Saratoga News

Saratoga's Ashby Monk helped the Princeton crew team win a national championship this past spring. Monk is a former crew member for the Los Gatos Rowing Club.

Ashby Monk makes history

Saratogan helps Princeton win national title

By Dick Sparrer

Ashby Monk made a little history this spring.

Monk is a member of the crew team at Princeton University, and he and his teammates on the second varsity heavyweight crew became the first heavyweight eight in 126 years to follow up an undefeated season with championships at the Eastern Sprints and the Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championships.

The Saratoga oarsman, who began rowing locally with the Los Gatos Rowing Club while in high school, competed in the four-seat for Princeton and helped the university to match wins against Yale, Harvard, Brown, Navy, the University of Pennsylvania, MIT, Columbia, Cornell and Rutgers.

Princeton went on to win the Eastern Sprints on May 19 in Worcester, Mass., then took the IRA national title on May 30 on the Cooper river in Camden, N.J.

Conditions on the 2,000-meter course were perfect for the national finals, but Princeton trailed the field by two seats (8 feet) after 500 meters. Princeton picked up the pace over the final 1,500 meters to finish eight seats ahead of runnerup Wisconsin in a time of 5:44.

The University of Pennsylvania, Brown, Washington and Navy were other teams in finals.

Monk, who has lived in Saratoga for 18 years, attended St. Andrews School and is a graduate of Harker and Menlo schools.

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