California Lightweight Crew

Lightweight Crew at the University of California, Berkeley, the only program on the West Coast solely devoted to men's and women's lightweight rowing, has enjoyed a successful history.

The proud tradition of Cal Lightweight Crew began in 1970 as a varsity sport with the formation of the men's team, which rowed alongside the historic heavyweight team. However, within a few years, after borrowing equipment from and rowing out of the heavyweight's Ky Ebright boathouse, the lightweight men broke off from the heavyweight program to form their own sports club. The coach during this time was Kelly Moore, who, in 1975 guided the team to a victory at the Western Sprints, the predecessor to today's Pacific Coast Rowing Championships.

The remainder of the 1970s saw the advent of two new coaches as well as a new boat. George Piperis coached the program in 1976. The next season, Kurt Pressler took over as head coach. Marko Meniketti, a former Cal heavyweight coxswain, began coaching in 1978-1979, a season which also saw the program's first boat purchase. The Pocock 8+, a valuable addition to the growing lightweight team, was christened the Matt Franich in honor of Cal's longtime rigger.

The 1980s also brought the team new coaches, a new boat, and further success. Mike Fennelly took over as coach from 1980 to 1981, the same year that the Matt Franich was replaced by a new boat, the Calliste. Fennelly slowly transitioned from the position of coach to that of rigger, eventually assuming the role from rigger Matt Franich. 1982 to 1983 saw Tom Tiffany as coach, with the program drawing on his experience as a Harvard coxswain. The coaching torch was passed to Vince Horpel in 1984 and then to Jeff Wilk, under whose watchful eye the team brought home its second Pacific Coast Rowing Championship title in 1987. Fresh from their success, the Cal Lightweights then headed to Albany, New York for the national championships in both 1987 and 1988.

Staying consistent with the previous two decades, the 1990s were again a time of transition and change. The Thomas Martz, Jr., a Vespoli 8+ dedicated in the memory of one of the lightweight squad's oarsmen of the 1980s, was added to the Calliste in 1990, doubling the lightweight fleet. 1991 marked the exit of Wilk from the program and the entrance of Paul Kommer, who made it his focus to improve the novice program in an effort to build the size of the team back up to its peak late-1980s level.

In 1992, the team moved from its longtime home at the Ky Ebright boathouse on the Oakland Estuary to Cal's other boathouse on Lake Briones in Orinda. 1992 also saw the addition of John Crutcher to the coaching staff; Kommer, coaching jointly with Crutcher until 1995, gradually removed himself from the program as Crutcher became increasingly involved with the lightweight team. Both men's coaching efforts as well as their rowers' hard work were well rewarded in 1995 when the Cal Lightweights once again took the Pacific Coast Rowing Championship title, rowing in the One Vision, a Dirigo 8+ boat purchased in January of 1995.

Crutcher stepped forward to take full control of the program in the fall of 1995. Not soon after, in 1996, the team moved once again, this time returning to the Oakland Estuary to establish their home at the Oakland Strokes' Edward Lickiss boathouse. 1997 also proved to be a time of change as the coaching reins were passed on to Matthew White and Miles Cooper; Sharon Sha, Crutcher's assistant and former Cal women's heavyweight coxswain, remained with the program, taking on the role of novice coach. That year proved to be an exciting one as the novice men won the Pacific Coast Rowing Championships and the program was expanded to offer a women's lightweight team. In 1997 and 1998 the Briones and the Yosemite, both of them used 8+ twin Carbocraft shells, were purchased from the Cal Women's Openweight team to help provide for the expanding lightweight rowing family; two used 4+s were also bought in 1998.

Soon after, White took the position of women's varsity coach while Cooper remained with the men's team, only staying on until the end of the spring 1999 season. Sharon Sha, Paul Berger (Penn) and Sung Won Kim then took control of the men's program for the 1999-2000 season while Ali Nachman (UCLA) was added to the lightweight team as coach of the women's novice program. During the 2001-2002 season, White coached both the varsity and novice women assisted by former heavyweight rower Alison Skelley while the varsity men were put in the hands of Richard Lapachet (SDSU) and the novice men were coached by Francisco Perez and Igor Pesenson.

The program again moved in November of 2001, remaining on the Oakland Estuary but relocating to the newly completed Jack London Aquatic Center. Rich Wendling took over the women's team in 2002-2003. The men's team moved to Richmond in the fall of 2004 and then rowed out of the Marin boathouse in the winter of 2005. The next spring, the men secured a new home at San Pablo Reservoir. In the fall of 2006, Weston Powell took over Lapachet's position as head coach of the men's team. In 2007, Morgan Allen, a former Cal heavyweight, took over as the men's varsity coach. In 2008, the team acquired novice coach Noah Hume and the men moved back to JLAC, where both teams continue to thrive.