The men’s crew team’s top boat put together a remarkable fifth-place finish out of 58 teams in the Collegiate Eight event on Sunday, finishing behind only Trinity as the fastest team in Division III.
The race was held on the Charles River in Massachusetts at the 42nd annual Head of the Charles Regatta, which bills itself as the world’s largest two-day rowing event.
The first boat’s finishing time of 15:31.64 for the three-mile race was just two seconds behind Trinity, and almost nine seconds ahead of the sixth place finisher, MIT.
“We’re happy with the result and great accomplishment,” said co-captain Matt Carey ’07, a key component of the first varsity boat since his freshman year. “It means a lot to the program in terms of moving up in the division. You could go your whole rowing career and not even win a medal at the Head of the Charles. But everything fell into place this weekend. We had a good course and had a good race, and that was really the key.”
The fifth-place finish presents a tremendous turnaround from last fall when the team competed in the Head of the Charles, where it finished in 34th place.
While the first varsity boat made its mark finishing ahead of several competitors such as Williams, MIT, Bates, Rochester, Lehigh, and Coast Guard, the men’s second varsity boat also finished in fifth place out of 58 teams in their bracket, a feat that demonstrates the depth of the men’s crew team this year.
“Both boats finishing fifth was really encouraging,” Carey said. “It shows that not only is there speed in the water for our team but there is significant depth. That’s the most important thing you want at this stage. If you have that depth in the winter, you have guys competing for spots. Guys sometimes get complacent if they already know they’re in the top boat. It’s a challenge because the top eight knows that the second eight is fast as well, which promotes a healthy environment for competition.”
Co-captain Chris Cody ’07 noted that in years past, the crew team often suffered from a lack of quality rowers behind the top boat. This year the team has several candidates to choose from in forming the top varsity boat.
“We know that we have two strong boats this year,” Cody said. “There are a lot of guys on the second boat who could have been in the first boat. We’re not struggling to put a top boat together this year. We’re not thinking about who’s going to hurt us, it’s who is going to be the fastest in certain situations.”
“This race just gives us a huge boost of confidence going into winter training knowing that we’re going to be a heavily competitive boat, which means the level of competition among the team to get into the top boat is going to be tremendous,” said Doug Cody ’09, another key member of the first varsity eight.
Sunday’s race involved each boat starting at different intervals of time. When the squad passed two boats that started ahead of the first Cardinal boat and rowed near a third at the finish line, the men’s team had a sense that they finished near the top of the competition.
“The most distinct part of the race was that we were always moving up on someone instead of holding off someone behind us,” Carey said. “We were rowing more aggressively than defensively. We passed the boat in front of us in the first half mile, but there was a larger gap between us and the next boat. It took us until 2 miles to pass next boat, and we then gained on a third boat as we crossed finish line.”
While the fifth-place finish for both teams was quite an impressive feat, for Carey, the team must focus on preparing for the spring season, and use the result as a steppingstone as the team enters winter training.
“What this means is that we had a good race, and I think it establishes the fact that we’re making improvements,” Carey said. “But the only rankings that matter are what the finish line says in May. It doesn’t mean that we’re ahead of anyone right now. A lot of things can change in the winter.”
The men’s crew team will compete in the Head of the Fish Regatta next weekend at Saratoga, NY in the team’s final fall competition. Like Carey, Tom Volgenau ’08 hopes to build on the team’s fifth place finish in the team’s final event of the fall and for the winter training leading up to the spring.
“The key element as we race this weekend and go into the winter is to not lose the competitive edge,” Volgenau said. “Fifth at the Charles is an exciting accomplishment, but it should only motivate us to further improve ourselves. Personally, I’m excited for the winter. There is no room to rest—nobody has a guaranteed seat, so the positions on first and second boat will go to those who are willing to work the hardest.”
Members of the crew team’s first varsity boat this past Sunday included Carey, Volgenau, Chris and Doug Cody, Gael Hagen ’09, Alpay Koralturk ’08, Colin Prensky ’07, Jeremy Brown ’08, and coxswain Kim Davies ’07.
Matt McLarney ’08, Miller Nobel, Ross Heinemann ’08, Brian Studwell ’09, Eric Spierer ’10, Parker Cook ’09, Ben Roberts ’09, Adam Nikolich ’09, and coxswain George Bennum ’09 made up the second varsity boat.
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