This weekend both the men’s and women’s crew teams put up strong final performances, leaving them optimistic as they head into the New England Championships next week.
The men faced the deep and dominant Trinity squad, the number-one ranked team in New England. The Cards fell to Trinity by 14 seconds in the first varsity eight, and by only three seconds in the second eight.
Trinity has developed a very strong program over the past few years. Generous alumni contributions combined with strong recruiting and a Division I coach have given the Bantams a powerful platform to build off of. Earlier this season they were even ranked ahead of some Division I programs, including Yale.
“I think our second boat has a good chance at taking Trinity’s second boat in the championships,” said co-captain Matt Carey ’07. “The focus of the first boat, however, is fixed squarely on Williams.”
Next week the first boat will likely be the fourth seed behind Trinity, Holy Cross, and Williams. These teams represent the only three losses for the first boat this season. The Cardinals will be largely focused on beating Williams for a chance to medal. In addition, the first boat will need to keep in mind the late season speed historically picked up by some of the deeper clubs, such as Bates and Coast Guard. The second boat will likely be the third seed, behind Trinity and Holy Cross.
“If we can combine our newly-reworked start with the consistently powerful body and finish which has been our bread and butter all season, we stand a really good chance of medaling at New Englands,” said co-captain Nathan Boon ’06. “Morale is high and the team has never looked better.”
The women had an extremely positive experience this weekend as well, performing solidly in their last varsity eight race of the season, as well as in the varsity four event. Because of the relatively small size of the Wesleyan team, the women will only be sending the varsity four and novice eight boats to the New England Championships next week, so this was the varsity eight’s last race. Trinity pulled out ahead at the beginning of the race while Wesleyan and Connecticut College stayed relatively close. Despite coming in fourth, the team felt good about its performance.
“At the end of the race, everyone knew that they had raced their hardest and they came off the water with a positive attitude,” said Amy Nebenhaus ’07, a member of the varsity eight. “To have a race where you feel completely satisfied with your results, no matter how you placed, is a truly great experience.”
The varsity four had a similar racing experience, finishing ahead of both Connecticut College squads while defeating Trinity.
“They had a late start coming off the line and were a bit down from the beginning, but they did not let this discourage them, and they continued to vie with Trinity andConn. the entire way down the race course,” Nebenhaus said. “Everyone in the boat is looking forward to New Englands and having the chance to face Trinity and Conn. again.”
The novice eight, however, was the highlight of the weekend, performing exceptionally well against a powerful Trinity squad. The novice eight, which has been a priority for the team all season because of its amazing potential, took enormous strides this weekend thanks to a bit of reshuffling. The team reworked the boat by starboard rigging the boat and switching stroke seats by moving Anna Pachner ’09 to stroke the eight.
The lineup change seems to have been effective, as the women came off the line with authority and stuck right next to the Trinity boat. Trinity had a slight lead with less than 250 meters left in the race, and the women picked up some ground finishing just 1.2 seconds behind them.
“This race is just what the novice girls needed to remind them how good they actually are,” said co-captain Kim Strovink ’08. “It’s perfect that it happened the weekend before New Englands. It’s good to have some confidence back. It looks like they’re finally finding their speed.”
The team is extremely optimistic and energized going into next week.
“This weekend is our opportunity to show these crews how fast we really are and place into the top crews,” said Jinny Jang ’08, who coxed the novice eight. “My teammates and I are really pumped about New Englands, particularly about racing Trinity again and closing the 1.2 second gap.”
Both squads will travel to the New England Championships Sunday on Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, Mass.
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