The varsity women's crew defended its home course this weekend, overcoming bleak weather to sweep Mt. Holyoke on the Malden River.
All three of the Jumbo varsity boats dominated their Lyon competitors. The first Tufts varsity boat finished in a time of 7:14.6, while Mt. Holyoke crossed the line in a time of 7:32.9. The second varsity boat (7:36.1) fared even better, defeating Mt. Holyoke's boat (8:02.1) by a whopping 26 seconds.
And if the Lyons thought it couldn't get any worse, the third Tufts varsity boat zipped by Mt. Holyoke in a time of 7:46.0, winning by a massive 33 second margin. Mt. Holyoke teams managed to salvage two victories against the Tufts novice boats, but still left Malden River with a bitter taste in their mouths.
"It's a good testimony to the level of work that's been done all year and it really showed on Saturday," coach Gary Caldwell said. "We anticipated that Mt. Holyoke would be decent since they went out to Worcester and swept WPI and Wellesley. That makes us feel pretty good about where we are right now."
A 15-20 mph headwind stretched the course out and slowed the boats down, but the Tufts rowers used their strength to out-stroke Mt. Holyoke. While the wind was a factor in the race, the most significant change took place within the boats, as Caldwell decided to mix things up by promoting two rowers to the first varsity boat. Juniors Kristine Shoemaker and Faith Hester, at the fifth and sixth seats, respectively, moved from the second boat to the first, adding their strength in the middle to propel Tufts to victory.
Senior co-captain Jackie Stone assumed the sixth seat in the second boat, and freshman Rebecca Herbst took over Shoemaker's spot in the fifth seat. Stone originally was in the second seat of the first varsity boat while Herbst was in the third seat.
"Boat selection is tough under any circumstances," Caldwell said. "We have 30 varsity rowers who have worked hard all year [and] we have individual as well as team goals. Whenever we move someone up, you have to move someone down."
Though moving rowers between boats has the potential to negatively affect the team chemistry, Caldwell does not think this will be a problem for his rowers.
"I think the ones that were moved down both handled this with maturity and worked to make the second varsity boat go faster," Caldwell said. "That shows how we act like a team as opposed to a bunch of individuals."
Stone believes this mobility creates healthy competition between the women, creates incentives for hard work, and helps determine the best combination for strength, flow and expertise in the water.
"The changes will benefit everyone in the end," Stone said.
This Saturday will bring an even greater challenge to the crew team as it sets off against Bates, Wesleyan and Washington College. The men will also face Bates and Wesleyan and will substitute University of New Hampshire for Washington.
Caldwell is already looking forward to improving upon this week's performance.
"I think one of our goals this week [will be] to try and take the aggressiveness and channel that into something that's controllable," Calwell said. "I think all three of the varsity boats got a little bit too excited [against Mt. Holyoke], but it's really hard to find fault when you win by the kind of margins we won by on Saturday."
