Feb. 27, 2006
BOSTON, Mass. - LMU senior rower Warren Anderson won the collegiate title at the C.R.A.S.H.-B. Sprints World Indoor Rowing Championships in Boston, MA, this past weekend, shocking the field to come away with the title of fastest collegiate athlete in the world. Anderson finished sixth in the open division, with the only faster times coming at the hands of elite national team rowers from the United States, Great Britain and Italy.
It was Anderson's first time at the C.R.A.S.H - B Championships, which were held on Saturday, February 25th at Boston University's Agganis Arena and played host to qualifiers from around the globe. Athletes numbered in the thousands ranging in age from 15 to 85 and coming from such countries as Germany, Italy, France, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Mexico, and The United Kingdom.
Anderson finished sixth overall in the men's open division, producing the fastest time among the collegiate competitors. He defeated rowers from schools throughout the country to win the coveted hammer- a symbol of strength and endurance among rowers, and awarded to the first place finishers at C.R.A.S.H - Bs. Ben Harrison from Brown, and Florian Menniger from Boston University finished in second and third, respectively, in the collegiate division.
The CRASH-B's are in their 25th year and were started by a group of former Olympians as a way to break up the indoor winter training that all east coast rowers must endure. What started as a 5-mile race on a rudimentary rowing machine has now evolved into a 2,000 meter race on a state of the art rowing ergometer. The Concept 2 Ergometer measures an individual athletes power over any given distance or time. The distance of 2,000 meters is a world-racing standard.
"I don't know what to say, I'm exhausted," says Anderson of his accomplishment, never thinking that his four years of training would garnish such attention. He is now in a select fraternity as one of only 25 people to ever win his event.
"I am extremely proud of Warren. He has worked very hard and I am happy to see him enjoying his success," says men's varsity coach Brooks Jones.
Anderson will put his skill to the test on the water as he and the rest of the Crew Team travel to Newport Beach on Sunday, March 5th to take on UC Irvine and San Diego State for the Parker Cup.
Go Lions!
