For the Tufts women's crew team, tomorrow can't come soon enough.
The team opens its spring season on Saturday with a tri-meet against University of Vermont and Tulane on the Malden River, its first race since October. This season will feature the largest varsity squad in coach Gary Caldwell's tenure at Tufts, a 33-rower team built mainly around a solid nucleus of upperclassmen.
The fall season's team ended with a No. 12 finish out of 46 teams in the Head of the Charles Regatta, and the Jumbos anticipate even better results this spring.
The team has done some intense workouts during the off-season to prepare for this spring. They usually lift weights together twice per week and on their own once per week, and train on rowing machines four to five times a week.
"We've been waiting all year for this," senior co-captain Jackie Stone said. "Crew is a year-around sport and nothing compares to spring season. What makes it better is that we even have four home races."
The team starts its season in familiar waters, as its first three meets of the season will be held on Malden River.
"We have terrain that we're comfortable with and we have an advantage with that," Stone said. "Malden River has this curve and since our coxswain knows it so well, we have an advantage over the other teams that race here."
Caldwell shares the same sentiments and hopes that the positive energy from last season will carry over into the 2006 season.
"I think we made significant strides at the varsity level last year and I would like to hope that we are going to build on that this spring," Caldwell said. "Certainly we have more depth than we had last year and the student-athletes have worked really hard from November to get prepared for the spring season."
Senior co-captains Stone and Daniela Fairchild, who Caldwell hailed as "the best captains I've ever had" lead a balanced squad of eight seniors, 10 juniors on the team, 10 sophomores and five freshmen. Caldwell believes that the even mix of classes will provide consistency down the road.
"I think having a balanced group like we have provides continuity from year to year," Caldwell said. "This isn't a one-year enterprise; it's a multiple [-year] enterprise and you want it to continue for years to come."
While Caldwell has not fully determined the roster for each of the boats, the first varsity boat is finalized.
At the bow will be junior Airlia Esworthy, with Stone right behind in the number two seat. The bow seats are generally reserved for the more "finesse rowers," and they have more impact on the stability of the boat than do the rowers in the stern.
"The two and the one seats keep the boat balanced and keep the flow," Stone said. "We've got to make sure everyone just flows together."
The middle seats, considered the "engine room" of the boat, consist of seats three through six. These rowers are bigger and physically stronger rowers, and will be filled by freshman Rebecca Herbst (third seat), senior Denise Zenier (fourth seat), sophomore Caitlin Gallagher (fifth seat), and senior Martha Dietz (sixth seat).
Rowers with a good sense of rhythm fill the seventh and stroke seats. Fairchild and senior Heidi Hauenstein will take those two roles. Sophomore Alison Ungerleider is the boat's coxswain.
Tomorrow's meet will test the months of preparation during the offseason. The Jumbos knocked Vermont out of the finals during the New England Rowing Championships last spring, and Caldwell believes the Catamounts have his rowers in their sights.
"They have been thinking about this since last spring, I'm sure," Caldwell said. "We're going to make sure to ruin their spring again, and they will gear up to try and take it to us and ruin our spring."
