Crew Is Big Tradition at Berkeley, and We’re Not Talking the College

Make no mistake about the reason Andrew Mains decided to try crew.

“Berkeley has a really unsuccessful football team and a pretty bad basketball team,” Mains said Friday at the San Diego Crew Classic. “The crew is sponsored mainly by the parents and rowers, and it’s a winning team. That’s how I got interested in it. I came out and loved it immediately, and I got in great shape.”

Mains is not rowing for the University of California at Berkeley in the Crew Classic, which began Friday and continues today at Mission Bay and features more than 80 clubs, colleges and universities. He’s rowing for Berkeley High School. As in the Berkeley High School varsity crew, one of the only high school crews in the country.

“The San Diego Crew Classic is definitely the highlight of the season for us,” said Mains, a senior and second-year rower. “It’s something we always look forward to. There are only two regattas for us (sanctioned) by the U.S. Rowing Assn.”

There are about 10 junior (high school-age) entries in the Crew Classic, but Berkeley, is the only varsity high school crew; it has fielded one for 10 years. The rest are clubs.

Friday, Berkeley finished second (6:38.82 for 2,000 meters) in a preliminary heat of the men’s junior eight and will row in today’s final at 10:35 a.m.

About 4,000 students are enrolled at Berkeley, and the boys’ and girls’ crews each have about 30 rowers on their rosters.

“Because of the poor records of other sports teams, the top athletes go out for crew,” Mains said. “It’s pretty prestigious. Also, it’s such a rare opportunity to have crew in a public high school that people are interested in it. We easily get as much attention as the varsity football team.”

The San Diego Crew Classic is the first regatta of the year for Berkeley, which schedules about six dual meets and three or four regattas a year.

Twins John and Bill Cooper are one reason the Berkeley crew is a winner. The Coopers have been good enough to row on the U.S. Junior National team for the past two years. Both Coopers started rowing their freshmen year in high school.

To see development such as that of the Coopers is why Steve Markey, 28, enjoys coaching.

“It’s really rewarding for me,” Markey said. “It’s great to take someone who doesn’t know anything about a sport and take them to the level to where they can compete against others.”

But Markey said his favorite aspect of high school crew is that it helps students get into college.

“We had three guys last year who didn’t get into Cal at first, but the Cal crew coaches helped, and now they’re rowing for Cal. This year, we’ve already had four rowers accepted to Harvard.”

Berkeley starts practice Oct. 1. The crew is on the water every day before school from 6:30 until about 8:10, and on Saturdays from 8:30 until 10:30. During racing season, Berkeley practices on some Sundays. The crew also runs and lifts weights every day after school.

“We work out about five hours a day, roughly,” Mains said. “I wake up about 5:30 a.m. and don’t get home until about 6 or 6:30.”

Which is another reason the San Diego Crew Classic is a highlight for the Berkeley High School team. It gives them a break from the daily routine, and...

“The girls walking around in bikinis,” Mains said. “It’s exciting coming down to San Diego. Plus, Saturday night there’s always a big party after the races.”

Normally, with early morning practices, the Berkeley crew is unable to attend many parties.

“This will probably be the first time ever we will stay up until 2 a.m. to turn our clocks back,” senior Ben Glass said.

Notes

The oldest walking monument at the Crew Classic, once again, was 90-year-old Del Beekley. He has attended every Crew Classic and is a San Diego area rowing legend. He still works as a rigger a couple of days a week at the San Diego Rowing Club, and his name is getting around. The SDRC has a boat named for him, the H. Del Beekley, and the Mission Bay Aquatic Center named its rowing center after him. “The Crew Classic is getting better and better each year,” Beekley said. “More crews are coming from back east, and more people are attending it.” . . .

T-shirt of the day: A white shirt with black lettering reading “Row Naked--Any Time, Any Place, Any Seat.” It was selling at concession stands. . . . Author George Plimpton is the grand marshal of this year’s Crew Classic, and he teamed with San Diego State alumni rower George Oliver to defeat Channel 8’s Jim Laslavic and Oxford University rower Terry Dillon in a celebrity race to kick off the Classic Friday morning. Plimpton’s boat won by about 10 lengths. . . . Notre Dame is in the Classic for the first time. . . . The men’s Cal Cup final was moved to 9 a.m. Saturday because of the late addition of the Cal-Visitor Challenge, which will be raced at 2:30 p.m. The Cal-Visitor Challenge will pit the top crews from California against those from other areas. . . . The women’s Cal Cup is at 2:15 p.m., the Whittier Cup (women’s varsity eight championship) is at 3 p.m. and the Copley Cup (men’s varsity eight championship) is at 3:15. Racing begins this morning at 6:30, and admission is $2. A crowd of about 30,000 is expected.