Women's Crew, Murphy, Starr Collect Honors from CRCA
6/2/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Crew
All-Region | Scholar-Athletes | Regional Coaches | Regional Staffs
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Brown University women's crew earned five CRCA All-Region 1 selections to go with 11 CRCA National Scholar-Athlete choices, and head coach John Murphy and assistant coach Catherine Starr '05 won CRCA Region 1 Coach of the Year and CRCA Region 1 Staff of the Year honors respectively, the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association announced.
This past year, Murphy, Starr, and the Bears captured their ninth Ivy League title and claimed a third-place finish at the NCAA Championships – the crew's 15th top-three finish out of 19 NCAA Championships.
Murphy, who also gained Ivy League Coach of the Year honors this past season, earned CRCA Regional Coach of the Year accolades for the fifth time and for the second year in a row. He also won CRCA Regional laurels in 2000, 2002, 2008, and 2014.
Starr joined the women's crew staff as an assistant coach in the fall of 2010, helping the Bears win an NCAA title in 2011 after winning a national championship as a student-athlete in 2004.
Brown's CRCA All-Region 1 contingent included four First Team selections in senior Whitney Naylor (New Canaan, Conn.), junior Ellie Place (Bellevue, Wash.), senior Molly Sandza (Washington, D.C.), and junior Muriel Solberg (Rockford, Ill.) as well as a Second Team choice in senior Coco Schoeller (West Palm Beach, Fla.).
Sandza and Solberg each garnered CRCA All-Region status for the second straight year as the duo took home Second Team and First Team honors respectively in 2014. All five selections also gained First Team All-Ivy accolades this spring.
The Bears' 11 scholar-athletes included junior Emma Betuel (East Hampton, N.Y.), senior Rachel Gottlieb (Bow, N.H.), sophomore Lucie Hajian (Newton, Mass.), sophomore Lia Keyser (Cambridge, Mass.), senior Katherine McKeen (Piedmont, Calif.), sophomore Ruby Moore-Bloom (Berkeley, Calif.), junior Lucia Petty (Hong Kong), Sandza, Solberg, sophomore Maaike Tiersma (Woodinville, Wash.), and junior Sasha Tilles (Redmond, Wash.).
Gottlieb, McKeen, and Sandza each earned CRCA Scholar-Athlete distinction for the third consecutive year while Betuel, Petty, and Solberg each gained the accolades in back-to-back seasons.
Brown ranked in a tie for sixth in the country among Division I institutions with 11 scholar-athlete honorees. Old Dominion led the way with 13 selections while Marist, MIT, Syracuse, and Alabama each netted 12 choices.
The CRCA's All-Region teams are based on a team's regional finish, coaches' recommendations, and 2,000-meter erg scores. To be eligible, student-athletes must have competed in the first varsity eight boat in 75 percent of the team's races. All-Region choices automatically become eligible for CRCA All-America Awards.
To be eligible for a scholar-athlete award, student-athletes must be in their second, third, or fourth year of eligibility, rowed in 75 percent of the team's spring races in an NCAA eligible boat, and maintained a 3.5 cumulative grade point average.
Criteria for the CRCA's Regional Coach of the Year and Regional Staff of the Year Awards comprise outstanding success during the current season, demonstrated great team improvement from the prior season, fulfilled team potential, and a demonstrated high level of professionalism and integrity as a coach.
CRCA Region 1 Coach of the Year
John Murphy
CRCA Region 1 Staff of the Year
Catherine Starr
CRCA All-Region 1
First Team
Whitney Naylor
Ellie Place
Molly Sandza
Muriel Solberg
Second Team
Coco Schoeller
CRCA Scholar Athletes
Name – Concentration(s)
Emma Betuel – History
Rachel Gottlieb – Geology-Physics/Mathematics
Lucie Hajian – English
Lia Keyser – Health and Human Biology
Katherine McKeen – Environmental Studies and Religious Studies
Ruby Moore-Bloom – Anthropology and Middle East Studies
Lucia Petty – Political Science and German Studies
Molly Sandza – History of Art and Architecture
Muriel Solberg – Chemistry and Economics
Maaike Tiersma – Environmental Studies
Sasha Tilles – Health and Human Biology
