After just missing the varsity four grand final at the New England Rowing Championships last season, the women’s crew team rounded out a rough year in which the Cardinals won only one varsity race.
“Last year was a rebuilding year,” said Deirdre Salsich ’07. “And now, we’re really thinking towards what we can do this year.”
Finishing in the middle of the pack for novice last year, and just below that for varsity, this year’s team has a new sense of optimism, if not strategy.
“Training for rowing is pretty straightforward,” said head coach Beth Emery. “If you’re rowing well, the boat goes faster. We’re looking forward to what we have to work with.”
The season opens this Sunday with the Hartford Riverfront Recapture Regatta, a race Salsich hopes will get Wesleyan headed in the right direction.
“I would like to place in the top ten [on Sunday],” Emery said. “Overall, we’re looking to be competitive. We want to win races, we want to keep up with all the schools, we want to show other schools that we’ve got the goods.”
For the fall, Emery is set on racing well at the Head of the Charles in Boston, a world-class regatta in which the team did not compete last year. The ultimate goal for the Cards this year is to get back in the finals at the New England Rowing Championships, the culmination of the spring sprint season, and the Cards plan on getting there by making the most of the team’s collective rowing experience.
“Now that last year’s freshmen have a little more rowing under their belts, they’re going to be a big boon to the team” Salsich said. “They’re really going to be crucial to the team’s success.”
“We lost one senior rower and one senior cox,” said coxswain Amy Nebenhaus ’07. “We’re in a pretty good position from which to start.”
This year’s novice crew of about ten girls will also be key to the Cardinals’ success, bringing depth to the team and working with varsity more as the season progresses. Last year’s team had “a particularly strong novice eight,” according to Emery.
“It’s the beginning of the season, and as different rowers coming from different places, we have to get used to each other, put aside whatever style you were taught, and concede to the unifying style of the coaches,” said Kathy Stavis ’10, one of the five experienced freshmen on the varsity team. “But there’s a good evolving team dynamic.”
Staying motivated, especially in the middle of 6,000-meter headrace, is a responsibility that falls largely on Nebenhaus and her fellow coxswains, and is often the difference between a mediocre and successful season.
“It’s always hard to enjoy doing the work needed to win and do a good job,” Nebenhaus said. “As is trying to inspire people to have the will to do the hard parts.”
Injuries too could pose a problem for the Cards. A case of mono and strained or pulled back muscles have already sidelined a few members of the team.
“We’ve had some injuries already this semester that could trip us up,” Salsich said. “But if we stay healthy I think we can really compete this year. I’m really, really excited to see what we can do as a team. We have nothing to lose and tremendous potential, and it’s up to us to capitalize on it.”
Though standouts and leaders do exist on the squad, Emery stressed the fact that rowing is very much a team sport.
“To say that any one person stands out above the rest isn’t really in keeping with what makes your boat go fast” she said. “You’re only as fast as your weakest rower.”
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