Women's Rowing Soundbites from Spring Media Day
January 24, 2018 | Rowing
Head coach Derek Copeland discusses the 2018 season
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – In anticipation of the 2018 spring sports season, the University of Louisville held its Spring Media Day Wednesday afternoon at the Yum! Center. Louisville rowing head coach Derek Copeland represented the team and met with assorted media members.
Here are a few of his comments from today's event:
On top returners for this season: "(Senior) Kirsti Harrison is our captain again this year. This is her third year being the captain. We don't just usually take a captain based on the best girl, she just happens to have developed into a great captain and a great talent. She's our first All-American since 2014—she's got a chance to do it again. Junior Lucie Heranova is on pace to break every record we've had on the ergometer. Those two are pretty set to help."
On the upcoming Oak Ridge Cardinal Invitational: "It's a world-class place. Lucky for us, we can get there quite easy, so we race there often. This year, we have 12 teams, including us, about nine or 10 of them will be ranked in the top 20 to 25. It's a big race for early in the year. It's our favorite body of water by far."
On standout fall performers: "We have a freshman from France (Violette Legrand). Usually, it takes our freshmen 18 months to really make an impact—this girl's stroking the boat, which means she's like the quarterback of the boat. She has a good chance to be Freshman of the Year in the ACC."
On the strength of the rowing program: "The rowing program is a good way to get opportunities for female athletes. We have eight or nine seniors this year that learned at the university—had no rowing experience before. So, it provides an opportunity for these young women that played other sports or didn't plan on being D-I athletes, they're at the top of their games."
"We have a lot of academic success. Our GPA has averaged 3.5 for four or five semesters. That's 60 or 70 people getting a 3.5 GPA average. We're at 1,200 community service hours now for the rowing program. … These are all things they do on their own. These are the type of women that we want our younger generation watching these kids and the impact they're having on the community. I think they have a great impact on the university, as well, because these are the same people that are involved in other things in the university and they're making that same impact."
The Cards will open the spring portion of their season with a scrimmage in Florida next month, before hosting the Oak Ridge Cardinal Invitational on March 17-18 in Oak Ridge, Tenn.
Here are a few of his comments from today's event:
On top returners for this season: "(Senior) Kirsti Harrison is our captain again this year. This is her third year being the captain. We don't just usually take a captain based on the best girl, she just happens to have developed into a great captain and a great talent. She's our first All-American since 2014—she's got a chance to do it again. Junior Lucie Heranova is on pace to break every record we've had on the ergometer. Those two are pretty set to help."
On the upcoming Oak Ridge Cardinal Invitational: "It's a world-class place. Lucky for us, we can get there quite easy, so we race there often. This year, we have 12 teams, including us, about nine or 10 of them will be ranked in the top 20 to 25. It's a big race for early in the year. It's our favorite body of water by far."
On standout fall performers: "We have a freshman from France (Violette Legrand). Usually, it takes our freshmen 18 months to really make an impact—this girl's stroking the boat, which means she's like the quarterback of the boat. She has a good chance to be Freshman of the Year in the ACC."
On the strength of the rowing program: "The rowing program is a good way to get opportunities for female athletes. We have eight or nine seniors this year that learned at the university—had no rowing experience before. So, it provides an opportunity for these young women that played other sports or didn't plan on being D-I athletes, they're at the top of their games."
"We have a lot of academic success. Our GPA has averaged 3.5 for four or five semesters. That's 60 or 70 people getting a 3.5 GPA average. We're at 1,200 community service hours now for the rowing program. … These are all things they do on their own. These are the type of women that we want our younger generation watching these kids and the impact they're having on the community. I think they have a great impact on the university, as well, because these are the same people that are involved in other things in the university and they're making that same impact."
The Cards will open the spring portion of their season with a scrimmage in Florida next month, before hosting the Oak Ridge Cardinal Invitational on March 17-18 in Oak Ridge, Tenn.
Players Mentioned
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