Jumbos fare well against some of New England's Best

With races against some of the best competition in New England last weekend, the Tufts crew teams needed to row at the top of their abilities if they hoped to come away from the water with a few victories under their belts.

The teams also faced a weaker set of boats from visiting Tulane University in a separate race, however, which offered a good opportunity to boost the Jumbos' record and confidence early in the season.

Due to the various levels of competition, the varsity teams finished the weekend with a wide range of results. The pain inflicted by disappointing losses on Saturday to bitter rivals was quickly soothed by a dominating victory on Sunday over Tulane.

Early Saturday morning, the Malden River was still quite rough after two consecutive days of rain, and the poor conditions seemed to hurt the Jumbos in their races. Debris floated down the water, and small waves were visible on the icy gray surface.

On a course that was shortened by 125 meters, schools that perennially succeed on the New England crew scene, such as Trinity and Boston College, proved to be too much for Tufts. Due to the smaller lengths, race strategy had to be changed, altering the character of the events.

"Because the course was shorter, the strokes had to be faster," sophomore Jackie Stone said. "The boats race at almost a sprint so as to use up the optimum amount of energy. It definitely made for an interesting day."

The men's first boat lost both of its races by a second and a half, the first to BC and the second to Coast Guard.

"We felt confident [before the races], but still a little anxious knowing that we were going up against some of the best crews in New England," freshman Tim Pineau said. "Even though we lost, we now know that beating BC and getting a medal at the All-New England Regatta is possible. We know what we have to do."

"We now have something tangible to strive for in upcoming regattas. We have everything to gain and nothing to lose," echoed junior Andrew Pelkey. "I think the fact that we lost by such by a small margin will only make us better in the long run."

The women's top boat suffered a similarly painful loss against Mt. Holyoke, losing by a second. With only a few minutes to regroup before their next race, the Jumbos failed to put up much of a contest, as they quickly fell behind and ended up losing by almost 20 seconds to Trinity.

"We went all out on the first race, and it was really tough to find the fire again so close to the original loss," sophomore Daniela Fairchild said. "We were just beat off the starting line. The intensity and cohesiveness were missing."

On Sunday, in the team's third regatta of the year, the varsity boats came out roaring. The change of conditions seemed to bring success, as both the men and women easily overpowered Tulane, rowing to victories of over ten seconds on a remarkably flat and calm Malden River. The men's team took advantage of the favorable water, rowing the 2000 meters quicker than they rowed the 1875 meters against Boston College. The novice team completed the sweep by dispatching Tulane by 12 seconds.

"It was nice to get a win against Tulane, even though we won't see [them] at the All-New England, so it was more of just a confidence builder," senior Jon Goulet said. "It felt good to row more aggressively than we did in those tough losses to BC and Coast Guard."