Halfway into the fall season, the mood is high among both the Wesleyan men’s and women’s crew teams. With competitive finishes by the squads at the two regattas to date, hopes abound for a compelling conclusion to the calendar year as the Cardinals take to the water for the final times this week.

“We’re off to a great start this year,” said Margo Tercek ’13 of the women’s team. “We had strong performances at the Head of the Housatonic and the Head of the Textile.”

“Our fearless leaders, captains Emilie George [’13] and Robin Cotter [’13], are doing an excellent job of motivating the team, so I think it will be a great year for WesCrew,” Tercek said.

Men’s co-captain Sam Hoefle ’13 reflected a similar sentiment.

“We have been extremely successful so far this season in all boats from the varsity eight to the novice four,” he said. “Though only 12 oarsmen and two coxswains can race this weekend [at the Head of the Charles], we have a handful of guys that are vying for spots in the varsity boat moving into next weekend and the spring season.”

On Sunday, Sept. 30, the two teams began the season by traveling to Lowell, Mass., to compete in the 3.5-mile Textile River Regatta in a field featuring both non-collegiate club and collegiate varsity teams throughout the Northeast. The Wesleyan men won the Club 8 event, with the A boat taking first with a time of 19:22.657. Manning the boat were coxswain Martin Villanueva ’15, Bryce Hollingsworth ’13, David Hinds ’13, Peter Martin ’14, Stephen MacNeille ’15, Ethan Currie ’15, and Colin Russell ’15. Not 20 seconds later, they were followed by cox Max Dietz ’16, Sam Factor ’14, Nick Petrillo ’14, Ryan Heffernan ’16, Carter Peterson ’13, Peter Cornillie ’15, Sam Giagtzoglou ’16, Cole Chiumento ’14, and Chris Nanda ’16, who rowed Wesleyan’s B boat into third place with a time of 19:40.868.

Later in the afternoon, the men raced in the Open 8, an event in which teams combine rowers from A and B boats. The Cardinal boat of cox Grant Nikols ’13, Hollingsworth, Ben Record ’15, Hoefle, Hinds, Heffernan, Petrillo, Martin, and Currie finished first among college teams and second overall with a time of 19:08.599, the fastest showing by a Wesleyan boat that day.

The men’s novice 4 also saw some action as they finished 21st out of 27 teams in the Novice 4, a promising performance for the first-time rowers.

The Wesleyan women found success in Lowell as well. The A boat of cox Ari Rudess ’15, Avery Mushinski ’15, Clare Doyle ’14, Kayla Cloud ’14, Emma Koramshahi ’16, Zoe Mueller ’13, Hannah Korevaar ’14, co-captain Cotter and Emilie Sinkler ’14 took fourth place out of 16 teams with a time of 21:33.652, and the B boat followed in sixth place with a time of 22:05.593. In the Open 4, the Cardinals took fifth of 16 with a time of 24:09.246.

The team also received impressive performances from its rookie class, with the novice eight entry coming in second out of eight at 22:44.529 and the novice four coming in first of five at 25:16.693.

“We got a lot of new freshman,  so the team has much more depth than we’ve had in previous years,” Tercek said. One can only imagine this spells good things for the squad’s future.

A week later, the men’s and women’s crew teams established some momentum in Shelton, Conn., at the 2.7-mile Head of the Housatonic Regatta. The men’s first event on the afternoon was the Collegiate 8, which saw them come in first and third yet again with times of 14:14.82 and 14:36.31. Meanwhile, Little Three rival Williams came in second and fourth place. In the A boat for the Cardinals were Nikols, Hollingsworth, Record, Tenzin Masselli ’15, Hinds, co-captains Hoefle and Trevor Michelson ’13, Martin, and Currie. In the B boat were Villanueva, Factor, Petrillo, Cornillie, Peterson, Heffernan, Nanda, Chiumento, and Russell. Wesleyan boats also came in sixth of 15 in the Collegiate 4 at 17:02.51 and first of five in the Collegiate Novice 4 at 16:40.15.

In the women’s Collegiate 8, Wesleyan finished second at 16:49.64, fourth at 17:04.72, and ninth at 18:05.40. In the A boat were cox Brianne Wiemann ’15, Mushinski, Koravaar, Cloud, Doyle, Muller, Emily Johnson ’13, Cotter, and Sinkler. The B boat consisted Rudess, Annie Dade ’16, Lucy Finn ’14, Nicole Stanton ’15, Koramshahi, Haley Sacks ’13, Alex Irace ’15, Anna Redgrave ’16, and Tercek, and the C boat of cox Jasmine Masand ’15, Remy Johnson ’16, Emma Golub ’16, Stephanie Vaughn ’16, Emma Buford ’16, Emily Garvin ’15, Eva Frieden ’15, Anna Melio ’16 and George. Wesleyan boats also finished fourth of nine in the Collegiate 4 at 18:42.90, and fifth of six in the Open 4 19:23.24. Two novice eight entries finished fifth and 10th out of 10 at 17:56.46 and 21:41.65 respectively.

Looking forward, the men and women have a busy week ahead. The final two fall regattas occur within that timeframe, as the teams skip town over Homecoming Weekend to journey to Boston for the Head of the Charles. On Saturday, Oct. 27, they finish the season at the Head of the Fish in Saratoga, N.Y.