On a dreary Sunday afternoon in Lowell, Mass., the women's crew team participated in its first competitive race of the fall, in hopes of cheering up the friends and family who showed up for Homecoming Weekend.
The winds were blowing, and the rain was pouring, but that didn't stop the varsity boat from finishing fifth out of the 10 teams participating in the 3.5-mile-long Textile River Regatta. The Jumbo rowers finished behind the Riverside Boat Club A (16:41.955), University of Vermont Crew A (16:48.389), Riverside Boat Club B (16:48.487), and Colby Crew A (16:51.036) with a time of 16:55.213.
The club-eight boats finished fifth, sixth and 14th, respectively, in a field of 16 in their competition.
"I am encouraged by the performance and I'm pleased by the four boats we had compete this Sunday," coach Gary Caldwell said. "It was a very positive performance-nothing but positives. It's nice to see that the preparation for next spring is paying intermediate dividends as far as our team performance."
He did acknowledge, however, that the team needs to work out a few technical kinks before they even think about the spring season, when the races will be shorter and more competitive.
"We need greater flexibility and core strength, but it's a time-consuming process," he said. "Some of these changes we need to make will take time, since people aren't physically strong enough or flexible enough yet. I saw a significant difference from the way people were rowing at the end of last season and they way they rowed this week. It just shows that these things take time."
While Caldwell brushes off the weather as a factor in Sunday's outing, the rowers themselves felt that it played a part in their performance.
"We were soaked with rain, and there was a head wind blowing against us," senior Suzanne Horwitz said. "There was some confusion at the starting line, but we did a good job of staying calm and focused and not letting the poor conditions distract us."
Despite the confusion at the starting line, the results were comparatively better than last year's start to the fall season.
"The results seem to indicate that we're faster than we were last year, and with the work we're putting in, we're only going to get better," said Horwitz.
Caldwell pointed out the improvement in the team's performance over the same boats a year ago.
"Last year, UVM beat us by approximately 39 seconds; this year the margin was 6.4," Caldwell said. "Last year, Colby beat us by around nine seconds, and this year they beat us by only approximately four seconds."
The women will go back to the waters to prepare for the New Hampshire Championships, which will be held Oct. 14 in Pembroke, N.H. The competition will include Div. I powers Vermont, Dartmouth, Bates, Colby, Franklin Pierce, Southern New Hampshire, Holy Cross, and WPI.
For now, though, Caldwell is focusing not on the race itself, but rather on the team as a whole.
"It's a little too early for the New Hampshire Championships," Caldwell said. "From Tuesday through Friday, we're going to work pretty hard and figure out who goes where. We'll give some people the opportunity to sit in different seats."
The New Hampshire Championships will be another testing phase, as Caldwell tries different mixes and boat arrangements in search of the perfect combination of speed, strength and chemistry that will lead the Jumbos into a successful spring season.
"We have a long way to go when it comes to being at peak performance for the spring," Caldwell said. "But I see the effort being made on the water and in the weight room every day."
