Cooper River

The Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships on the Cooper River in Camden County this week have drawn hundreds of rowers from all across the country. About 40 colleges and universities were invited to send teams. The competition is a battle among the cream of the crop. Races will continue through Saturday. It's the fourth time the event has been held on the Cooper River. The championships date back to 1895.

The 97th Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championship Regatta swooped into action yesterday morning on the Cooper River in Camden County. By tomorrow, 160 crews from as far away as the West Coast will have competed over the 2,000-meter course in the three-day regatta. Heats for the men's varsity eight and lightweight eight finals and the women's lightweight finals are scheduled to take place tomorrow.

In the cold twilight, six crews raced to a blanket finish no more than three boat lengths apart as the seventh annual La Salle College Invitational Regatta ended dramatically yesterday on the Cooper River in Camden County Park. The Mercyhurst oarsmen powered the prow of their shell ahead of Washington College of Chestertown, Md., by one-quarter of a length for a varsity eight triumph by virtue of a strong sprint late on the 2,000-meter course. Mercyhurst sped the distance in the face of a cold crosswind in 6 minutes and 31.9 seconds as against 6:32.

The American Rowing Championship Regatta is mostly a chance for rowers at the intermediate level to star in national competition. But the ARC, which begins four days of racing on the Cooper River in Camden County this morning, will also provide a more relaxing outlet for national- class competitors such as Frank Rowe and Jason Darling of the Undine Barge Club. Undine crew coach Jim Barker sounds like a proud father as he lists the accomplishments of his two talented rowers.

Think about the protection that lashes afford eyes, and you'll have an idea of how the Cooper River is affected when its banks are bare of vegetation. "Pollutants are free to enter the river as the bank continues to erode," said Westmont resident and environmental activist Fred Stine. "Soil erosion is a major problem for the river. " Delaware Riverkeeper Network, Stine's nonprofit, volunteer environmental-action group, has been working to slowly restore the eight miles of riverbank along the Cooper River by organizing hundreds of volunteers for mass plantings.

Sure, Temple's heavyweight eight is the big fish at the Dad Vail Regatta, but that's an event for small fry. The Intercollegiate Rowing Association Regatta, which will be held today, tomorrow and Saturday, is a much larger pond. The Owls, small-program beast that they are - they've won the Dad Vail eight straight times - might be swallowed whole by the giants trolling the Cooper River in Pennsauken this weekend. Sure, Penn's varsity eight surprised everyone by winning the Ivy League championship 11 days ago at the Eastern Sprints in Worcester, Mass.

Camden firefighters yesterday recovered the body of Tia Pratt, 5, who drowned Thursday with her father after the small boat they were riding in on the Cooper River near 10th and State Streets took on water and overturned. A search continued for the body of Robert Lee Pratt, 35, of Ablett Village. Fire Capt. William Huelas said that shortly before 11 a.m. rescuers found the girl's body in shallow waters of the Cooper River, about 800 feet south of the 10th Street Bridge. He said firefighters searched the area from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. when rough waters forced them to discontinue dragging operations.

A "mountain" of silt has sparked a dispute between two Camden County government agencies that had been cooperating to clean up one of New Jersey's worst polluted waterways - the Cooper River. State officials have entered the fray to try to smooth over the differences between the Camden County Municipal Utilities Authority and the Camden County Park Commission. Last week, the park commission accused the CCMUA of creating a sandbar in the river through improper construction practices.

A Camden man and his 5-year-old daughter were missing and presumed drowned in the Cooper River in Camden last night after a boating accident that the man's 9-year-old son survived, police said. Police received a report at 5:14 p.m. that three people had fallen from a boat into the river near 10th and State Streets, Camden police Detective Richard G. Desmond said. Rescuers arriving at the scene found the boy, Michael Searles, who told them he had been with his father and sister on the boat when it flipped.

Katie Ewell feels her boat getting faster and faster, just in time for the Stotesbury Cup Regatta. "It's the biggest race of the year," Ewell, a senior at Bishop Eustace Prep, said of the annual regatta that will be held Friday and Saturday on the Schuylkill. Ewell and her teammates on the Bishop Eustace varsity eight boat hope to be in contention for a medal at the world's oldest and largest high school regatta. This year's event is expected to draw 5,000 athletes from 198 high schools competing in 925 boats.

Camden County's Cooper River Park could become a much better version of itself now that the county is beginning a long-awaited $23 million, five-year face-lift that will bring people to the water's edge for recreation. This is a welcome project in a park that will pull together urban and suburban outdoor enthusiasts looking for a good softball game, run, picnic, walk, bike ride, or boat race, or who just want to throw a line in the water and hope a bass or catfish bites. Too few people enjoy the river's edge on the Jersey side, but Philadelphia landscape architects Cairone and Kaupp have designed a handsome combination of paths, boardwalks, and overlooks to bring more visitors there.

I think of Cooper River Park as South Jersey's version of Fairmount Park, along the Schuylkill. "It's a park everyone feels very strongly about," observes landscape architect Joseph R. Cairone, who spoke to a standing-room-only crowd at the Camden County Boathouse on North Park Drive last week. The audience had come to hear about his firm's $23 million "Vision Plan," the first phase of which will be voted on by Camden County freeholders Thursday. The project will enhance the heart of the park: the postcard-esque area that offers great Philly skyline views and features the renowned, 1.3-mile rowing course between Cuthbert Boulevard in Cherry Hill and Route 130 in Pennsauken.

  Camden County officials will present on Wednesday night at a public hearing their $23 million plan to revitalize Cooper River Park. The five-year plan includes construction of a boardwalk and fishing piers along the riverbanks and improvements to athletic fields, picnic areas, the playground, and the park stadium. "It's the county's function to improve the quality of life for our residents," Freeholder Jeffery L. Nash said Friday. "There's no better way to do that than enhance our parks.

Pennsauken police are investigating why a vehicle plunged into Cooper River Lake on Sunday morning with an elderly woman inside. Police Lt. Eric Davies said the vehicle was found by police near the intersection of Route 130 and North Park Drive about 8 a.m., with the woman inside. The car's occupant, who lived in Pennsauken, was pronounced dead at the scene. She has been identified, but her name is being withheld pending notification of relatives, Davies said. - Dan Hardy

The Bishop Eustace girls' crew will try for its fourth consecutive varsity eight championship in the 84th annual Stotesbury Cup Regatta, the world's oldest and largest high school rowing competition, this weekend on the Schuylkill. "Anything is possible," Eustace second-year coach Danielle Ponzio said. "I expect the girls to be ready to go and perform well. " The Crusaders' boat, which took top honors at the Garden State Championships three weeks ago on the Cooper River, is made up of coxswain Kerry Walsh, stroke Caroline Bourassa, Amanda O'Malley, Morgan Weller, Sabrina Malak, Katie Ewell, Hannah Hoag, Kate Taylor, and bow Elizabeth Campanella.

They miss proms. They miss parties. They miss movies. They get up early during senior trips, just to get in a good hour or two of land workouts before they visit Disney World. "It's in the fine print that you have to give up your life," Bishop Eustace senior Amanda O'Malley said. She was only kidding. Or maybe not. There's no fine print for the girls on the Crusaders' varsity eight boat. But there's an unbreakable bond, a shared sacrifice, a commitment to rowing and to each other that carries them across the water and across the finish line with remarkable speed and unprecedented success.

Philadelphia is replete with strange and wonderful events. Little can top the Mummers Parade, to be sure. We officially commemorate Flag Day, mostly because Philly resident Betsy Ross may or may not have sewn the first American flag. We also have the best sports victory parades - when we get around to winning the championships. And for the rowing crowd, the Dad Vail Regatta falls into the category of being a top event. It is the largest collegiate regatta in the United States, but it doesn't always have the best teams, nor does it have any real championships.

It was about as rewarding a bicycle ride as one could have with a flat tire. As Washington crew coach Bob Ernst anxiously pedaled along a bank of the Cooper River yesterday, keeping a keen eye on his Huskies in the varsity heavyweight eight grand final, the air seeped out of his front tire. But the undefeated oarsmen from Washington had no such transportation problems as they outraced Stanford and Harvard by half a boat length to win varsity eight at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championships.