The men's and women's crew teams hit the water for the first time since late October in the spring season's openers, which were held at home on the Malden River - and yielded mixed results.
Sunday was a disappointing day overall for men's crew, as they fell to Tulane, finishing in 6:35.2. They started off strong, but fell flat and never responded after Tulane grabbed the lead.
"I thought we had a tremendous start," coach Jay Britt said. "We were rowing aggressively, and we were quick with the legs. On that day, there was headwind and when we came through bridge, we got hit with the gust, and all of the sudden, we went off stroke and we never got it back."
"We were right with Tulane when we came to a turn, but we just never responded at the turn," Britt added. "We learned a lesson on Sunday with Tulane, and it was a hard lesson to swallow."
The Jumbos fared better on Saturday, as the varsity boat sped past Vermont and finished with a time of 6:06.4, 10 seconds ahead of the second-place Catamounts (6:16.2). However, the Jumbos could not carry that success to the second race: Boston College beat out the Tufts boat, undercutting the Jumbos' 6:03.6 finish by almost five seconds (5:57.3).
But senior tri-captain Jeff Vanderkruik warned against taking the results at face value.
"We had a better race against Boston College technically, but we couldn't really pull it together and win," he said. "Although we beat UVM; we felt a little more confident and inspired by the second race."
Vanderkruik cited the mechanical soundness of the second race as a positive sign, despite the loss. Whereas the Tufts rowers were slightly stiff in the race against Vermont, their first race of the day, they were more settled in during the second race, maintaining a better rhythm and rowing with greater confidence.
"Take what you can from the wins and the losses," Vanderkruik said. "Now we're looking forward to the races next weekend."
The men's second varsity boat squeaked by Boston College in their race, finishing in 6:01.5, two seconds ahead of Boston College's time of 6:03.3. The third boat did not do as well, coming in well behind the Eagles' 6:11.5 with a time of 6:45.0.
The women's first boat lost to Vermont (6:35.2) on Saturday with a time of 6:49.7. After the top race, however, the Jumbos fared better: The second varsity boat squeaked by the Green Wave with a time of 6:43.6, and the third varsity boat won their race against Vermont by 17 seconds.
Senior co-captain Jackie Stone saw the results as a promising sign, but knows the team is far from where it could be.
"It was a great race; we came out there and we fought," Stone said. "We can improve on making our start a little faster - the start is something that evolves throughout the season. We can also improve on finding a very potent race strategy, but that's more of a trial and error process and that will come within the season."
Stone cited a trio of ingredients that will lead the Jumbos to success in the spring season: the potential of their team, the right boats and the flow. While the first is abundant within the talented squad, the latter two will come with increased practice, race experience and experimentation.
Next up, the women's team will face Mt. Holyoke in a race that will count in the eventual NCAA standings, as Mt. Holyoke competes in the same division as Tufts.
