12th Evening at Ten Eyck Celebrates Syracuse Rowing

The 12th annual Evening at Ten Eyck was celebrated on Sept. 21, 2024 at Drumlins Country Club.

Photo by: Charles Wainwright

12th Evening at Ten Eyck Celebrates Syracuse Rowing

9/25/2024 3:33:00 PM | Men's Rowing, Women's Rowing

It was a night full of celebration on Saturday, Sept. 21 when the Syracuse University rowing programs joined the Syracuse Alumni Rowing Association (SARA) for the 12^th Evening at Ten Eyck held at Drumlins Country Club. Five former rowers were inducted to the SARA Hall of Fame including Erine Buff (1934), Jason Dorland (1984), John Laidlaw (1929), Mike Gennaro (2011) and Jenn Sachek-Ward (1994) while women's rowing head coach Luke McGee presented Director of Athletics John Wildhack with his 2024 ACC Championship ring.

The 2024 ACC women's rowing championship trophy was on display as McGee addressed the crowd with program updates and a thoughtful message of gratitude for the support during last season's championship run. Dave Reischman, now in his 23^rdseason at the helm of the men's program, discussed the consistent level of success the men's program being just one of three schools to place its Varsity Eight in the Grand Final at the IRA Championship Regatta in each of the last four seasons but acknowledged the team is hungry for more.

SARA President, Pam Carey Shrock '84, started the formal portion of the program, which featured the five Hall of Fame inductions. Laidlaw was posthumously honored to begin the evening's recognition.

Buff's son, Paul Buff '70, accepted his late father's Hall of Fame plaque and shared stories of his father's love for Syracuse and Ernie Sr. was the first of three generations of Syracuse oarsmen. Paul's brother Ernie Jr. '66 was also in attendance with several other members of the Buff family. Ernie Buff Sr. was a member of the 1930 IRA Freshman crew that won the IRA Championship and raced as a member of the 1931 IRA JV Championship crew.

Sachek-Ward gracefully accepted her Hall of Fame plaque after Lena Wang '99 spoke of how Sachek-Ward was an inspiration to her during college and someone she looked up to. Sachek-Ward is currently the Faculty Athletics Representative at George Washington and is the Chair of the Nutrition and Exercise Science program and a tenured professor. Sachek-Ward was an Academic All-American in 1993 and served as team captain in 1994. She competed at the World University Games in 1993 and went on to have a successful master's career winning the Grand Master's Women's 4+ and setting a course record at the 2017 Head of the Charles Regatta.

Dorland made his long-anticipated return to the Salt City to reconnect with former classmates and coaches to formally be inducted to the SARA Hall of Fame. Dorland, a Vancouver, B.C., native rowed two years at Syracuse before returning home to British Columbia to train with the Canadian National Team. In 1988, he was in Canada's eight that placed sixth at the Seoul Summer Olympics and he went on to win four national championships as a coach at Shawnigan Lake School and was the director of rowing at Ridley College. Dorland is a successful author of multiple novels including Ike and Chariots and Horses – Life Lessons from an Olympic Rower. Dorland closed out his acceptance speech with a piece of advice his freshman coach Larry Lazlo gave him in the early 1980's, "have fun out there."

Gennaro, currently the head coach of Yale's heavyweight crew, reminisced on his recruitment to Syracuse and the lasting relationships he has with his teammates to this day. He thanked former classmates individually and took a moment to recognize the coach he is today due to Reischman's influence on his rowing career. Gennaro was a member of the U.S. Olympic Team for the 2012 London Summer Olympics and won multiple medals on the international stage while representing the Red, White and Blue.

The evening concluded with the presentation of the champions trophy from the alumni golf outing earlier in the day. Seniors from the men's and women's rowing teams were in attendance and had the opportunity to mingle as the silent auction wrapped up for the evening.

For more information on the Syracuse rowing programs, follow @CuseMRowing and @CuseWRowing on social media.

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