Three Badger Rowers Named To National Team
August 07, 2007 | Men's Rowing
Continuing Wisconsin's international rowing tradition, three former Badgers have been named to the 2007 U.S. National Rowing Team, USRowing announced on Monday. Joining Matt Smith (Woodbridge, Va.), who already won a silver medal this summer in the 2007 Pan American Games, are Olympic gold medalist Beau Hoopman (Plymouth, Wis.) and Tyler Resch (Weyauwega, Wis.). All three will compete at the 2007 FISA World Rowing Championships set for Aug. 26 through Sept. 2 in Munich, Germany.
Smith, who will race in the men's lightweight pair, earned silver in the men 's lightweight four earlier this summer at the 2007 Pan Am Games held in Rio de Janiero, Brazil. The former Badger captain and 2000 UW graduate competed in the 2004 Olympic Summer Games in Athens, Greece in the lightweight four, placing ninth in the event. Smith will make his seventh national team appearance to tie him with Hoopman for third all-time on the UW list of national team members.
Smith is a member of the U.S. Army's World Class Athlete Program and has a bronze star from his service in Iraq following the 2004 Olympic Summer Games.
Hoopman, Olympic gold medalist in the men's eight at the 2004 Olympic Summer Games, makes his seventh consecutive national team appearance. Also a former Badger rowing captain, Hoopman will race in the men's four without coxswain at the 2007 World Championships. He won a bronze medal in the men's eight at the 2006 championships.
'Beau is really the best example of what we try to do at Wisconsin,' said Wisconsin head coach Chris Clark. 'The concept of walking on and having a chance to go all the way is difficult to do, but it is doable and Beau is a great example of that. Apart from being an Olympic champion and world champion, he is a world cup champion and won multiple Eastern Sprints titles when he was here. He is a real inspiration to the guys that currently row. They know him since he has been a volunteer coach for us for the last few years and it is just great to have a guy like that around who is doing as well as he is doing.'
Resch makes his first appearance on a U.S. national team and will race in the men 's lightweight eight. A member of the class of 2004, Resch raced in the UW 's eight during 2004, after capturing a gold medal at the 2003 Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championships in the varsity four without coxswain. He also captured and Eastern Sprints title in 2003 in the third varsity eight.
Another pair of former Badgers will also associate with the national team as former UW rower Matt Imes continues to serve as one of USRowing's assistant coaches, while former women's openweight rower Elpi Pagitsas supports the team as USRowing programs manager.
Wisconsin has had 41 rowers race for the U.S. national team since Stewart MacDonald competed in the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City, Mexico. The Badgers have had at least one member of a national each year since 1994, giving them a rower on the team for 14 consecutive years. With a spare on the 1993 team and a coach, MacDonald, for the 1990 team, the Badgers have sent a representative to the U.S. national team every year since 1979 and every year, but three, since 1968.
