Punahou grad Twomey just keeps rowing along
By Dennis Anderson
Advertiser Staff Writer
Chrissie Twomey has paddled in championship canoe regattas, across the Ka'iwi Channel and in world competitions in Fiji and Australia.
Twomey family photo
But were it not for Title IX — the federal law mandating equal educational opportunities for women — she wouldn't be wearing a national collegiate championship watch today.
Chrissie Twomey, second in the boat, chose UC-Davis because "I wanted to continue doing a paddling-type sport."
Twomey, a 2000 Punahou graduate from Lanikai, helped University of California-Davis win the inaugural NCAA Division II women's rowing championship on June 2 in Indianapolis.
The only reason UC-Davis has a women's varsity rowing team is that the student body voted several years ago to tax itself in order to add three women's teams and not cut men's teams to achieve the proportionality of athletes to enrollment required by Title IX.
"One of the reasons I picked UC-Davis was that they had rowing, and I wanted to continue doing a paddling-type sport," Twomey said.
Although she had never wielded a 12-foot-long oar or rowed backwards on only one side of the boat, as collegiate rowers do, Twomey made the cut for the 30-woman novice team her freshman year. Sixty others did not. "They were all good athletes," Twomey said.
In her sophomore season, Twomey earned a spot among eight rowers in UC-Davis' No. 2 shell. The Aggies won both the Nos. 1 and 2 races at nationals, clinching the championship. Teammates voted to give Twomey their Team Spirit Award.
"I guess I'm the smiley, happy kid on the team," she said.
Coach Emily Plesser said it was more than that. "She is the glue, the person who keeps our squad together and keeps them on track," Plesser said. "She has an extraordinary sense of humor and makes the hard work fun."
Hard work is the hallmark of rowing — two hours on the water at 5:30 every morning and two hours conditioning every afternoon.
Davis starts its water practices at the Port of Sacramento in January, when it is about 60 degrees in the water and 30 degrees in the shell (not counting wind chill). Sometimes there is ice on the docks and the rowers have to wait for the fog to lift so they won't risk collisions.
"Winter took some getting used to," Twomey said. "I came to practice with five layers of clothes and our novice coach, Ann Dubinsky, brought extra jackets for me to wear."
Did she get used to the cold? "Never," Twomey said. "I am always praying for spring to come around."
Twomey said she picked up the sport quickly because of her paddling background. "The basic techniques carried over," she said.
But she still had lots of challenges. "The ideal rower is 6-feet-plus and lean, about 175 pounds," coach Plesser said. "Chrissie is 5-6 and one of our smallest at 145 pounds. But she is a great athlete, with a great smile, and she has the ability to make others want to work."
Says Twomey's mother, Lani: "It's not quite like outrigger canoe paddling, but it lets her get on the water every day — and that's important for a local girl."
EXTRA LAPS: Chrissie Twomey said she picked UC-Davis because "it offered big-university programs in a small-college atmosphere." She is a clinical nutrition major. ... Twomey has paddled for Lanikai Canoe Club since she was 12. She paddled at Punahou and made her first Moloka'i crossing last year. ... UC-Davis gives partial grants-in-aid to its best rowers, but most are less than $800, coach Emily Plesser said. The highest are $4,000 — equal to in-state fees. ... Points earned with the women's rowing victory clinched the Sears Cup for the best overall athletics program in NCAA Division II for UC-Davis for the third time in five years. ... UC-Davis is 69 miles northeast of San Francisco and 15 miles west of Sacramento.
