The men's novice crew team raced in cold conditions at the annual Quinsigamond Challenge in Worcester, Mass. this past Saturday. The race was the novice team's third and final competition of the fall season. The A and B Jumbo boats finished seventh and 13th, respectively, out of thirteen teams.
The novice A boat came in with a final time of 14:19.1. Racing in this boat from bow to stern were freshmen Dave Horne, Ari Goldber, Steve Constantino, Alex Clark, Max Hurd, Ian Davis, Zach Jefferson and Sam Goldhar. Its coxswain was Kyle Pong. Pong, a junior, is new to the novice program and was participating in her first race of the year.
"It was tough. For most of the guys it was just their second or third race," Goldhar said. "Physically I think everyone gave it everything they had as we were honestly spent by the end of the race. We just need to focus more on working together to make the boat faster, but it's something you can only learn with experience."
Goldhar was the only freshman to also row with the varsity squad this year. He was brought down to the novice team to race with his classmates this weekend.
"We have a strong team, it's just a question of how much time you can spend on the water and who can catch on," Goldhar said about the team.
Racing for the Jumbos in the novice B boat was coxswain Elein Becque followed by freshmen Joe Stein, Sean Locke, Vincent Santos, Joe Weidenbach, Jake Shapiro, Brian Blaney, Dan Taylor and Matt Chan. This boat finished thirteenth with a time of 16:58.9.
"[Coach Jim Burke] made one boat stronger than the other, and having [Goldhar] helped the other boat get a good rhythm," Blaney said. "[Our] boat felt a lot better than the last couple days at practice, but we had hoped for a better outcome."
Graduate student Jim Burke coaches the novice team.
"Both boats did not race badly because they are all true novices," Burke said. "We have a lot of things to work on for the spring season which is our real focus. We only had a limited time practicing together but we were able to get a good feel for our competition."
"This wasn't the best we've ever rowed," Chan, who was participating in his second race, said. "We still have some technical things we need to work out, but that is what practice is for."
Last year the Jumbos finished fourth and 12th of fourteen teams in the same race.
In the spring, the team will race along with the varsity team. The Jumbos hope to come together in the spring after they work and train hard over the coming winter months.
