The men's crew team displayed strong rowing at this Sunday's season opening Textile Regatta at Lowell, Mass, as both boats - the open four and the club eight - finished tenth in their respective races, and turned in impressive times. This marks the third consecutive year that the Jumbos finished within the top ten in their opening race.
The men's lightweight four squad, consisting of junior Max Bernstein, seniors Shane Black-Macken, sophomore John Goulet, junior James Winkler and junior coxswain Sarah Dale, placed tenth out of 25 boats with a time of 21:13. Gunnery School Crew ended up winning the race with a time of 21:22.
In the men's club eight, the Tufts crew finished tenth out of 30 boats. Seniors Rajeev Marreddy, Chris Mitchell, Nate Swinmburne, juniors James Burke, Brandon Dickason, Joe Spataro, Ryan Steeb, sophomore Rob Goldstein, and coxswain Beth Grosart turned in a time of 19:13, right behind last year's winner UMass-Amherst, which finished in 19:09.
"I think we did pretty good," coach Ben Foster said. "We are right where we should be at this point in the season".
In the club four race, the Jumbos found themselves gaining on Fairfield University throughout most of the three-mile race. Though never passing Fairfield, Tufts maintained a comfortable cushion in front of Boston College, which they beat by over nine seconds.
The eights race was much closer, with Tufts and Wesleyan barely trailing UMass-Amherst, last year's winner, for the majority of the race. But towards the end, Wesleyan made a move and nearly passed Tufts on the last stretch to the finish line. The Jumbos clung on to tenth place, however, edging the Cardinals by two seconds.
Though the Jumbos finished in the top of their field in the club eights, Sunday's performance was not as good as last year's, when they finished sixth. Only one boat was raced in last year's opening regatta.
In line with this, the Jumbos' opening race drew mixed reactions from various members of the team. Though coach Foster feels the Jumbos are on par for training and improving for the more important spring season sprints, other rowers believe that last year's team chemistry needs some improvement.
"The race was somewhat disappointing," Goulet said. "I expected a better performance from us. However, I think we are still feeling things out. We haven't rowed together in a while, and its tough to say how quickly we will get back in form."
Foster and new assistant Jeff Lindy, a recent Tufts graduate, have been running extensive practices thus far. Despite the fact that almost all of last year's team returned for this season, the oarsmen are still shaking off some early-season rust. Many have not rowed with each other for a while, and coach Foster has moved some team members to different spots than the previous season.
"Fall season is more focused on preparation," Foster said. "The team that rowed the fours and eights was not our best lineup. We're just trying to figure out where our strengths are and improve upon that."
Many members on the team also feel that the Jumbos are making good progress for spring. This year's squad is physically larger and more in tune to apply its strength to the ergs of the water. The big question this early in the season is how quickly it can develop team chemistry.
"Sunday's race was frenetic, but overall a good performance," Marreddy said. "Besides some technical work on the water, we are steadily improving and are on our way to having some good races."
Mareddy and the Jumbos will look to test their progress again when they compete on Saturday, Oct. 13 at Manchester, NH for the New Hampshire Championships.
