In a season that featured disappointing losses and exciting wins, the Tufts crew teams gradually improved throughout the year, culminating in four top-three finishes at New Englands and one National runner-up.
The women's side was inspired throughout the year by the amazing performance of the novice crew. The first boat experienced a stellar spring, rowing to an undefeated regular season.
Its 6-0 streak finally came to an end in Worcester on May 1, when the crew finished third in its New England heat. But the boat rebounded in the finals, rowing to a second place finish. Tufts followed up with a seventh place finish at the national finals on May 9.
"The season was really amazing, it definitely surpassed any expectations we had coming into it," freshman Katie Saville said. "We were just really able to all come together and make it happen at the end. When you compare what we are doing now to what we did in the fall it's like night and day."
The story was quite different for the second novice boat, which started the season 1-3, but pulled together for a first place finish at New Englands and a seventh at Nationals.
Hampered by the loss of key juniors studying abroad, the varsity women's crew looked like it would have a tough spring season.
The first boat started out the season with a string of losses, but after beating Tulane, the Jumbos came together to finish with a 3-6 record and a 12th place finish in New England.
The second boat struggled as well, ending the year with two victories and six losses.
"Going into this season was tough," sophomore Jackie Stone said. "We knew we lost power from important juniors going abroad, but our varsity program truly rose to the challenge, and when it all ended up we were very happy. We worked hard all year long, and great improvements were seen on a weekly basis, which was very gratifying."
The women's most impressive race was the four-woman varsity boat, which didn't compete much all year, but put together an outstanding run at nationals. The Jumbos just missed out on a Div. III title in the event, finishing second in the country.
"We just put four girls from the eight [person boat] into a four, and it worked out really well," junior Lauren Sessions said.
On the men's side, the second and third varsity boats led the way with excellent performances at New Englands.
The third boat was the only Tufts team to take a title from the regatta, while the second boat finished third. The following weekend at Worcester, the second boat rowed to an eighth place national spot.
The crew struggled in the beginning of the season, while they shifted seats and tried to find their rhythm. Disappointing losses were frequent, even as the boats put up decent times.
After the rough start for all of the men's boats, each group took a different path.
The first varsity boat never quite found its rhythm, and ended its season with a regular season record of 3-4. The crew didn't find any more success at New England's, where they finished 11th overall.
The No. 2 boat turned its season around on April 17 when it staved off Holy Cross by 0.7 seconds, beating a rival boat in a close race for the first time.
"Up until that race we had only won [races] by a lot," freshman stroke Tim Pineau said. "We seemed to lose all the close races, but we didn't let Holy Cross take us. We held them off and won. We proved we could do it and build our confidence."
The future for the and men's and women's teams look bright, as they will hope to build upon their recent success at New England's and Nationals, and the return of key performers next year should provide them with additional help.
"There's a lot still left to be desired," Stone said. "We would like to see a varsity boat at Nationals next year, and that goal is very feasible provided we all band together and work hard."
