Elena M. Menegakis has been elected to the Northeastern University Hall of Fame for excellence in the sport of crew.
Menegakis, Class of '99, becomes the first-ever oarswoman to be elected to the NU Hall of Fame. She not only helped propel the Huskies to national prominence but went on to become a two-year member of the U.S. National team.
She started her crew career at Shrewsbury High School, one of the few public schools in Massachusetts to feature rowing. She rowed for four years, being elected captain and named the team's Most Valuable Oarswoman as both a junior and senior. Through a personal relationship with her hero, Olympic sculler Anne Marden, she met NU crew coach Carie Graves and was recruited to Northeastern.
When she joined the Huskies for the 1995 rowing season, NU was in a slump. The '95 season did not start any better; after three straight losses, it was ranked 12th of 15 Eastern Sprint schools. At that point, Coach Graves turned the all-important stroke seat over to true freshman Menegakis.
The Huskies immediately dispatched archrival Boston University by three seconds and followed that with regatta victories over Rutgers and Radcliffe to finish the season with a 6-5 record. At the prestigious Eastern Sprint Championship, the Huskies came in fifth for their best finish ever. Her sophomore year, NU went 7-2 with a fifth-place finish at the Sprints, and in her junior season the team finished 9-3 with an eighth-place sprint finish.
For Menegakis and Northeastern, her senior season of 1998 was extra special. The Huskies cruised through the regular regatta season with a perfect 9-0 record, then took third at the Eastern Sprints, the best finish ever for NU. At the NCAA Championship, they narrowly missed the medal stand, taking fourth, another NU best.
As the four-year stroke, she enjoyed a regular season regatta record of 30-5, was named most inspirational all four years, and most valuable as a junior and senior. She also captained the crew as a junior and senior.
After graduation, Menegakis competed as a member of the United States Rowing Team in 2001 and 2002. She enjoyed a fourth-place finish for the U.S. in the four without at the 2001 World Championship and a first place at the 2002 U.S. National Championship in the four without.
