Alumni Bulletin - Fall 2007 - (Page 14)

SPORTS women’s crew “We searched for a person who was an educator at the core with strong personal values,” Sterrett says. “Secondly, he or she had to understand and embrace Lehigh. Third, we required technical expertise, experience, and passion for the sport.” The search confirmed Sterrett’s suspicion that Meltzer fit these requirements perfectly. “Liz is a passionate, enthusiastic, and positive person. Also she’s intelligent, which allows her to be very organized, a quality that is very important in a sport with multiple levels of coaching.” The athletes respect Meltzer, says Jim Quigley ’08, who Meltzer coached when he rowed on the junior varsity boat. “Coach Meltzer does everything she can to make her team go faster,” says the electrical engineer. “She wants to help her athletes, and she does.” After her appointment, Meltzer named Jason Moorehead, a social studies teacher at Francis D. Raub Middle School in Allentown, as head men’s coach. Although not ofﬁcially a varsity team, the men’s team races against other Patriot League schools including Harvard, Yale, and Navy. The dedication of both the men’s and women’s teams extends to their class performance. Rowing is one of Lehigh’s largest sports programs—110 students participated this year—yet they hold one of the highest aggregate team GPAs in the athletic department. Rowing itself is an education, says Meltzer, who believes crew teaches dedication, balance, and hard work. Lightweight rower Kristen Bierbauer ’08 agrees: “I depend on everyone else being there, and they depend on me,” she says. Through four years of a.m. crew practice, the occasionally tardy first-year student has become a punctual senior. At 8 a.m., the indigo blue sky brightens, and ducks paddle in the Lehigh River instead of students. The rowing team re-racks their boats and returns to campus. Some rowers will devour a hearty breakfast, and others will nap until class. A few will cram for exams held later that day. But tomorrow, they will all share another sunrise on the river. “We live in a different world every morning,” Meltzer says. “It’s the magical world of rowing.”—Becky Straw PHOTO BY DOUGLAS BENEDICT THE MAGICAL WORLD OF ROWING The predawn light reveals the silhouettes of three rowboats with eight oars, protruding like spider legs. As Liz Meltzer maneuvers her motorboat alongside the rowing shells, she encourages the 27 women rowing. “That was good,” says Meltzer, the newly appointed Steven J. ’69 and Karen A. Lee Head Rowing Coach. “Let’s race to the ﬂagpole.” “Lee Family, go!” Meltzer says. At the coxswain’s call, her crew of novice rowers raises their oars parallel to the water. “Ready all. Row.” The oars slice the water, propelling the Lee Family boat forward. of 22 experienced rowers—the most ever— partly due to Meltzer’s increased recruitment efforts. Although the team still welcomes novices. “I love walk-ons,” Meltzer says. “I was a walk-on.” Meltzer began rowing as an undergraduate at Johns Hopkins University and then coached at American University until 2005, when Paul Meltzer believes crew teaches dedication, balance, and hard work. Meltzer then orders the Grace Castle, a dark boat powered by long, lean women, the lightweight rowers, to chase Lee Family. Finally, varsity racers in the Fantastic Flying Fiona spring into action and eventually overtake Grace Castle and Lee Family. Historically, rowers take up crew in college, but this year’s team is comprised 14 lehigh alumni bulletin Savell, Lehigh’s former head rowing coach, persuaded her to assist him. When Savell announced his new position as Drexel University’s director of rowing in July, Joe Sterrett, Lehigh Goodman Dean of Athletics, led an extensive search for a coach to oversee both the men’s and women’s teams.

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Table of Contents From the President's Desk Mailbox On Campus Arts & Culture Sports Research Cover Story - Forward March Little Man Overcomes Huge Odds Lights, Camera...Antiques Linderman Renewed From the Publisher's Desk Alumni News

Alumni Bulletin - Fall 2007

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