The UST Crew Team captured three gold and two silver medals Saturday, Sept. 26, at the Head of the Des Moines Regatta.
The men’s collegiate four: Dima Koshevy, Brandon Deml, Kyle Smisek, Sean Kern and Gina Dolski, opened up the action with a strong second-place finish to the University of Minnesota.
Koshevy next entered the men’s collegiate single event where he took the gold. Not far behind was Martim Quayat, who took the silver and secured a UST 1-2 finish in the event.
Smisek and Deml teamed up in the men’s collegiate pairs race and blasted the field by almost a minute to take home the second gold of the day for the team. Freshmen Eric Rudd and Kern also rowed the event to an impressive fourth-place finish, coming in only 14 seconds behind Iowa and Minnesota.
In the men’s collegiate double, Koshevy and Smisek stormed the course to capture yet another gold medal while Rudd and Quayat came in a strong fourth in the club event.
The women’s team submitted an entry into the women’s collegiate eight: Kylie Gayan, Catherine Portmann, Kristi Kruppiak, Breanna Renteria, Alyssa Glawe, Maya Brandl, Gina Foschi, Pamela Dentz and Kristen Lee, and competed with other women’s varsity programs.
Gayan and Portmann made an impressive run in the women’s collegiate pair race. Also racing strong in this entry were Kruppiak and Foschi, as well as Brandl and Dentz.
After the pairs competition, the final race was the women’s collegiate four: Gayan, Renteria, Liz Polacheck, Glawe and Lee. The women’s team shone in each entry against competitive schools with varsity programs.
By winning every collegiate small boat event and coming in second in the collegiate four, the UST men are off to a great start this fall. The women promise to be a team to reckon with among varsity teams. They’ll face off again for a rematch Sunday, Oct. 4, at the Head of the Mississippi in Minneapolis.
