This weekend at Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, Mass., both the men’s and the women’s crew teams represented their school well. The men, ranked third in New England, made another solid step in their season as they swept all four races they competed in, while the young women’s team continued to gain experience.
In the first men’s varsity eight event, the Cards edged WPI and Colby by two and four second margins, respectively. In the next event, the Cardinals defeated WPI by 10 seconds and Colby by 24 seconds. In the final varsity eight event, the Cardinals continued their dominance with a five-second victory over WPI. In the fourth and last men’s race of the day, Wesleyan won the novice four by its clearest margin of the day, 14.4 seconds over WPI and 36 seconds over Colby.
“From our first boat to our fourth boat on Saturday, the guys did a great job,” said head coach Phil Carney. “They were aggressive, rowed at the stroke ratings we had planned on, and really maximized their speed for this early part of the season.”
The Cardinals have opened the season with solid results, and hope to continue in the same fashion.
“Next week versus Tufts, Bates and UNH is our chance to prove that we can row as well as we did all the time,” said co-captain Nathan Boon ’06. “It will be an opportunity to test our race plan and ability against some more competitive crews.”
The Lady Cardinals faced strong competition this weekend against more experienced Smith, Colby, and WPI squads.
In the first race of the day, the varsity four finished three seconds behind WPI, while Smith won by a resounding 18 seconds. The second race of the varsity eight included three veterans who had raced in the first heat, Kim Strovink ’08, Deirdre Salsich ’07, Mara Baldwin ’06, and five novice rowers. The group found themselves matched up against strong competition as they placed behind Colby, Smith, and WPI. In the third race of the day, the promising novice eight lost to heavily favored Smith, but managed to edge out a victory over Smith’s B team.
“Our team is very young this year and has tremendous potential to grow,” said co-captain Kim Strovink ’08. “The ’09 rowers are some of the best novices I’ve ever seen. Because the team is mostly freshmen, the novice eight is a priority and has the best chance of placing at the New England Championships race in May.”
Next week the Cardinals head to Malden, Mass. The men, now 6-1 at the varsity eight level, hope to continue their hot streak as they face Tufts, Bates and New Hampshire. The young and continually growing women’s team will race against Tufts, Bates, and Washington College.
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