Recap of Spring 2025!
This spring season was full of memories for Illini Rowing, both of perseverance through hardship and endless joy in achievement. Ever since the team returned from spring break, athletes from all parts of the team have been motivated to train hard, bond with their teammates, and give it everything they can during racing.
During the last weekend of March, the team continued our new tradition of volunteering in Farmer City as a way to give back to the community that supports us so much when we are on the water. After practice, athletes worked hard raking leaves, cleaning, and lifting heavy objects for local residents. We truly enjoyed providing help to these lovely citizens and could not be more grateful for their love to our team.
The MN8+ on the dock in Grand Rapids.
One week later, the team drove up to Grand Rapids, Michigan for our first spring regatta, Don Lubbers Cup. It was a long four hour ride from Champaign, but rowers enjoyed themselves while getting to know more of their teammates. The team arrived in Michigan and got a great night’s rest to prepare for Saturday. We want to sincerely thank Northlawn United Methodist Church in Grand Rapids for hosting our athletes on Friday night. Racing began early Saturday morning, and proved to be quite difficult. Not only was there a significant headwind, but there was also an excessive current pulling boats away from the finish. Despite the tough conditions, the Illini showed out; we fought hard and left Michigan with four medals. Our varsity women’s eight placed third, and our novice women’s eight placed first. Additionally, both our women’s novice four and our men’s varsity four went home with silver. Even our crews who didn’t medal had strong performances. Racing in a strenuous environment such as the one at Lubbers comes down to mental toughness. While the wind and current may have made the time it takes to finish the race take longer, conditions were the same for every boat in the race. Our rowers pushed through and didn’t take anything for an excuse. This mentality only grew as the season progressed…
Novice woman Lauren Cook carrying a boat at ICRI.
Just a few days later, rowers pulled their last 2K test of the year. It was filled with many PRs and led to excitement for the remaining races. We hosted our home regatta, the Illinois Collegiate Rowing Invitational that following Saturday. A great deal of preparation went into ICRI, cleaning up our site and installing lane lines on Clinton Lake, to provide the best possible circumstances for the teams we’re hosting, including those from Ohio, Kansas, and even Louisiana. Race day came quickly, and the Illini proved themselves yet again, albeit much better conditions. Women’s team president and senior Martha Abrahamson placed third in the single; our men’s novice pair and novice eight took home bronze as well. The women’s double won gold at home and our women’s novice eight and men’s varsity four continued their streak from Lubbers, leaving with first and second place, respectively. After racing concluded, the team held a small ceremony to honor our seniors and hand out graduation cords.
Seniors Jade Moranetz and Martha Abrahamson wearing their graduation cords.
The next day, the team hosted the Illinois Junior Rowing Invitational, and rowers did everything they could to make the high school and middle school teams have a safe and fun racing environment. Athletes took time out of their day to hold stake boats, drive launches, and organize parking for these young rowers and their supporters. We would also be remiss if we did not thank all the volunteers, including parents and alumni, who helped with ICRI. It’s one thing to put in the work to better our own team, but we are lucky to have a community of people who will sacrifice for other crews as well. A special thanks to ILRA Vice President and former coach, Bill Grier, for flying out from Massachusetts to help with race weekend. His work does not go unnoticed.
The team luckily got a week off from racing that next weekend, but rowers didn’t get complacent. Athletes rested up, staying on top of their schoolwork and getting in extra volume when possible to prepare for championship season. It can be easy to forget the little things that make or break a race such as stretching, sleep, hydration, nutrition, and core work, but athletes stayed focused and kept their eyes on the prize. If there’s anything we’ve learned this year, it’s that you cannot control what other teams do or don’t do; you can only control yourself, so it’s up to you whether you want to maximize your boat’s potential or not. That includes making individual sacrifices for the good of the team; we are proud of varsity and novices alike for staying committed throughout the season, bringing themselves and their teammates closer to greatness…
The Illini men’s doubles launching at MACRA.
During the last Sunday of April, we headed east to Indianapolis for the Mid American Collegiate Rowing Association Championships, or MACRA. It was our most competitive regatta so far, racing the best teams from all over the midwest. Rowers treated it no different, giving it their all just like every race before. We left Indianapolis with three bronze medals, earned by the women’s double, women’s varsity four, and women’s novice eight. Hardware was acquired by the men, too, with our men’s varsity four taking home the gold by a four second lead. MACRA was also a significant turning point for our team, as we got a taste of what competition would be like at nationals.
We then began the longest part of the season with no races, but that didn’t mean Illini Rowing wasn’t busy. About a week and a half after MACRA, we hosted our annual ergathon fundraiser on the main quad in front of Illini Union. We had such a great time erging for 24 hours, and are so thankful for the donations from our supporters. These contributions will make such an enormous impact on our rowers; financial aid is heavily appreciated in a sport such as this and we can promise it will not go to waste. The highlight of ergathon was by far our soak-a-rower event, where athletes were splashed with buckets, water guns, and balloons. It was so exhilarating to see friends and other students donate and douse our rowers with water, keeping them cool. We also held a Krispy Kreme donut sale during the first day of ergathon, and enjoyed seeing students around the quad partake in it, selling out in just a few hours.
Varsity rowers Ben Wang and Abby Obradovic rowing their ergathon shift while novice woman Angie Urban cheers them on.
We concluded the school year with our annual team banquet, where we honored our senior class and distributed awards to our athletes who showed strong leadership, work ethic, or improvement this year. Our senior legacy awards, decided by the senior class and given to novices, were handed to Sean Willuweit and Maddie Rankin. Our novice of the year awards, which were decided by our head coach, were given to Sean Willuweit and Megan Mar. On the varsity side, the Chris Marr and Amy Cade awards, which are given to the men’s and women’s varsity rowers with the strongest dedication, were earned by Tommy Moreno and Genna Peters, respectively. The Golden Skeg, which goes to our best coxswain, was awarded to Rachel Qiu, who now holds the record as a three time winner. The Dan Walsh award, which is given out to the senior who did the most to improve the team, was won by Kacey Estrella, our team fundraising chair.
This was an incredible season for all of our athletes. While accolades and hardware were abundant throughout the year, they do not define what makes a great season. It was a season of growth, resilience, and persistence for novices and varsity alike; we cannot wait to see what comes next at ACRA nationals…
The senior class after being thrown into Clinton Lake following the last Saturday practice of the year.