ACRA National Championships

Purdue Crew culminated its spring season this year at what's become the largest collegiate regatta in the nation, the ACRA National Championships in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The team makes ACRAs its clear priority from the very beginning of the year with athletes committing to train on campus for an additional two weeks after finals are finished. With nothing to do but row, eat, and sleep (with some video games and tv binge-watching thrown in for good measure) it's a wonderfully simplistic time to bond with your teammates and enjoy rowing without the stresses of the school year.

After the hard two weeks of post school training, the trip down south to nationals began inauspiciously enough this year, when the team's two charter busses got stuck on a highway in Tennessee that became shutdown for five hours. To make matters worse, one of the busses' air conditioning broke while stuck in the sweltering 90+ degree heat, and after sweating through shirts and emptying all water bottles scattered throughout both busses, the highway finally opened up and traffic got moving once again and a few hours later, 100 stir-crazy athletes arrived at the race course only to find it had just closed to pre-race practices due to some incoming inclement weather.  Needless to say it wasn't the start to the weekend the team had been planning for.

But as we remind each other of on the team time and time again- you can't always control the circumstances, only how you respond to them... so after a nice dinner, hotel check-in, showers, boat meetings, and a good night's rest, all was soon right with the world again, and the team returned to the race course the following morning to spar off against our rivals from around the country including UCLA, Michigan, Grand Valley, Virginia, Bowdoin, and others. After a great weekend of racing and solid results, the team fell just short of its goal of repeating as team national champions, finishing third place among the seventy-four teams racing. Throughout the weekend it became clear to all rowers and coaches in attendance that the competitiveness, and level of club rowing in the US is higher than it has ever been, and though we didn't achieve our season-long goal of repeating as team national champions, the young Purdue team laid a good groundwork to build on for next year, when the work to bring the trophies back home begins again. Boiler Up and Hammer Down.

Mentors Wanted

After a successful first year of our Mentor Crew, we're looking for crew alumni interested in volunteering to act as a mentor to a few crew members this upcoming year. Please email Coach Walker with any questions or to volunteer. 

Purdue Crew Reunion October 27-29, 2023

Please consider joining our coaches, current team exec board student-athletes, and fellow alumni (including Kevin and Barb Sauer and others!) by RSVPing to our fall reunion this October 27-29th. Encourage your teammates to attend as well! The tentative itinerary is published on our alumni page

HOCR Alumni Entries - Rowers Wanted

Purdue Crew alumna Natalie Jennings has done great work in coordinating Purdue Crew alumni entries to Masters Nationals in Indy this month, and to the Head of the Charles in Boston October 20-22nd. While Masters Nationals entries are closed, please email Natalie and fill out this survey if you're interested in possibly racing with alumni at the Head of the Charles! Thanks, and great work Natalie.

Missing Hovde Award Winners, Team Presidents

The team is currently trying to fill in the missing info gap on a few years of Hovde Award Winners and Purdue Crew team Presidents. Please email Coach Walker with any details on winners for the following years:

Team Presidents: 1951-1957, 1961-1969

Hovde Award Winners: 1958/59, 1976/77, 1978/79, 1982/83

This past month Purdue Crew welcomed 35 high school athletes from around the country to Purdue's campus for our inaugural Purdue Crew High School Rowing Summer Camp. Designed for experienced rowers and coxswains alike, the camp gave high schoolers an opportunity to taste a little bit of the Purdue student-athlete experience through five days spent sleeping at Harrison Hall Dormitory, eating at campus dining halls, and practicing under Purdue Crew coaches. 

Notable highlights of the week included the nutrition talk given by Purdue Clinical Assistant Professor in Nutrition Science Rachel Clark ('98). Other highlights included the college rowing and recruitment chat given by Coach Walker, the weight-lifting chat and form analysis provided by Coach Alicia, the form analysis videos taken by Coaches Mitchell and Alicia, and of course, the highlight of highlights, the fountain runs and general shenanigans overseen and often prompted by the camp's four crew counselors away from practices- Emily Slade ('26), Sophie Shabaz ('25)), Ian Jenkins ('24), and Logan Busch ('24).

Thanks to our counselors and staff (and campers!) the camp was a great success, and we look forward to providing an even better camp experience next year!

• Fall 2023 Purdue Crew Reunion October 27-29 in West Lafayette, IN
  • RSVP to the Reunion Here
  • See which of your teammates have RSVP'd so far here
  • Tentative Fall Reunion Itinerary 
• Fall 2023 Races
  • Milwaukee River Challenge September 16 in Milwaukee, WI
    
  • Head of the Rock October 8 in Rockford, IL
  • Head of the Charles October 20-22 in Boston, MA
  • Bald Eagle Collegiate Invitational November 5 in Indianapolis, IN

• West Lafayette Community Learn-to-Row Events (all ages!) TBD