Brown coach John Murphy, who once struggled to recruit, has led his team into the NCAA Division I Women's Rowing Championships.

01:00 AM EDT on Wednesday, May 25, 2005

BY MIKE SZOSTAK
Journal Sports Writer

PROVIDENCE -- A decade ago, John Murphy used to set a racing shell on the Brown University quad during freshman orientation with the hope that young women would become interested in joining his crew team.

Hauling the boat to campus was a bit of a hassle, but it was easier than trying to lure new students off campus to the Marston Boathouse on the Seekonk River.

Four NCAA championships later, Murphy doesn't have to resort to such recruiting gimmicks. He still welcomes walk-ons, but now he has high schools, public and private, and

well-established rowing clubs from which to solicit talent.

The problem, or challenge, is that athletic powerhouses like Michigan, Ohio State, Southern Cal, Washington, Wisconsin, Stanford, Tennessee and UCLA, in the wake of Title IX rulings, racheted up their programs and today are chasing the same recruits or searching overseas.

"With their huge budgets, they got on the bandwagon and built huge boathouses," said Murphy, Brown's coach since 1984. "The feeling was that the Ivy League was going to take a back seat because our financial aid is need-based, and college costs are skyrocketing. The feeling was we'd be overrun. But so far, we've been able to hang on."

Hang on and then some. Murphy and 25 of his crew departed yesterday for Sacramento, Calif., and the 2005 NCAA Division I Women's Rowing Championships. Harvard, Princeton and Yale also are in the 12-team field that will start competing Friday for the team championship. Finals will be raced Sunday at the Cal State-Sacramento Aquatic Center.

"The kids rowing here want to be here, which makes for a really exceptional atmosphere," Murphy said.

Brown, the Eastern Sprints champion, will row against the other three Ivy League schools plus California, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Southern Cal, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin, colleges that can offer up to 20 full athletic scholarships. Despite that competitive disadvantage, the Ivies have fared well at the nationals. Brown won NCAA championships in 1999, 2000, 2002 and 2004. Harvard won in 2003, two points ahead of Brown. Yale was second last year.

The only other NCAA women's rowing champion is Washington, which won in 1997, the inaugural, 1998 and 2001.

Brown has rowed in every NCAA champiopnship and is ranked second in New England behind Yale, heading to Sacramento. Harvard is third. The Bears are No. 1 in the junior varsity eights and the varsity fours. Princeton boasts the No. 1 team and No. 1 varsity and junior varsity eights in the Mid-Atlantic region.

Brown's reputation is so strong that when Catherine Starr decided she wanted more than the club program New York University offers, she transferred to Brown for the 2003 spring semester. As a senior this year, she has served as a tri-captain.

"I transferred to row," said Starr, who sits in the No. 4 on the varsity eight. "I wanted to see what I could do. I didn't start rowing until I was a senior in high school. At NYU I really started to enjoy it, but the NYU program wasn't that well organized. It was tough to come to Brown, which is so well organized and intense, but it was also fun.

Starr is one of four seniors on the team. Meaghan Kelly, Megan Wachs and Alex Agloro were freshmen on the 2002 national championship team. They were in the varsity fours boat, with Agloro as the coxswain.

"They have certainly made their mark," said Murphy. "I've relied on them enormously. They're looked up to. They played a big part getting the freshmen and sophomores ready for competition."

The quartet will miss commencement exercises this weekend in order to row for the national championship. They received their degrees at a ceremony in University Hall Monday afternoon.

"We rowed on our very first day of class at Brown, and rowing will be the last thing we do at Brown," said tri-captain Meaghan Kelly, who hails from Milton, Mass.

Murphy lost 10 seniors from the 2004 national championship crew.

"They were exceptional leaders, great racers, a huge part of the team. They added to the team in every way," he said.

Two rowers decided to study abroad this year, further depleting the ranks of experienced competitors. Ten juniors, 13 sophomores and 18 freshmen joined the four seniors when training for the 2005 campaign began.

"We had to juggle and try to develop the sophomores as rapidly as we possibly could and bring the freshman class along so when we came to the NCAAs, the freshmen could contribute," said Murphy. "A lot of schools put freshmen in the varsity boat right away. We've been reluctant to do that. We like to bring the freshmen along at a pace they can handle."

Come this time of spring, if they are ready, freshmen will row in the varsity boat. Hannah Garrett of Lake Forest, Ill., had been stroking -- the stroke is the lead rower -- the freshman boat but will pull in the No. 7 seat on the varsity boat this weekend. Murphy does not hesitate to juggle his lineup to strengthen his crews. Last year he dropped rowers from the varsity boat to the JV boat and promoted rowers to the varsity boat. The result was a title, and the highest point total in the championships since 1998.

"When the boats are reorganized, no one holds a grudge. It's all about team," said Gillian Almy of West Simsbury, Conn., a junior and tri-captain. "No one is happy about going down to the JV boat, but at this point in the season, everyone wants to win. We're mature athletes. Everyone takes it with a grain of salt."

Almy is confident of Brown's chances.

"We're definitely capable of winning the team championship. We have a really solid group, and we go very deep. We just have to put all the components together and row the best race we can," she said.

"Our goal every year is to go out and win the NCAA championship," Kelly said. "We're conscious of what the crews before us have achieved, and we try to row with pride and integrity."