and it’s definitely a destination I plan to take the team to again for years to come. We got so much accomplished down there, on the water and off. The ladies worked in even boats for the most part, really knocking heads twice a day on the water. We were able to experiment a lot with different lineups and see what pairs were clicking together. By the end of the week, everyone looked very strong and fit. Even our walk-ons who started back in September looked like they had been rowing for years.

The men’s crews continue to follow up their historic 2008 season by attacking 2009 with even more tenacity and determination to prove that it wasn’t a fluke. They’ve fought through some tough injuries to a few key athletes, but they nevertheless are moving well. There is a quite a bit of depth, more so than years past, so the competition for seats is really fueling everyone right now. Once they get back to full strength, they should come out of the blocks pretty fast this spring.

One of the more fun parts of being in Austin in early January was the fortunate coincidence of being outside the University of Texas when UT defeated Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl. Boy do those Texans take their football seriously! Other than that, trip highlights included the team dinner at Spaghetti Warehouse, another gracious host. Our men’s coxswain, Jack Muskett ’10, caught perhaps the single biggest crab I have ever seen when we let him row for 10 strokes. The women’s crews completed Coach Porcaro’s and Coach Julian’s 50 minute odd-job relay race, which incidentally turned out to be the hardest workout on the trip. Also, as a team bonding exercise, all 65 rowers braved warm temperatures for an epic 8.5 mile run up a local mountain on the last day of the trip. We gathered at the mountain summit, met by Mr. and Mrs. Bird, parents of Carolyn Bird ’11, who graciously photographed the whole squad with the entire city of Austin as the backdrop. Though challenging, it was a great way to end the trip.

That’s about all for now. Spring can’t come soon enough!

Godspeed and boat speed,

Coach Meltzer

TO RETURN TO THE LEHIGH COACHES BLOGS HOME, CLICK HERE.

Boston, here we come! - October 14
Wow! October in Lehigh Rowing is your life on fast-forward! Each week gets bigger than the last! We spent a few weeks in a fours “matrix,” seat racing nearly every day. The benefits that we have seen from the intense competition on a daily basis have been very visible to the coaching staff; the ladies are fitter, stronger, and more aggressive than we’ve ever seen. We began to see the payoff of all the hard work
when Franklin and Marshall and Loyola made the trip up to race us two weeks ago at the first annual Head of the Lehigh Regatta. The squad looked very sharp despite being fatigued, and all crews were able to put together very nice races, pulling out victories in all three women’s events.

The Navy Day Regatta was our first chance to showcase our speed on a national scene, competing against some of the stiffest competition in the country. The weather cooperated, providing sunny skies and beautiful water for ideal racing conditions. Lehigh was strong across the board, highlighted by top-five finishes in both the Women’s Dad Vail 8 event and the Women’s Novice 8 event. In addition, the men were able to avenge the previous week’s loss to Loyola, making up over 45 seconds from the week before, suggesting that Lehigh is definitely picking up speed on the rest of the country from week to week.

This weekend’s Head of the Charles, the pinnacle of the fall racing season, is one of the most exciting races of the year, and the unofficial championship for head racing season. Our women and men will both be competing in the Club 8 event, the men in the Collegiate 8 event, and Lehigh will also have an entry in the Women’s Varsity Lightweight event. There will be lots of fun on and off the water all weekend, including the christening of three new shells. More information on the weekend’s agenda can be found at Lehighsports.com

Coach Jason Moorehead and Coach Phil Bresnahan ‘08 are very optimistic to build on last year’s finish in the Collegiate 8 event, and the men are shooting for a top-ten finish this year. The men have looked sharp all week in practice, and a new rig for the weekend can hopefully put the men over the top to reach their goal. Coach Jackie Valero, Coach Andrew Schneider, and I believe that both of our crews have the potential to finish in the top five in their respective events, with the medal stand being a feasible goal. We hope that friends and alums of Lehigh can make it to the banks of the Charles to support us! It should be a great weekend of racing!

Peace be the journey,
Coach Meltzer

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Let the rowing begin – September 5
Two weeks of classes down, it sure has gone fast!  The Lehigh Rowing program is hard at work with our eyes on our first race, set for Sunday, September 21 in our nation’s capital at the Head of the Potomac.  These first two weeks with all of our student-athletes back on campus have been filled with administrative meetings, including our informational meeting which was a huge success and led to a large number of walk-ons who have joined us at practice, as well as conditioning sessions and of course time spent on the water.  With less than two weeks until the first race, time is of the essence as we want to have a strong showing down in D.C.

Some of the other things that I have been involved with are getting prepared for our annual Senior Day and official visits (many of which are in the coming weeks), as well as securing bids to our biggest event of the fall season, the Head of the Charles Regatta.  It’s always a special event to head up to Boston in mid-October and take part in one of our sport’s most prestigious events and to not only see, but compete against top crews from across the world.  I know our student-athletes are looking forward to our weekend on the Charles!

In my last blog, I had mentioned that we were getting very close to announcing my first assistant coach.  If you haven’t heard by now, the successful candidate was Mr. Andrew Schneider.  Andy comes to Lehigh from Kent School in Connecticut where he not only coached rowing (in addition to several other sports), but he was also an English teacher and the Assistant Director of Admissions.  Andy has done a wonderful job in his short time here in Bethlehem and I’m very confident that he is going to be a huge asset to our program with his background in rowing and as an educator.

That’s all for now, I have to head down to our boathouse for practice, but keep checking back to Lehighsports.com for my next entry.  Talk to you soon...

Coach Meltzer

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Summer Fun - July 16
Greetings from summer camp!  It’s been a long while (too long IMO) since my last entry so I’ll do my best to update you on the latest happenings from the Lehigh Rowing program.  We had a strong finish to our season with our women’s lightweight eight earning a spot in the Grand Final of the Dad Vail Regatta, and the men’s varsity eight competing in the Grand Final at Dad Vails for the first time ever.  We then sent a pair of crews to the IRA Regatta in Camden, New Jersey, including Phil Bresnahan and Sam Anderson in a pair, and Phil Snyder, Dan Rogers, Joe Loguidice, Eric Harper and Jack Muskett in our varsity four.  All seven rowers did a great job in capping a historic season for our men’s program, as the pair earned a spot in the Grand Final with an open water victory in the semifinals, and the four competing in the Petite Final, finishing only three seconds out of a top-three finish.  It was a great weekend and sent all of us into the summer anxious to get back on the water!

The last several weeks I have been hitting the recruiting trail hard, sending emails to potential student-athletes, making LOTS of phone calls and heading out to see a few races.  Look for me this Sunday, July 20 at Club Nationals in Camden, New Jersey.  Come say hi and learn more about Lehigh Rowing at the college fair!

In addition to recruiting, our head men’s coach Jason Moorehead and I have been running summer camp for children in grades 7 through 12 in addition to our Masters and Juniors program (for more information on this program, click here).  It’s been lots of fun to see our campers come together on the water and learn more and more about the sport of rowing each day we’re out there.  Day camp runs until July 25, while our Juniors and Masters program doesn’t wrap up until the end of August.

One other very important item of note that has consumed my time this summer was hiring my first assistant coach.  We had an exceptional pool of candidates to choose from to go along with a rigorous interview process and I’m extremely excited about our selection.  Who is it???  You’ll have to check back to Lehighsports.com in the coming weeks for the official announcement!

As you can see it’s been a busy couple of months for the Lehigh Rowing program, but well worth it.  That’s all for now, more soon…(I promise)

Coach Meltzer

TO RETURN TO THE LEHIGH COACHES BLOGS HOME, CLICK HERE.

Heading West – April 1
San Diego here we come! I’ve been keeping this in my mind all day as it has been very dreary here this week. The rain hasn’t diminished the beauty of the campus nor our student-athletes motivation to train. Just the amount of dry clothes I have to wear to practice!

However, this was not a factor this morning as the women’s team headed indoors with world-renowned, Lehigh Head Wrestling Coach Greg Strobel for a workout on the mats. Coach Strobel and I had been conversing about aggression and individual accountability and he offered to help the ladies out. I was unsure as to what their reaction would be but as soon as sophomores Sara Bittner and Adrienne Smith walked in the room wearing their uni's, I knew we were ready to rock. A great workout ensued with even some of the more timid student-athletes leaving the mat with a headlock, a single leg and double leg takedown all in their pockets for future use!

We had a long and successful day at the Murphy Cup where eight out of nine of our entered crews competed in their respective grand or petite finals and we debuted our new uniforms. I guess they went over well as an older gentleman asked the women’s varsity eight if they were “fashion models”.

We were able to see a lot of our Patriot League rivals and get a taste of their speed. Man oh man, our league is fast this year! We have some work to do but it’s still early in the season and like I said before, we have a plan and the right people in place so I’m excited to stay the course.

Keep your eye out for Lehigh this week at the San Diego Crew Classic. If you’re confused about who we are, just look for the “fashion models” in brown and white and the coach with a killer pair of sunglasses on.

Godspeed
Coach Meltzer

TO RETURN TO THE LEHIGH COACHES BLOGS HOME, CLICK HERE.

Busy, Busy, Busy - March 20
In my opinion, there is never a dull moment in the Rowing World and the Lehigh Crew is a perfect testament to that. After our Annual Banquet that was held on March 1st, we hit the water and we hit it hard! With our spring break training and season opener behind us (and a few competitors by the way), we have turned our attention to our preparation for the Murphy Cup that will be held on March 29th in Philadelphia.

I am really looking forward to seeing our crews compete in our first open regatta of the season.  We will be competing in the Women’s Varsity 8, 2nd Varsity 8, Lightweight 8, Varsity 4, Freshman 4 and the pair in addition to the Men’s Varsity 8,  2nd Varsity 8, Varsity 4 (A and B), pair, and the Freshman 8 (A and B).

I know the gentlemen are feeling high in spirits after their wins over Drexel in the Varsity 8 and the Men’s Freshman 8 and close second place finish in the 2nd Varsity 8 and hungry for more wins.  I’m looking forward to seeing a true indication of our women’s Varsity 8’s speed and hoping for my other crews to continue their success!

It’s my birthday tomorrow so I’m off to a fantastic birthday dinner. I have to run now as I still need to be in bed at a reasonable time to ensure that I bring my A game to practice bright and early tomorrow!

Keep your game tight…

Coach Meltzer

TO RETURN TO THE LEHIGH COACHES BLOGS HOME, CLICK HERE.

My first entry - March 5
I apologize for not having gotten my initial entry out sooner, but things have been so busy, on and off the water!  There is so much going on right now within the Lehigh rowing program, but I am happy to say that I have officially joined the ranks of (current Lehigh freshman rower) Jen Lance and (renowned fashion consultant) Tim Gunn as official bloggers!

Anyway, this past weekend we held our annual rowing banquet atop Iacocca Hall on the Mountaintop Campus.  Over 250 alums, parents, coaches and of course current student-athletes attended, as well as former Lehigh head coach Paul Savell in what was an enjoyable and memorable evening for all.  It took a tremendous amount of work on everyone's part from the coaches to the parents to the student-athletes to pull it off, but I can say without hesitation that the event went off without a hitch.

This past Monday we hit the water for the first time in the Lehigh Valley since November and with the help of Mother Nature (for the most part) have enjoyed clear skies and fairly mild temperatures.  Everyone is working extremely hard with an eye on this weekend's spring season opener versus St. Joe's, Delaware and of course Coach Savell's Drexel Dragons.  It promises to be a fun day of rowing along the Schuylkill River this Saturday, so if you're in the area, feel free to stop by.  That's all for now, I have to get back to planning our workout for tomorrow.  More soon....

Liz Meltzer

TO RETURN TO THE LEHIGH COACHES BLOGS HOME, CLICK HERE.