This weekend in Worcester, Mass., both the men’s and women’s crew teams delivered performances indicative of their productive and successful regular seasons.
The men’s team came into the New England Championships seeded fourth with a 9-3 dual race season record. The men sat behind the only three teams that had defeated them during the regular season: Trinity, Holy Cross, and Williams, all of which are strong programs that have had great performances on the varsity eight level. The Cardinals finished fourth, behind Williams by 2.3 seconds.
“We’re disappointed we couldn’t pull off the upset against Williams in the first varsity event, but we left it all out there on the course so there are no regrets,” said co-captain Matt Carey ’07.
The other three men’s boats were extremely successful, as each boat realized its goal to medal at the regatta. The second varsity eight placed third out of the 12 competing teams. The third varsity eight placed second out of five squads, and the novice four finished second in their heat as well.
“It was great to see the second varsity, third varsity, and novice four all get on the medal docks,” Carey said. “This has been a year of big development for the entire rowing team, upperclassmen included.”
The team plans to take this year’s positive production and carry it into next year. The Cardinals are extremely young, and they are graduating only one senior this year and have an excellent incoming freshman class.
“I couldn’t be prouder of the team, and these young men have done an outstanding job throughout the whole year,” said Head Coach Phil Carney. “With such a young squad and strong incoming class, the future looks very bright.”
The women’s team also performed very well at New Englands this weekend.
The varsity four opened the day in a very difficult heat with four other strong squads: Simmons, Amherst, Roger Williams, and Brandeis. The Cards finished third, which advanced them to the petite final in the afternoon.
“Their first heat was particularly hard given the crew in their race, and if the crews in their heat had been different, it is likely that they would have been in the Grand Final,” said Amy Nebenhaus ’07.
The varsity four placed first in the afternoon race, finishing eight seconds ahead of the second place boat, ranking them seventh out of the 14 varsity four squads.
The second varsity four placed fifth out of five crews in the race and did not go on to a final in the afternoon.
“Everyone in the boat felt pleased with how well they had rowed the race and are excited to build up their strength over the summer for our fall season,” Nebenhaus said.
The novice eight had a great day on Sunday, placing third in their heat to move on to the grand final. In the final they placed sixth out of the twelve New England squads.
“Our spring season has been about a lot of learning,” said coxswain Jinny Jang ’08. “Our rowers have undoubtedly become stronger physically, but I think the team’s biggest change, especially for the novices, has been in its intensity and mental toughness.”
Both the men’s and women’s teams will travel to the ECAC Championships on Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, Mass. May 13-14.
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