The women’s crew team traveled to Malden, Mass. on Saturday to compete against crews from Tufts, Bates and Washington (MD) College and posted a solid third place finish. This breezy spring day of racing brought a sizeable amount of spectators who clumped together on the lawn by the finish and cheered the crews on for the final sprint.
Though still adjusting to the loss of varsity sophomore Joanna Rhodes ’06 due to an injury, the women were intent to establish themselves against two NESCAC opponents.
“We were excited for these races. Though the course is a little curved at one point it’s also very narrow so the other crew seems really close. It’s intense,” said Rachel Williams ’05.
The first race for the varsity eight women was against Tufts. They were edged out by a mere two seconds in an extremely close race.
“This race hurt,” said Jordan Conn ’05. “We had a great set and pulled harder than we have all year, but Tufts just managed to inch past us in the final sprint. It was their home course; we’ll look forward to racing them in Worcester.”
The time for their first race was 7:06.6.
In the second race the women turned it up a notch and sent the Bates women home without a win. The squad had the inside lane and were therefore staggered behind Bates at the start. The crew took a power ten to pull even with Bates before the curve, and used the curve to develop a lead they never lost. With each stroke of the second half of the race the women took seats, finishing with open water between them and Bates. They won by 10.2 seconds with a time of 7:24.5.
The varsity eight finished third overall, with Washington College taking the win.
The women’s junior varsity eight finished second in their two races. The second race was closely matched as the race appeared deadlocked going in the final 200 meters. The crew had the outside lane and called a power move, but could not make up a slight lead gained by Tufts. They ended up 4.2 seconds behind with a time of 7:59.7.
The women’s novice eight won their only race of the day. Though having a two-seat disadvantage after the start, the women quickly rectified that and began ‘walking away’ by the halfway point.
“They were a good team but a second novice team,” said Conn,who also rowed in the novice race. “They put up a good fight, but we were just a stronger crew.”
After facing adversity in the first competition of the season, the women’s team has fought hard every race, and with each week continues to improve in the results column.
“We didn’t struggle. We have never struggled,” said coxswain Amy Nebenhaus ’07. “The results are starting to show that.”
The team plans to take that attitude to Amherst to participate in the Little Three Championships, where they will meet rival Williams for the first time of the year.
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