PBC Athlete Bio – Lissa Krawczyk

Lissa Krawczyk
National Team Hopeful

Born: 6/10/1981
Hometown: Studio City, California
Resides: Washington, D.C.
Club Affiliation: Potomac Boat Club
College: University of Chicago (AB, 2003); Georgetown University (MS, 2009, PhD expected in 2011)
Event: Women’s Lightweight Rowing (Sculling)
Experience: 14 years

About Lissa
Lissa wanted a switch from swimming her junior year in high school, and her father suggested she try rowing (he had rowed for Georgetown in college). The rest is history, as they say. After graduating from college, Lissa moved to Seattle to train with Pocock, then to Philadelphia to train with Penn AC, and eventually, to DC to train with Potomac Boat Club and pursue her doctorate.

In the fall of 2007, Lissa suffered a debilitating back injury and spent the next two years in and out of the hospital. Despite this, she returned to rowing in the winter of 2010 and completed her best racing season ever. This year, she hopes to represent the United State at the 2011 World Championships with her doctorate in hand.

National Results
3rd place – LW1x Head of the Charles Regatta 2010
4th place – LW1x US Senior World Championship Trials 2010
5th place – LW1x USRowing National Championship, 2010
Semi-finalist – LW1x US Rowing World Championship Trials 2006
10th place – LW1x. US Rowing November Speed Order 2005
3rd place – LW1x. Head of the Schuylkill Regatta 2005
2nd place – LW4+. Head of the Charles Regatta 2005
Semi-finalist – LW1x US Rowing World Championship Trials 2005
3rd place – Club W4+ Head of the Charles Regatta 2002
5th place – Varsity W8+ US Rowing Junior National Invitational 1999

International Results
3rd place – LW1x Royal Canadian Henley Regatta 2010

PBC Athlete Bio – Allix Wilde

Allix Wilde
2012 Olympic Hopeful

Born: 3/26/1988
Hometown: Potomac, MD
Club Affiliation: Potomac Boat Club
College: Yale University (2010)
Event: Women’s Open Weight Rowing (Sculling)
Experience: 9 years

Allix online

• Allix on Twitter
• Allix on Youtube (Henley Women’s Regatta in 3-seat of the Yale crew in 2009)

About Allix
Allix is the oldest child of Tom and Stephanie Wilde. She has a younger sister, Emily. She grew up playing soccer, ice hockey, and golf. At Yale she earned a B.A. in English. She plans to continue her career in health advocacy, specifically advocating for women’s health and reproductive rights. She eventually hopes to earn a law degree to help best pursue this dream.

Allix started her rowing career during her freshman year of high school. Approached by two girls on the team, they persuaded her to join by saying, “Hey, you’re pretty tall, you should row.”  As an uncoordinated and awkward fourteen year old, who considered the idea of suffering another spring on the softball team a terrifying prospect, she eagerly agreed to join the rowing team.  Four years later, she was recruited to row for Yale, despite modest beginnings at a small program that saw little success.

At Yale, Allix learned what it meant to race to win, to both strive to defeat and support her teammates in the pursuit of team speed, and that how you lived your days is how you live your life. She lost only three regular season races in four years. She became a part of a team of strong, inspiring, and tough women; all a product of a program dedicated to excellence and steeped in tradition. As a recent college graduate, she decided she was unable to abandon that espirit de corps, that unrelenting pursuit of perfection, and decided to continue rowing at the elite level. She is now focusing on successfully transitioning from the barbaric discipline of sweep rowing to the more delicate and intensely difficult art of sculling.

Allix began her elite rowing career at Potomac Boat Club, and now hopes to continue in the footsteps of the national team members that have come before her; she hopes to gain the same high levels of success that the club is well known for.

National and Collegiate Results
1st place – NCAA Champion in the Second Varsity, 2009
6th place – NCAAs, Third Varsity Four, 2008
3rd place – EAWRC Sprints, Second Varsity 2010
2nd place – EAWRC Sprints, Second Varsity 2009
1st place – EAWRC Sprints, Third Varsity Four, 2008
3rd place – EAWRC Sprints, Novice Eight 2007

International Results
4th place – Senior Women’s 4x – 2010 Royal Canadian Henley
4th place – Champ Women’s 8+ – 2007 Royal Canadian Henley

PBC Athlete Bio – William Cowles

William Cowles
2012 Olympic Hopeful

Born: 9/16/1986
Hometown: Hartford, CT
Resides: Washington, DC
Club Affiliation: Potomac Boat Club
College: Hamilton College (2009)
Event: Men’s Heavyweight Rowing (Sculling)
Experience: 5 years

About William
William (a.k.a “Willy”) was born and raised in Farmington, Connecticut, with an older sister, who rowed (and later coxed) and a father, who was a former high-school rower. Willy attended high school at Milton Academy, where he played football and basketball, but where there was no rowing program.

After taking a year off to travel and work, Willy began rowing at Hamilton College in fall of his freshman year. Although he often disparaged the sport when his older sister was involved, he soon fell in love with it. His first year, Willy set new school 2k and 6k records on the erg and was the only novice rower to be placed in the Varsity boat. During his time at Hamilton, Willy was selected twice as a NESCAC all-academic honoree, and earned the Hamilton Coaches’ Award his junior year.

Willy’s first attempt to try rowing at a higher level came in the summer of 2008. That summer, he rowed for Penn AC to try to qualify for a spot in the four that would represent the U.S. at U23 worlds in Germany. Unfortunately, shortly into the summer, he and his bike collided with a truck, which sidelined him for two months of critical training.

After rowing for four years at Hamilton, Willy again decided to pursue rowing at the Elite level. In the fall of 2009, he began sculling at the Pocock Rowing Center in Seattle. Although he had originally intended to continue sweep rowing, fell in love with sculling. After six months of training in Seattle, Willy came east and began rowing for the Open Sculling Program at Potomac Boat Club. After joining Potomac, Willy won a silver medal in the open weight 1x at the 2010 U.S. Nationals, finished in the A final of the third 2010 National Selection Regatta, and won a silver medal in the championship double at the 2010 Head of the Charles.

In addition to rowing, Willy enjoys cycling, cooking, and spending time with his four roommates.

National Results
2nd Place – Men’s Championship 2x, 2010 HOCR
Semi-Finalist – 2010 Senior Team Trials, 1x
2nd Place – Men’s 1x, 2010 US Rowing Elite Nationals
1st Place – Ergomania 2010
6th Place – Men’s 2x, 2010 NSR III

PBC Athlete Bio – Malyka Ianni

Malyka Ianni
2012 Olympic Team Hopeful

Born: 4/22/1984
Hometown: Lewisburg, West Virginia
Resides: Washington, D.C.
Club Affiliation: Potomac Boat Club
College: Simmons College (2005)
Event: Women’s Open Weight Rowing (Sculling)
Experience: 7 years

About Malyka

Growing up in West Virginia, Malyka played basketball, softball, and tennis and was a member of the show choir and marching band.  At the College of Notre Dame in Baltimore, Malyka played basketball her freshman year, but transferred to Simmons College in Boston and started to row instead.  Her first erg test, she beat almost every member of the women’s varsity team and was instantly hooked on rowing.  To this day, her most memorable race was her first spring rowing in the varsity boat during a narrow victory in the annual race between Simmons and Wellesley.  Her junior year, she was nominated for Simmons’ Athlete of the Year.

In March of 2004, her college coach, Nikolay Kurmakov, asked if she would stay in Boston for the summer to row with the women’s sweep team at Riverside Boat Club.  She immediately called her mother to say she would not be coming home for the summer.  She stayed in Boston the following summer after graduating from Simmons, continued on as a full member at Riverside.  In 2007, she realized hat her dream was to one day earn a spot on the National Team and has been striving for perfection ever since.

Malyka is the oldest of four daughters born to June Mothes and Andrew Ianni.  Her younger sisters are Nora, Caroline, and Haleigh.  Malyka moved to DC this fall to be closer to family and found a home on the Open Sculling Program at Potomac Boat Club.  She continues to work towards her Masters in Library and Information Science through the University of Washington, and is excited to be training with such a competitive and supportive group as she works towards her National Team dreams.

National Results
12th place – (12/174) – Open Women – Crash B’s 2010
3rd place – Senior Women’s 4x – 2009 National Championship Regatta
1st place – Intermediate Women’s 2x – 2008 Club Nationals
1st place – Senior Women’s 4x – 2008 Club Nationals
1st place – Open Women’s 4+ – 2006 Head of the Housatonic
3rd place – Senior Women’s 4+ – 2005 Club Nationals
3rd place – Simmons College Varsity 8+ – 2004 Head of the Textile (Club 8+)
1st place – Senior Women’s 4+ – 2004 Club Nationals
3rd place – Intermediate Women’s 4+ – 2004 Club Nationals
1st place – Intermediate Women’s 4+ – 2004 Independence Day Regatta

International Results
2nd place – Senior Women’s 8+ Dash – 2010 Royal Canadian Henley
3rd place – Senior Women’s 2x – 2010 Royal Canadian Henley
2nd place – Senior Women’s 4x – 2009 Royal Canadian Henley
2nd place – Senior Women’s 4x – 2008 Royal Canadian Henley
2nd place – Senior B Women’s 8+ – 2005 Royal Canadian Henley
2nd place – Senior B Women’s 8+ – 2004 Royal Canadian Henley

PBC Athlete Bio – Taylor Frank

Taylor Frank
2012 Olympic Team Hopeful

Born: 4/9/1986
Hometown: Pasadena, California
Resides: Washington, D.C.
College: Georgetown University (2008)
Event: Men’s Heavyweight Rowing (Sculling)
Rowing Experience: 5 years

About Taylor
Taylor was a successful high school athlete at Pasadena Poly in southern California.  He played football for four years and was a member of the track team for two years.  He didn’t start rowing until his second year at Georgetown, but he immediately fell in love with the sport.

Taylor accomplished a great deal in his first year of rowing.  He was a Captain of his Novice Team and helped lead his crew to a 12th place finish at the 2006 IRA National Championship Regatta. Taylor continued to develop as an athlete during his Junior and Senior years at Georgetown and rowed in the varsity boat for both of those years.

Taylor took some time off from rowing after graduating in 2008, but he didn’t stay away for long.  He was back at it in early 2009, as a member of the Potomac Boat Club Open Sculling Program and has trained with the program ever since. His rowing development has accelerated at PBC and he hopes to make the U.S National Team in the near future.

In addition to rowing, Taylor enjoys running, lifting, skiing, hiking, kayaking, basketball, biking and spending time with friends and family.

National Results
2nd Place – Champ 2x Head of the Charles 2010
10th Place – 2x National Selection Regatta III 2010
4th Place – 2x USRowing National Championships 2010
7th Place – 2x National Selection Regatta II 2010

International Results
4th Place – Champ 2x Royal Canadian Henley Regatta 2009

PBC Athlete Bio – Stefanie Kozuszek

Stefanie Kozuszek
2012 Olympic Team Hopeful

Born: 7/22/1986
Hometown: Pinckneyville, Illinois
Resides: Washington, D.C.
College: Murray State University 2008, Clemson University 2009
Event: Women’s Open Weight Rowing (Sculling)
Experience: 5 years

Stefanie online

• Stefanie on Facebook

About Stefanie
Stefanie transferred from a community college to Murray State University her junior year.  The plan was to go back home after graduation and work on the family farm, but Stefanie was introduced to rowing and everything changed.  At first, Stefanie was interested in rowing  for the chance to travel and the scholarship potential, but soon fell in love with the sport and the camaraderie of the team. Rowing has made her test the limits both mentally and physically. Now, after college, she has decided to continue testing these limits with the goal of making the U.S. National Team.

By the spring of first year at Murray, Stefanie made the Varsity Eight, where she would remain the rest of her collegiate career. Her second year at Murray, she set record times for the 2k and 5k on the erg, records that still stand today. Murray decided to cut the rowing program at the end of her second year, so she had to decide whether to stay at Murray and row under club status or transfer to another school and program.  She chose to transfer to Clemson University, where she earned a spot on the Varsity 8+ and helped the team earn its first Atlantic Coast Conference Championship, as well as its first appearance at NCAA Championships.

In 2009, Stefanie spent her first summer after college learning to scull at Potomac Boat Club.  In the fall, she returned to Clemson as a volunteer assistant coach and began her training in a single.  She decided to return to Potomac Boat Club in the winter to start training with our dedicated Open Sculling Program.  She continues to work on the technique needed to move a boat efficiently with the goal of making the U.S. National Team as the driving force.

Stefanie is the youngest of four children born to Bernard and Lyla Kozuszek. She grew up playing softball and helped Pinckneyville High School (Pinckneyville, Illinois) make two appearances at state championships, finishing third in the state her sophomore year.   At Murray State University, Stefanie earned a degree in Animal Science, and finished her last year of collegiate rowing at Clemson University.

National Results
3rd Place – Mid-Atlantic Erg Sprints (Indoor ergometer race) 2010
1st Place – Women’s 1x – Head of the Hooch 2009
1st Place – Women’s 2x – Head of the Hooch 2009
1st Place – Women’s 4x – Head of the Hooch 2009
1st Place – Clemson Varsity 8+ – ACC Championships 2009
1st Place – PBC Senior 4x – 2009 Club National Championships
1st Place – PBC Intermediate 4x – 2009 Club National Championships
3rd Place – PBC Intermediate 2x – 2009 Club National Championships
1st Place – Clemson Dev. Senior 4+ – 2008 Club National Championships
2nd Place – Clemson Dev. Senior 4- – 2008 Club National Championships
2nd Place – Clemson Dev. Intermediate 8+ – 2008 Club National Championships
2nd Place – Murray 4+ – 2008 Midwest Rowing Championships

PBC Athlete Bio – Katie Stainken

Katie Stainken
2012 Olympic Hopeful

Born: 5/24/1982
Hometown: Hillsborough, NJ
Resides: Washington, DC
Club Affiliation: Potomac Boat Club
College: Boston College 2004
Event: Women’s Openweight Sculling

About Katie
Katie always wanted to be an Olympic gymnast, but realized as soon as she grew to 5’10″ that might be rather difficult.  Turning to other sports, she played field hockey each fall of high school, was on the swim team during the winter, and ran track and field in the spring for three years before switching to her senior year.  She earned the respect of her teammates and coaches and was voted captain of the field hockey and lacrosse teams. Also dedicated to being a straight A student and never missing a day of high school, Katie was the “Class of 2004 Female Scholar-Athlete” for Hillsborough High School.

Hoping to play field hockey when she arrived at Boston College in the fall of 2000, she saw a sign that read, “Do you think you’re tough? Join BC Crew!” Always up for a challenge and any chance to prove she’s tough, Katie signed up for the Boston College novice rowing team. After approximately one practice, Katie knew that rowing was the sport for her.

Despite how unpleasantly cold Boston can be at 5am, Katie was always eager to wake up for practice.  Since the Boston College Women’s Rowing program had just became a Varsity-level sport her freshman year, Katie helped the team become one of the top Women’s Rowing programs in the Big East Conference by her senior year. While Katie was at Boston College, the team earned its first invitation to participate in the prestigious Eastern Sprints Regatta and compete against many long established rowing programs. As co-captain of the team her senior year, Katie also led the Eagles to participate for the first time ever at the Royal Henley Regatta in England. Katie credits her Boston College teammates and coaches for instilling in her the passion to row.

Knowing that she had yet to reach her full rowing potential, Katie continued to row after college. Awarded a Fulbright scholarship, she lived in Germany for two years and began to scull, while teaching her German teammates how to sweep row. She absolutely hated sculling at first.  Still, after flipping her single twice in freezing water, and with some encouragement from her German teammates, she soon knew she could never go back to being a sweep rower.  For Katie, the feeling of quietly propelling the boat forward on your own is a truly unique sensation that cannot be matched.

Katie moved to Washington, D.C., in the fall of 2006, and rowed with the Capitol Rowing Club, continuing to learn how to scull.  She spent September through December 2008, in Zurich, Switzerland, rowing for the Seeclub Zurich on the beautiful Rhein River and the Zuri-see.  She had the chance to participate in some fantastic Swiss races.  In January 2099, she returned to D.C. and joined Potomac Boat Club, where she has been ever since.

Since her return, Katie has experienced the unfortunate consequences of training harder than you ever have before … injuries.  But Katie has overcome both rib and back injuries, and now is stronger, faster and mentally tougher than ever before.  She is excited for the next two years as she continues her rowing journey and follows her dream of making the Olympic team in 2012.

National Results
3rd place – Champ 2x – 2009 Head of the Charles
2nd place – Mid-Atlantic Erg Sprints (Indoor ergometer race) 2009
1st place – Women’s 4- – 2008 Club National Championships
2nd place – Senior Women’s 2x – 2008 Club National Championships
2nd place – Intermediate Women’s 1x – 2007 Club National Championships
2nd place – Boston College Women’s Varsity 8+ – 2004 Knecht Cup
1st place – Boston College Women’s Junior Varsity 8+ – 2002 Dad Vails Regatta
1st place – Boston College Women’s Varsity 8+ – 2003 New England Championships

International Results
1st place - Senior Women’s 2x- 2009 Royal Canadian Henley
3rd place – Senior Women’s 1x- 2009 Royal Canadian Henley
2nd place – Senior Women’s 2x – 2008 Royal Canadian Henley
3rd place – Senior Women’s 4x – 2008 Royal Canadian Henley
5th place (5/28) – Senior Women’s 1x – 2008 Swiss Speed Order
13th place (start number 150/289) – Senior Women’s 1x – 2008 Armada Cup, Switzerland
1st place – University of Karlsruhe Women’s 8+ – 2006 German University Rowing Championships
1st place – Boston College Varsity 8+ – 2004 Reading Regatta, England

PBC Athlete Bio – Morgan Constantine Wimberley

Morgan Constantine Wimberley
2012 Olympic Hopeful

Born: 12/25/1984
Hometown: Austin, TX
Resides: Washington, DC
College: Harvard University, 2008
Event: Women’s Open Sculling
Experience: 5 years

About Morgan
Morgan’s path to rowing was, like those of many elite rowers, long and winding. Throughout grade school and high school she was an athletic girl, showing her fitness and strength through sports ranging from tennis to volleyball, but was never really “an athlete.” During her freshman year of college, Morgan, through the cajoling of her high school friends, joined the Harvard Ultimate Frisbee team, and enjoyed two and a half years sprinting up and down grass fields after discs.

While Ultimate provided a fun and vigorous pastime, Morgan found that many of her non-Frisbee-throwing-friends were rowers. She “tried out” rowing for about a month each spring of her freshman and sophomore years on the Cabot House intramural rowing team. When three mornings a week and afternoon runs when she would stop at Weeks Footbridge to watch her crew team friends rowing by were not enough, Morgan decided that it was time to make her rowing career official. She joined Radcliffe Crew her junior year, and made the second varsity eight her senior year.

The summer after graduation, Morgan rowed at a camp in Austin and competed at the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta. She decided that summer that she wanted to keep rowing, and found the Potomac Rowing Club in Washington D.C. She moved to D.C. and jumped into a single for the first time. From those first rows on the foggy morning waters of the Potomac, with the morning sun lighting up the amber-colored leaves on the Virginia shore, Morgan realized that she didn’t want to just “keep rowing,” she wanted to race with the National Team and train alongside the female athletes she so respected. With her Potomac Boat Club teammates, she continues to train to that end.

Morgan is older sister to Jack, her best buddy and inspiration, and daughter to Doris Constantine and Darryl Wimberley. She grew up in a house that revered creativity, intellect, and focus equally, regardless of whether the medium was school, music, or sports. She played piano for 12 years and bassoon in high school, where she was also captain of the Tennis team. She earned a B.A. in Government, with a focus in PreMed, from Harvard University in 2008, and currently works as an Associate at FairWinds Partners, LLC, in Washington, DC. She (still) enjoys playing Ultimate Frisbee and singing in the Capital Hill Chorale.

National Results
4th place – Open Women’s 2x – 2010 National Selection Regatta III
5th place – Open Women’s 2x – 2010 National Selection Regatta II
4th place – Open Women’s 1x – 2010 National Championship Regatta
2nd Place – 2010 Mid-Atlantic Erg Sprints (Indoor ergometer race)
3rd Place – 2009 Mid-Atlantic Erg Sprints (Indoor ergometer race)

International Results
3rd place – Open Women’s 2x – 2009 Head of the Charles
1st place – Senior Women’s 2x – 2009 Royal Canadian Henley
3rd place – Championship Women’s 1x – 2009 Royal Canadian Henley
4th place – Senior Women’s 1x – 2009 Royal Canadian Henley
2nd place – Championship Women’s 8+ – 2008 Royal Canadian Henley
4th place – Senior Women’s 4- – 2008 Royal Canadian Henley
4th place – Senior Women’s 8+ – 2008 Royal Canadian Henley

Watch a replay of the 2010 Boat Race!

If you missed the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race live yesterday on the BBC, you missed a good one!  But no worries!  Click here to watch the blow by blow replay on the Theboatrace.org!