Celebrating its first race in a new boathouse on the Malden River, the women's crew team started its spring season on the right foot this weekend, beginning its schedule in similar fashion to last year - certainly a good sign, as last year's squad placed fifth at the Div. III Nationals in May.
"This being our first official race at the boathouse was especially motivating," senior co-captain Airlia Esworthy said. "Rowing past our dock with all our screaming fans from the sideline and the boathouse balcony gave us an extra boost of adrenaline. You could feel the support going down the river."
After a successful start on its home turf, the Jumbos look forward to a second-straight regatta on the Malden Saturday when they square off against Mount Holyoke. The team should have momentum heading into this weekend after posting impressive times and flashing its great depth and veteran leadership during its first regatta of the season.
Against Wellesley on Saturday, the first varsity boat finished atop the Blue with a time of 7:14.08, a full 15.18 seconds ahead of the first varsity Wellesley boat.
"I was especially proud of our first varsity boat this weekend," Esworthy said. "I came off the water with a sense of pride for what we had accomplished. We were warned that Wellesley had gotten significantly stronger, so we knew we had to kick it in and get ahead of them right from the first stroke. We did this with no problem."
The first varsity boat did not fare as well against Vermont, a team that was a thorn in the side of the Jumbos last season as well. Although the race was tight all along, Vermont pulled away at the last moment, finishing with a time of 7:15.06, while the Jumbos finished narrowly behind with a time of 7:18.53. Tufts has much to be proud of, however, as this is the closest they have raced the Catamounts recently.
"This is as close as we've got to Vermont in three years," coach Gary Caldwell said.
"The Vermont race was really close and extremely aggressive," senior Emily Wark said. "They were a little ahead at the start, but we started to gain around the 1,000-meter mark. It was pretty tight up until about 300 meters left of the race, when they gained a few seats and ended up edging us out by three seconds."
Although the Jumbos were not able to pull through with a win, they still stuck with the Catamount rowers, putting up a great fight in the process.
"They were ahead by a couple seats, but we pulled a 'power 10' and got some back," Esworthy said. "We were neck-and-neck for a while. They have a very strong program and are very reputable rowers and were able to pull away from us. Usually when this happens, we have a tendency to get mentally tired, but this was not the case. We held our own and rowed our race."
The other varsity boats displayed the same type of relentlessness in their respective races. Although the second varsity boat finished three seconds behind the Wellesley boat, the Jumbos performed exceptionally well against some of the stiffest competition they have faced yet, turning in a time of 7:13.9 compared to the Wellesley time of 7:10.9.
"The Wellesley second varsity was quite strong," Caldwell said. "I thought they may have had the best looking boat we saw all day, and I think our second varsity gave them a real good run."
The third varsity boats performed equally well, serving as a testament to the Jumbos' great depth. On Saturday, the third varsity A boat defeated Wellesley soundly, gliding past the finish line in 7:46.77 with Wellesley lagging behind and finishing with a time of 8:16.93. The third varsity B posted similar results against Wellesley as well, with the boats coming in at 7:25.86 and 7:51.63, respectively.
The third varsity boat took the water again on Sunday, the only boat representing the Jumbos against Tulane. Unfortunately for the Jumbos, the women were not as lucky and suffered their only loss of the weekend, finishing about four seconds behind the Tulane boat with a time of 7:37.60 to the Green Wave's 7:33.88.
