The women’s crew team saw mixed results this weekend in Worcester, MA, placing fourth behind Colby, Smith, and WPI in a four-team varsity eight race, but earning a victory over Smith in a varsity four event.
The varsity eight boat, rowed by co-captain Deirdre Salsich ’07, Elizabeth Ogata ’09, Linnea Damer ’10, Elaine Lauriat ’09, Sam Schilit ’10, Eve Mayberger ’09, Radoslava Petrova ’07, Katie Boyce-Jacino ’10, and cox Jinny Jang ’08, finished the race with a time of 7:47.9. Though they placed last, the time was merely 34 seconds behind first-placed Colby.
“The varsity eight race was a good race for a lot of reasons,” Salsich said. “We improved our start quite a bit from last week and were able to stay with the three other crews in the first 100-200 meters. After the first 25 strokes, Colby and Smith pulled away. We kept to our game plan and stayed at a 33-34 stroke rating throughout the race.”
The varsity four boat, rowed by Ogata, Damer, Salsich, and Lauriat, with co-captain Amy Nebenhaus ’07 at cox, finished its race with a time of 9:04.3, beating Smith by 21.3 seconds.
“We started quickly and were overlapped with Smith for about the first 150 meters. We gradually took seat by seat until we had surpassed them to finish ahead of them by a couple of lengths of open water. Beth Ogata stroked a great race, and Amy kept us competitive throughout,” Salsich said.
“The Varsity 4 team really benefited from having already raced once as the stern four of the varsity 8. The earlier race helped us to refocus and work out some kinks, so by the time we got in the four, we were relaxed and ready to have a great race. Smith always has a strong team with a lot of depth, so it was particularly nice to win against them,” Lauriat said.
Lauriat also credited the kindness of the Cardinals’ supporters with helping the varsity four rebound from the earlier loss.
“In between races, we also got to enjoy a small snack from the table with lots of food and drinks that the parents always set up for us,” she said. “It’s amazing what a couple of doughnut holes will do for morale when it’s freezing cold and you’re out on the water wearing spandex.”
The Cardinals are hard at work preparing for a race Saturday against Tufts in Malden, MA.
“This week, we spent a lot of time working on the middle of the race, trying to build our speed. For this upcoming week, we’re putting in a finish sprint where we bring up the stroke rating,” Luriat said.
In their last meeting, the Cards finished 29.1 seconds ahead of the Jumbos in the varsity four Petite Final at last year’s New England Championships. The Cards’ novice eight squad finished 14.6 seconds behind the Jumbos in the Grand Final at the same race.
“Last year in the novice eight, we had a notorious finishing sprint which helped us make the grand finals of the ECAC regatta, so with some work, I think we can replicate that effort,” Lauriat said.
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