Jamie Stack’s fifth spring as the head coach of the Rutgers-Camden women’s varsity crew team produced several new standards for his fledgling program. Stack, who founded his team on the club level in 2002 and nursed it into a varsity program which started in the fall of 2004, saw his team compete in a new league, collect several conference and post-season honors and place a pair of boats into the Dad Vail semifinals for the first time.
During January of 2009, the Raptors became one of the maiden teams in the newly-formed Mid-Atlantic Rowing Conference. Three months later, the Raptors produced their first MARC champions, as Kathleen Malony and Kathryn Yannes combined to win the Women’s Pair competition at the conference championships.
Malony and Melissa Kendall were both named to the first All-MARC Women’s Team, while a pair of members from the Rutgers-Camden men’s club program – Lance Carsillo and Nick Tartarski – captured All-MARC Men’s Team recognition.
Kendall and Rachel Gontowski both captured 2009 Scholar-Athlete recognition from the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association, giving the Lady Raptors their first pair of CRCA Scholar Athletes ever.
At the season-ending Dad Vail Regatta (May 8-9, 2009), the Raptors advanced both the Women’s Varsity Heavyweight Four and the Men’s Pair to the semifinals. It marked the first time in program history they had two boats racing on the second day of the prestigious event.
All that success was build on a solid 2007-08 scholastic year in which the women had third-place finishes in the Varsity Eight at the Murphy Cup (March 29) and the Varsity Four at the Clark Invite (April 6), then added a second-place finish in the Frosh/Novice Four boat at the Mid-Atlantic Crew Championships (May 4). By the time post-season honors finished rolling in, senior Traci Arnold had wrapped up her collegiate career with numerous academic honors, including CRCA 2008 Scholar-Athlete, Academic All-District 2 College Division Women’s At-Large Second Team and a berth on the Philadelphia Inquirer Academic All-Area Rowing Team. The CRCA and Inquirer recognition marked the second straight year Arnold had received those honors, and she wrapped up her season winning Rutgers-Camden’s Scholar-Athlete Award.
The rise of Stack’s program has coincided with the addition of the Camden County Boathouse at Cooper River, an exquisite facility that opened on July 29, 2006. Not only does Rutgers-Camden row out of that venue, sharing the boathouse with local high school programs, but Stack serves as the manager of that facility, which hosted the NCAA championships in May. Stack’s numerous duties include coordinating activity on the Cooper River, working with Camden County Special Events on all regattas held on the river and coordinating the booking of events in the boathouse’s banquet facility. He also serves on the Cooper Rowing Club masters rowing team as both a board member and a coach.
With their new home in place, the Rutgers-Camden crew team achieved a banner year in its third varsity season. During the spring of 2007, the Lady Raptors finished first in their Novice Four heat at the Murphy Cup (March 24) and first in the Frosh/Novice Four at the Atlantic Collegiate League Sprints (April 28). They also reached the Varsity Four final at the Knecht Cup (April 14), earning a third-place finish. Overall, they competed in five regattas, finishing with a flourish when they posted a second-place finish in their Varsity Heavyweight Four heat at the Dad Vail Regatta May 11. That qualified Rutgers-Camden for its first semifinal berth at the famous regatta, and the Lady Raptors improved their time the next day with a 7:57.68 clocking in the Dad Vail semifinals.
Rutgers-Camden’s spring success followed a fall program in which the Raptors made their first trip to Boston’s prestigious Head of the Charles Regatta.
Stack also saw one of his rowers awarded for her academic excellence as Arnold was named to the Philadelphia Inquirer Academic All-Area Rowing Team, a squad that features student-athletes from Divisions I, II and III. Arnold capped her year earning recognition from the CRCA as a 2007 Scholar-Athlete.
Stack joined the Rutgers-Camden coaching staff in May, 2002, with the charge to form and develop a collegiate crew program. He started the program on the club level in 2002 and his efforts culminated during the fall of 2004 when the women’s crew team attained varsity status. The Lady Raptors competed in three regattas, making their varsity debut Oct. 2 in Pittsburgh, Penn., at the Head of the Ohio Regatta.
The Lady Raptors also collected their first victory in program history during their maiden season, winning the Women’s Frosh/Novice Eight Division III finals at the Knecht Cup Regatta, April 17, 2005.
During the 2005-2006 school year, the Lady Raptors competed in a pair of regattas during the fall part of their schedule. They participated in six spring competitions, racing from Virginia and Maryland to Pennsylvania and their home course on the Cooper River. The Women’s Varsity Four finished second at the Murphy Cup (March 25) and the Women’s Varsity Eight was third at both the Johns Hopkins Invitational (April 15) and the Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Crew Championships (May 7). The Lady Raptors capped their season at the Dad Vail Regatta (May 13) by finishing second in the Women’s Varsity Heavyweight 8 Repechage Division II and III Second Final.
A 1997 graduate of La Salle University, Stack has coached throughout the United States, from the Delaware Valley to Alaska. Prior to accepting the Rutgers-Camden position, Stack served as the men’s head crew coach at the University of Florida.
Stack, who grew up in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, was introduced to rowing when he was a freshman at La Salle College High School in Philadelphia. As a freshman, his cousins got him to try out for the team. He has been rowing ever since that day.
During his freshman and sophomore years, Stack participated as a coxswain in the Novice 8. He moved up to the junior varsity and varsity boats as a junior and a senior, then attended La Salle University in Philadelphia. In his first year, he rowed the stroke seat of the freshman/novice lightweight eight, earning a silver medal in the 1994 Dad Vail Regatta. A year later, he rowed the stroke seat of the varsity lightweight eight and placed sixth in the 1995 Dad Vail Regatta.
Stack served as the assistant captain of the La Salle varsity men during the 1995-96 school year, and was the Explorers’ team captain in 1996-97.
Stack graduated from La Salle in May, 1997 with a B.S. in Business Administration, and immediately started his coaching career. He served as the Freshman/Novice men’s coach at La Salle during the 1997-98 season, coaching two heavyweight eight boats. His crew won two medals in the Philadelphia City Championships and qualified one boat to compete in the Dad Vail Regatta.
Stack became the head coach of the varsity men at Northwestern University in 1998. In his two seasons with the Wildcats, Stack qualified the first freshman Northwestern crew in 10 years to participate in the 1999 Dad Vail Regatta. His Varsity 8 placed 19th out of 76 crews in the 1999 Head of the Charles Regatta Club Eight Event, earning an automatic bid for the 2000 regatta. He also led the varsity heavyweight and lightweight men’s eight boats to the 2000 Dad Vail Regatta semifinals.
During his summers in Illinois, Stack served as the head coach of the Chicago River Rowing Club in 1999 and 2000. In the summer of 2001, he served in a dual coaching role with the Kenai Crewsers and the Anchorage Rowing Association in Alaska. He worked with every level from a Learn to Row program to rowers of Juniors and Masters abilities.
Stack was the men’s head crew coach at the University of Florida in Gainesville during the 2001-02 school year. He served in a similar situation to the one he started at Rutgers-Camden, working with a club program. When Stack had a chance to return to the Philadelphia region in charge of a new program, he jumped at the opportunity.
Stack resides in Barrington, NJ, with his wife Tawnya, daughter Madison and son Keegan.
|
