@bodytext: Flaunting its superior depth, the Tufts women's crew team rowed to strong finishes on Sunday at the Textile River Regatta, in Lowell, Massachusetts. Tufts was the only college in the regatta to field three varsity eight boats, and its depth was evident as the boats finished second, 11th, and 24th out of a field of 34 colleges.
The first eight rowed an impressive race, finishing in 21:43, just seven seconds behind the University of Vermont's first team of eight. What may be even more telling, however, is the performance of Tufts' back two boats.
The squad's second eight finished in 23:01, less than a minute and a half out of first, and the only other second boat to finish higher was again UVM, who's second boat finished fifteen seconds ahead in ninth place.
The rowers recognize the clear advantage they hold in terms of overall team depth.
"It's pretty awesome when your third boat finishes in front of a lot of school's second boats and your second finishes in front of a lot of school's firsts," senior co-captain Loi Sessions said.
As a fall race, the Textile River Regatta is a head race or long distance race unlike the sprint races that occur in spring. All crews start at staggered times and do not race alongside other crews. In this regatta, the Tufts crew team competed against many crew teams from throughout New England.
The beautiful weather and calm water conditions were highly conducive to racing and the varsity team was able to have an impressive first race of the season.
"The conditions were very good and the weather was nice," sophomore Morgan Glasebrook said. "But it was the first regatta so we had to get used to racing again."
Although junior Daniella Fairchild said that the first race can be somewhat difficult, she noted that the first varsity boat was able to overcome this.
"Usually with a first race everyone is so nervous [and] it's not the best race that people have," Fairchild said. "With this race, everyone in the boat was working the whole time. Every time the stroke started to fall off, within five strokes we had it back. It was definitely a crisp race for the first time out."
The first boat began to pull away from the pack at the start and continued to do so throughout the race.
"We were passing boats the whole time," said Sessions, who was in the first boat. "We just rowed really well and it felt good."
Senior co-captain Ashley Korb agreed.
"It was more of a trial against ourselves than anything, and I think we all went out and rowed our hardest," she said.
The second boat consisted mostly of sophomores, and its strong finish is especially significant for the strength of coach Gary Caldwell's varsity program, being that this was the first race for the sophomore women on a varsity level.
The boat got off to a fast start, using its momentum to pass several boats near the halfway point in the race. At that point, the course, which was particularly long, began to wear on the rowers.
"We mostly race 5K's in the fall, and this course was closer to a 5-and-half K race," said sophomore Katie Saville, who stroked for the second boat. "I think we weren't totally prepared to race that long of a race, 23 minutes, as hard as we can. We sort of hit a mental block in the middle, but we were able to pick it up in the end, and this first race will help us a lot in the future."
While there wasn't a novice boat (consisting of only freshmen) racing for Tufts at the regatta, the team will field a novice boat at its next race, the New Hampshire Championships, held in Pembroke, New Hampshire on October 16th.
"The novice coaches are pretty excited," Fairchild said. "They have at least a boat worth of people that know what they are doing, [and] they are excited because they have a great group of girls. Half of it is having the mentality to just show up and row and not get frustrated by the little things."
Meanwhile, the depth of the varsity team will be a key as the team continues to prepare for the spring season.
"[The team's depth] will definitely carry over into the spring," Korb said. "Having three solid boats like that increases our competitiveness against other teams. We have a huge number of girls to draw from, and on any day we can put together a boat with any girls and know that we'll have a great practice."
