The men's and women's crew teams raced this past Saturday against WPI in their opening meet of the spring season. Racing with a favorable tailwind and in relatively smooth waters at their new home on the Malden River, all boats were able to finish with lower race times than expected.
Competing for the Baker cup, the men's varsity eight boat came across the line with a time of 5:19.7. This time was good enough for a seven second victory over the men's varsity eight from WPI.
"We outperformed our expectations," captain Max Bernstein said. "Since you cannot defend in rowing, you cannot focus on the other team. All you can do is do your best."
Not only did the Jumbos claim first place, but they also began the season by exceeding hopes of where they wanted to be at this early juncture. Part of the assessment for a race is the race pace, or the number of strokes per minute. For this race, the goal for the boat was to maintain a pace of 34 strokes. However, the Jumbos maintained a pace of 36 strokes, well ahead of the pace they were hoping to achieve. At this point last season, the boat averaged only 32 strokes per minute.
"[Our pace] was far head of the pace from last year," Bernstein said. "Which is indicative of our hard work over the winter. We were able to display our fitness and come out on top."
The Jumbos can now charge into the spring season with not only a win under their belts, but with the knowledge that their offseason training was worthwhile.
"This was a great win for the men," coach Gary Caldwell said. "We have won the Baker Cup the past three years, but this crew is potentially the best crew we've had since 1995. There is some Division I talent in the group and I think they will be the surprise crew in New England. They will probably surprise everyone early, but then they will all catch on that we are a legitimately fast crew."
The women's varsity four had a successful weekend in its own right. It defeated WPI's varsity four by four seconds with a time of 7:14.7. This win was an encouraging start, particularly because the WPI program has been gaining strength in recent years.
Unfortunately, the women's varsity eight were unable to pull of a victory. The Jumbos started off aggressively, taking the lead of a length early on. However, WPI was able to come back over the course and win it by a length. Tufts lost by four seconds, crossing the line in a time of 6:19.4. Despite the loss, the Jumbos was not disappointed with their performance.
"On the whole I thought we did really well," sophomore Maggie Denes said. "The varsity from WPI is a really strong team. We only lost by four seconds. We were satisfied though. We kept it together the whole race."
The team was especially pleased with its ability to sprint quickly at the end, an area that sometimes makes the difference between winning and losing, and an area that the team had emphasized during winter training. The crew had been working on maintaining a 32-34 strokes per minute race pace and getting it up to 36 strokes at the end of the race while staying together with good technique. In the actual competition, the Jumbos were able to maintain a 36 stroke race pace throughout the entire course.
"It's funny that we did great on all the things we had been working on in the weeks before the race, yet it was other things that cost us," Denes said. "We were at 36 [strokes per minute] the entire race which was exactly what we had been working on. We were fast and together but we just didn't have the run we needed to win."
On Saturday both the men's and women's team will face off in an important meet against Tulane at home. The men will also be facing Boston College.
With first race jitters out of the way, Caldwell is confident he'll see another strong performance from the women's crew.
"We rode well against WPI, but we just need to relax," Caldwell said. "This race will give them confidence for the upcoming weekend."
The men's crew however, is working from the other end of the spectrum, trying to avoid overconfidence. One of its focuses entering the season was beating Boston College, a big rival.
"One thing we made sure of is that we didn't get too excited after the win," Bernstein said. "After a short congratulations after the race, we put our heads together and spoke about next weeks race."
