The story of Teti, now the head coach of the Cal men’s crew team, starts in West Philadelphia, as a kid who never thought to give much time to the ideas of college, traveling the world, or even the Olympics, where he’ll be coaching the USA men’s coxed eight this summer in London.

That is, until Teti joined the rowing team his senior year of high school, only to find a lifelong love for the sport that would take him to college, the Olympics, and around the world.

“When I went for the rowing team my senior year in high school, all the kids I was rowing with were all going to college,” Teti says. “I thought I was going to graduate and then I was going to get a full-time job working for Florsheim Shoes and I was perfectly happy with that.

“But I wanted rowing to last, so I went to college.”

Teti’s parents raised Mike and his nine siblings to understand the values of acceptance, hard work and what being a good person meant.

“I came from parents that knew what was important and what wasn’t important,” Teti says. “They never pushed me into anything, only to be nice to my brothers and sisters, family, elders and be respectful. The greatest gift that my parents gave us was each other.”

For Teti, rowing not only opened up the opportunity to attend college but the privilege to travel the world.

“Before I made the rowing team, the farthest I had ever been from West Philadelphia was to the Jersey Shore,” he says. “The farthest I had even gone from my house was 55 miles away. I’d never been on an airplane before and now here I am.”

From Greece to Amsterdam to South Korea and Switzerland, Teti has come a long way from the boy born and raised in West Philly. And an even longer way from the fist-pumpin’ Jersey Shore.

His journey around the world started when he met Allen Rosenberg during his Sunday shift at the local gas station. Rosenberg was the head coach for the USA men’s rowing team during the 1964 Olympics, in which the men’s coxed eight took home the gold medal.

No one would match this feat until 2004, when Teti coached the men’s coxed eight to an Olympic gold medal.

“One day, this famous coach … came into the gas station and said ‘Hey, this guy that rowed in the pair, his partner retired so we’re looking for another partner for him. You come and row with me.’ And I said okay so I got to try it,” Teti says. “So I was just there, I was pumping gas in this guy’s car and next thing you know I had this opportunity to try out for the pair, which I made and went on to compete at the World Championships.”

Teti’s first taste of Olympic exposure came in the summer of 1988, where he was selected to compete in the men’s coxed eight, which took place in Seoul, South Korea. Though the bronze medal the men’s team won that summer left a sour taste in most competitors’ mouths, Teti stayed upbeat.

Despite all of his success, Teti treats every failure and accomplishment as a humbling experience.

“When I was on the medal podium, you’re looking out at the grandstands and I saw a couple athletes that were on our team and I knew that they were as good or better than me and they weren’t going to have an Olympic medal, so it’s a little bit humbling,” he says.

“Initially you’re disappointed, but then once you get to the podium, you start thinking like ‘Okay, when I was 17, did I ever think I was going to be standing here right now?’ No.”

“It was more of a hope or a dream but you never really thought it would come to fruition. I felt really lucky that I was able to have an Olympic medal.”

Teti’s love for rowing trumps all struggle and sacrifice. He rowed because he liked it, as simple as that. For Teti, it will never be about the medals and honors. A truly humble man of his successes, Teti attributes all of his success to his simple love for the sport.

“Even if I was terrible, I would have still rowed,” Teti says. “I liked it, I liked being down in the water, I liked the people, I liked the training. All these Olympic stories you hear about with the sacrifice and the training but to me it was never like that. I didn’t feel like I was sacrificing anything, I was doing what I wanted to do and I liked it.”

In 1997, Teti was able to experience another side of rowing, coaching, selected as the USA Rowing Head Coach. In his first three years as head coach, Teti led the men’s coxed eight to back-to-back gold medals at the World Championship. In 2004, Teti coached the men’s coxed eight to Olympic gold in the 2004 summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.

Not only was this the first time that the U.S.A. men’s coxed eight had won the Olympic gold since 1964, they also did so by setting a groundbreaking world record. But Teti doesn’t take credit for the accomplishment, instead giving the credit to his athletes.

“I got to be able to coach these really great guys,” Teti says. “I had exceptional athletes. I was proud of the accomplishments but it was just a humbling experience.”

Teti’s outstanding coaching performances have earned him prestigious awards, such as the U.S. Rowing National Coach of the Year and induction into their Hall of Fame.

But to Teti, these awards are simply opportunities for him to thank all of the people who got him to where he is today — yet another Olympic Games.

His decision to join the rowing team his last year of high school enhanced his life in ways he could have never imagined.

“For a kid whose father didn’t finish high school,” Teti says, “to be able to have the opportunity to travel around the world and go to the Olympics, whether as an athlete or a coach, is pretty special.”

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The No. 4 Cal men’s crew team finished fourth at the IRA National Championships this weekend at Copper River in Cherry Hill, N.J., finishing in the top four in five events.

The finish breaks a four-year streak of top-three finishes for the perennially competitive program, which has finished in the top three all but twice in the past decade. After winning four straight championships from 1999-2002, the Bears have now won just two titles in the last seven years, the most recent coming in 2010.

Washington swept all five events in the Grand Finals, but Cal gave the Huskies their closest test. The Bears finished just 1.84 seconds back in the varsity four grand final, one of two second-place finishes for the squad on Saturday.

Cal’s only other second-place finish came in the freshman eight, where the squad finished nearly four seconds back.

The Bears were otherwise outpaced by superior squads, finishing an average of 4.45 seconds out of first.

However, Cal will return seven of eight rowers from their varsity eight boat next season, losing only senior Chris Yeager.

Softball nabs awards as season ends sadly

The No. 1 Cal softball team’s season came to a premature end Sunday with a 5-2 loss to Alabama, but several members of the team will go home with some heavy hardware anyway.

Three players — seniors Valerie Arioto and Jamia Reid, and junior Jolene Henderson — added to their resumes when they were named All-Americans on Wednesday. Arioto was also given the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award on Friday, awarded annually to the most outstanding senior in NCAA softball.

Arioto, also named Pac-12 Player of the Year, finishes the season with some of the gaudiest stats in the nation, hitting .365 with 23 home runs and a 1.538 OPS. But the senior was hardly a factor in the College World Series, garnering seven outs and seven walks without a hit.

Reid finished the season with 51 stolen bases, breaking the record of 48 she set her sophomore year. But the senior’s Division I-leading total wasn’t her only attention-grabbing stat. Reid also led Cal with 88 hits and had a team-high .378 batting average.

Henderson was also named Pac-12 Pitcher of the Year.

The post Sports in Brief — June 3, 2012 appeared first on The Daily Californian.

The Cal men’s crew team has won the IRA national championship 16 times in program history, second to Cornell. The Bears’ most recent national victory was just last year and they were looking to finish 2011 by defending their crown.

In the final competition of the season, No. 2 Cal could only manage  third place at Cooper Hill in Cherry Hill, N.J..

“I’m really proud of our athletes,” coach Mike Teti said. “The varsity gave everything they had.”

In last year’s grand final, Cal narrowly edged Pac-10 rival Washington by just 0.263 seconds to capture the IRA Championship. But this year proved different, as the Huskies’ varsity 8+ posted a winning time of 5:30.623 to secure the title over Cal and runner-up Harvard.

The three-day event featured all of the Bears’ boats. They started strong on Thursday by claiming three wins in the heat stages. The varsity 8+ rowed the best time from their contingent with a 5:28.77. The closest time behind was Wisconsin in second place at 5:30.70.

Five Cal boats advanced to the semifinals, but only three — the varsity 8+, junior varsity 8+ and freshmen 8+ — pushed forward to the final day of the IRA Championship Regatta on Saturday. The varsity 8+ bears beat Brown with a two second margin in the semifinals. After overcoming some ill-timed adversity, the squad was putting it all on the line.

“We have battled sickness throughout the week leading up to the IRAs,” Teti said. “The level of competition was high, I am very pleased with the performances of our squad over the past two days.”

But Saturday morning’s race did not go the way the varsity 8+ had hoped. The boat included junior Dane Oatman, who was named the conference’s Newcomer of the Year, as well as all-conference team seniors Oliver Siegelaar and Spencer Crowley. Even with all-conference selection and Pac-10 Athlete of the Year Samuel Walker, the Bears couldn’t emerge victorious.

“Sammy is the soul of our team and we are not only proud of his achievement, but feel extremely lucky to be around such a fine young man,” Teti said. “Sammy is California Rowing.”

There was still consolation for the Bears, as the freshmen 8+ earned a hard-fought win over Washington. The freshmen boat has achieved success in the grand finals, winning three times in the past four years.

“Obviously the freshmen gave a great performance,” Teti said. “I’m pleased with the performance of the whole team, this bodes well for the program in the future.”

Camellia Senemar covers crew.

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