The spring showers that deterred many from stepping outside their cozy dorm rooms failed to prevent Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, Ma from becoming a hotbed of competition and bloodlust. The men’s crew squad took their first victory of the season and the women worked towards a respectable fourth as the Cardinals took on crews from Colby, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and the University of Massachusetts in dreadful temperatures and weather conditions. Fresh from positive outings last weekend, both teams were willing and ready to forgo the confines of the temperature controlled bus and battle it out over the high seas.
The men’s varsity eight were victorious despite sloppy conditions and a less than perfect race, trouncing Colby (6:19.25), WPI (6:25.77) and Umass (6.35.82) with a time of 6:13.40 on a course affected by a tailwind.
“We were in the lead from the start to the finish,” said Darrel Lambert ’05. “We had Colby by three seats initially, but after the first 600 meters that had spread out to a boat length, and we still continued to pull away until the end.”
The women’s varsity eight battled their way to a fourth place showing (7:09.74), and despite a solid effort were edged out by Smith (6:52.62), Colby (6:57.39), and WPI (7:02.29), but defeated Umass (7:58.7). Following a rushed start by officials, the women’s eight found themselves three to four seats back from the first three crews, a gap which they could not make up despite aggressive ‘Power 10’ pieces.
The men’s second varsity eight kept their two race-winning streak alive with another victory on Saturday, adding to an ever increasing bundle of winning shirts for the self-proclaimed ‘Handsome Crew.’ The race was one-sided from the start again, with Colby putting up a meager fight for the first 500 meters and WPI A for the first 1000.
“Racing conditions were tough, the water was choppy and we encountered some strong wind, but all our boats fought through and showed a will to fight and win that speaks well of the team in general,” said Billy Shaw ’05.
The times for the men’s second varsity eight race were Wesleyan (6:24.80), WPI A (6:28.20), Colby (6:30.17) and WPI B (6:53.26). The women’s second varsity eight came in fourth in their competition with a time of 7:32.91, while the women’s novice eight captured second place with a strong showing of 7:23.79. The varsity four squad from the women’s team also finished second in their race with a time of 7:47.98, a feat considering this was the first time for that crew in an official race. The men’s third varsity four placed fifth in a pack of six with a time of (7:29.73).
In a sport distanced from the glamour of home games in Wesleyan’s small college atmosphere, the crew teams at Wesleyan expect the fan base for the early meets to be parents, relatives and the occasional hung-over student who drove to Worcester with his/her carload of ex-rowers knotted in the fringes of the sport. Media coverage is scarce: sensible writers stay home, sleep in, play whiffle ball and chase after the athletes upon their arrival back to campus, groveling for quotes and feeling the brunt of the threats to make the article ‘fair and balanced.’
However, the cliché rings true, none of this is on the mind of a rower on race day, as both squads made considerable progress in a blustery weekend.
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