Buoyed by by years of success as a club sport, Wentworth men’s rowing is taking the plunge into varsity athletics. The team is competing at the Division III level this fall and is the Institutes’s 15th varsity sport.
“They have proven over the years to be a very dedicated and accomplished program, and I look for those traits to continue in the future,” says Angel Ayres, Wentworth’s director of athletics.
Katie Lane, a 2011 graduate of the University of Vermont and Wentworth’s coach at the club level since 2011, was named the team’s head coach. “I know I can speak on behalf of the athletes when I say that we recognize that there is a lot of work ahead of us, but we’re ready to do what it takes to move up,” Lane says. “I’m thrilled at the growth of the program as a whole over the past two years, knowing that we still have a ways to go.”
The team closed the book on its club status in impressive fashion last spring, finishing second in the heavyweight-four category and reaching the semifinals with its lightweight-four boat at the Dad Vail Regatta—the largest collegiate regatta in the country.
“When I was initially asked what my ultimate goal was for my own coaching career, I stated that I wanted to be a Division III men’s rowing coach,” says Lane. “While I was shocked that this opportunity came only two years later, I’m confident in
taking this jump because this is what I’ve been working toward.”
–Caleb Cochran
