Letter to the Editor

May 9, 2011

To whom it may concern:            

The article entitled "Crew Outraced in Championships," was full of inaccuracies and errors. Corrections: As a NCAA sport, Women's Crew is a member of the West Coast Conference. The program experienced a number of podium performances at WIRAs, including first in the Varsity Women's Pair and second in the Varsity Lightweight Four. The two sentence-long description of the women's team missed the fact that the women had their third coach in as many years and just a handful of returning athletes. Also, the Men's 8+'s photo was actually an Alumni boat warming up in San Diego, not the Varsity 8+ performing at WIRAs. Such a lack of fact checking is unprofessional. I find it amusing that the one sentence coverage of the Crew program's "busy month of April, [with] five races in various California locations," is supposed to compare to weekly updates and conference standings of other SCU Varsity sports. Last year's Men's Crew WCC Championship was the first conference trophy for Santa Clara in three years, and this past article was the first TSC coverage of the sport this year. Rowers are committed for love of the sport, their team, competition and the opportunity to represent Santa Clara at the highest level. I don't expect TSC to cover Crew to the extent of other sports, but I do wish for a decent level of professional reporting and respect for student-athletes. This superficial article did neither.    

    Sincerely,    

    Chris Freeburg

    Men's Varsity Crew