The women’s crew team delivered a solid performance in its first race of the season, the Head of the Housatonic in Oxford, Conn. last Saturday. The Cardinals entered four boats in the regatta—a collegiate varsity eight and four as well as a collegiate novice eight and four—all of which finished in the middle of the pack in their respective races down the 2.5 mile course.
“We had the expectation that the team go out and row really hard, and I think we accomplished that,” Head Coach Beth Emery said.
Racing mostly against other Division III teams, the Cards had three boats in the top half of heat finishes: the varsity eight, coming in 6th of 13 entries with a time of 17:45.6; the novice four, finishing 4th of eight in 21:39.3; and the novice eight, 6th of 12 at 21:21.2 The varsity four placed 7th of 12 in 20:08.1.
The varsity eight passed two other teams en route to the finish, about 1:20 behind the winner, the powerhouse crew from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy.
“The best part wasn’t even passing the other boats,” coxswain Jinny Jang ’08 said. “We were consistently powerful; every single person in the boat just clicked.”
Wesleyan also rowed against other Division III schools Wellesley, Mt. Holyoke, and Amherst, among others, on Saturday.
“We’re always interested to see where we stack up with other Division III and NESCAC schools as a yardstick,” said Emery. “There’s a lot of good Division III rowing in New England.”
As the first race for the majority of novice rowers, Saturday’s regatta went better than expected for many.
“It was really intimidating: we’ve only been rowing about a month, whereas other boats could have members that rowed all through high school,” said novice coxswain Emily Compton ’09. “We didn’t know what our chances were. But both crews [that I coxed] worked really well together.”
The fall crew season is made up of head races, long distance pieces that pit each team against the clock. The spring sprint season, for which fall is a preparation, challenges crews head-to-head for 2000 meters.
“Fall is an opportunity to race other crews but it’s really a time to prepare for the spring and work on the technicalities of our stroke,” Emery said. “We learned a lot [Saturday], and we now know some of the things we need to work on.”
This season was scheduled to start Sunday, Oct. 1 at the Hartford Riverfront Regatta, but the event was cancelled due to inclement weather. The Cards’ next race will be at the Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston, Oct. 21 and 22.
“I think [Saturday] gives a good indication of where we can go,” Jang said. “We’re hoping and we’re training to be at the front of the pack.”
“Just compared to last year, the general strength of the boat has improved,” Anna Pachner ’09 said. “We pose more of a serious threat.”
Emery commended both varsity and novice rowers for “getting focused and finding out that when they apply themselves, they are fitter, stronger, and more capable than they may have previously judged.”
“It was the first real race for us,” Compton said. “And as we get better technically and stronger physically, I think we can do a lot this season.”
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