Six from NESCAC champion men's rowing team receive all-conference recognition; Steenstra repeats as Coach of the Year

Lewiston, ME (05/30/2019) — Six from NESCAC champion men's rowing team receive all-conference recognition; Steenstra repeats as Coach of the Year

May 15, 2019

HADLEY, Mass. -- After capturing their third straight NESCAC championship and their fourth overall, the Bates men's rowing team saw six team members receive All-NESCAC recognition from the New England Small College Athletic Conference, while head coach Peter Steenstra again won NESCAC Coach of the Year honors.

Senior Ariel Lee (Misawa-shi, Aomora, Japan) repeated as First Team coxswain, while fellow seniors Eric Jordan (Stratham, N.H.), Kento Kaijima (New York, N.Y.) and Julian Stolper (Walpole, N.H.) also received First Team nods. Sophomore Kevin Downing (Natick, Mass.) and junior Maxwell Milavetz (Salt Lake City, Utah) were named to the Second Team.

The 10-member squads are comprised of individuals from the league's eight teams and based on each team's finish at the NESCAC championships, which are held in conjunction with the National Invitational Rowing Championship in Worcester, Mass. Bates outpaced all conference rivals as they finished fourth first varsity eight grand final. Trinity was the only other NESCAC boat in the race, while other NESCAC schools qualified for the petite final. Bates defeated Trinity 6:04.305 to 6:17.287 to take home the championship.

Steenstra was selected as the 2019 NESCAC Men's & Women's Rowing Coach of the Year by his peers after guiding both squads to a sweep of the NESCAC Championships for the third consecutive year. The women's team won its fifth NESCAC Championship in six years and the men's squad captured its fourth championship overall. Steenstra, who won both Coach of the Year honors the past two seasons, earns the Women's Coach of the Year honor for the seventh time and the Men's Coach of the Year for the fifth time in his 11-year tenure at Bates.

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