Tufts Crew is set to take to the water again this spring after a long break from the short fall season.
This season's men's varsity team is filled with new faces and talent: Freshmen dominate the roster. While inexperience and youth might be a concern, the team looks forward to a spring full of potential and promise.
There are only five seniors and four juniors on the 2005-2006 roster. Due to a lack of returning varsity rowers, the novice crew boat was terminated. Those freshmen were drafted into the varsity program, expanding the Tufts varsity contingent to three boats.
"We're building a strong program, and we've built up a lot from last semester," said freshman Mike Conroy, stroke seat for the first varsity boat and a photo editor for the Daily. "There's still some work to be done, but we have a lot of dedicated novice rowers for future years."
Junior tri-captain Jeff Vanderkruik acknowledged the question mark created by the large freshman class.
"It just brings a whole new perspective on the team, for better or for worse," he said. "It's [the freshmen rowers'] first spring season and hopefully it will make for a very positive outcome."
Everyone is eager to pick up the momentum of the fall campaign to open the spring season. In the biggest race of the fall season, the Head of the Charles Regatta on Oct. 22-23, Tufts took an impressive 18th out of 60 teams.
But the spring season has an entirely new dynamic, as the races are much shorter and the strategies different. The 2,000-meter races in the spring are faster-paced and higher-intensity than the 4,000- or 5,000-meter races of the fall season.
"We're rowing a lot faster and pushing ourselves a lot more," Conroy said. "It's a shorter race time, so if you mess up once, you don't have too much time to get back into race. It's really intense rowing head-to-head against another crew. Our coach tells us 'it's 80 percent mental, and the rest is in your head.'"
Though not all of its seats have been assigned yet, the first varsity boat is fairly set.
Conroy, one of the two freshmen on the boat, has the
pivotal seat at stroke. According to coach Jay Britt, he chose Conroy because the position requires someone "who is pretty gritty, has a pretty good sense of rhythm and won't quit."
Vanderkruik will join Conroy in the rear to provide the boat's pacing and consistency. He will move back from his sixth-seat position last year, and he admits the shift from port to starboard is nerve-wracking yet exciting.
"The stern pair is responsible for setting the rhythm for the boat," Conroy said. "You have to set a good ratio, since a lot of times people rush, which throws off boat's rhythm."
The middle four, the engine of the boat, will be comprised of sophomore Matt Diffy (third seat), senior tri-captain John Papp (fourth seat), junior Benjy Tarshis (fifth seat), and senior tri-captain Ben Harburg (sixth seat). Tarshi and Harburg will provide the majority of the boat's power, while Diffy and Papp's roles require more technique in maintaining continuity between the stroke and the rest of the boat.
Senior Mark Roberts will fill the number two seat, junior Nick Walker will sit in the bow seat and sophomore Faith Davis is the boat's coxswain.
While young talent abounds, the most exiting new addition to the team is the new boathouse. The structure will provide a new home base for the crew teams, and construction, which began on Aug. 1, is nearly finished.
"It's fantastic," Britt said. "We can't wait. We're rowing beside it every morning and we're very excited about just being able to get out of the water and put the boats in a rack and then to have heat."
Britt also sees the boathouse as a recruiting draw to bolster future teams and continue Tufts' dominance in the sport.
"It's going to be great for visiting students who want to come and row at Tufts," he said. "They can see that the school is invested in the team. We have a home, and to have a place to call our home and not to depend on anyone else's generosity is beyond words."
Vanderkruik believes the new boathouse will help the crew team's image as well.
"With the house, we feel that there's going to be a little more respect towards the team - respect that we deserve - and it's just going to contribute to the really positive, energetic feeling we have," he said.
Both the men's and women's crew open the spring season with a tri-meet on the Malden River on Saturday. The men will take on Boston College, winner of the 2005 Intercollegiate Rowing Association championship, and Vermont, and the women will also face the Catamounts, along with Tulane.
