The men's and women's crew teams opened the spring season with a bang this past weekend at the Baker Cup on the Charles River, finishing first in four of the seven races in which Tufts competed.
The races began on Saturday with the women's lightweight eight rowing in a scrimmage against Division I MIT. While the crew could not pull off a victory, it put up a strong fight against a difficult opponent.
"The lightweight team rowed well," coach Gary Caldwell said. "They rowed better than any other Tufts women's lightweight team on the Charles at this point in the season, which is significant. They just couldn't pull it off against MIT."
The women's open varsity eight had better luck on Sunday with a victory against WPI. The Jumbos got out to an early lead and didn't look back, beating the Engineers by 6.6 seconds with a time of 7:28.8.
"They got out early and were in control of the race by the halfway mark," Caldwell said. "They were able to put a stop to any challenge by WPI."
The men's varsity eight team was just as successful, dominating WPI and Tulane from beginning to end. They rowed to the finish in a time of 6:34.9, beating WPI by 1.4 seconds despite a move late in the race by WPI.
"The varsity men got out to a significant lead and then they rowed aggressively throughout the race," Caldwell said. "WPI was not at the same level. They made an attempt to come back, but the men never lost control."
The women's varsity four team had more of a challenge on its hands, but was able to race for the win over Brandeis and MIT. Tufts got behind early, but was able to catch up two-thirds of the way into the race. The team rowed through the end for a time of 8:35.2, giving Tufts a margin of victory of only 0.7 seconds over Brandeis. This success was especially noteworthy, as Tufts adjusted to a new rower, who replaced the injured sophomore Dianna Darsney. Freshman Sandra Goldberg replaced Darsney.
"Sandra did a great job, especially since it was her first varsity race," Caldwell said. "She really stepped it up."
"I was really excited. It was my first spring and varsity race ever," Goldberg said. "It was incredible when we found out we had beaten both teams. It was great to know that all of the winter training had paid off."
The women's novice eight team was unable to overtake WPI at the end of its race, losing by 2.6 seconds. Though Tufts was down in the beginning of the race, the team came back to put the pressure on and came within ten strokes of WPI before losing the race. The men's second varsity eight was also unable to closeout against the WPI "A" team, losing by seven seconds with a time of 6:59.2.
Overall, the team had a successful weekend, though a strong current worked against Tufts. The teams were also worried about a lack of practice time on the water due to bad weather, although this did not seem to have much of an impact on the race.
"The lack of water time seemed to be more of a factor for WPI than for us," Caldwell said. "It seemed that some of their crews who practiced on the water on Saturday did much better than those that didn't get the chance to come out. They will be a force later in the season."
Next up for the women is a race this Saturday against Wellesley. The men will race Boston College. Both teams will enter this race with their confidence running high.
"A win is a win and everyone is feeling good after this weekend," Caldwell said. "We know we have a lot of work to do, but I think everyone who raced took something positive from it and will use that to push forward in their training."
