In its first real test of the spring season this past Saturday, the women's crew team faced its stiffest competition to date and came up with mixed results.
The first varsity boat caught its first glimpse of the University of New Hampshire, one of the toughest crews in New England, who proved to be too much for the Jumbos to handle.
The Wildcats and Jumbos were neck-and-neck coming out of the gate until the latter part of the course, when UNH started to pull ahead. In their previous races this season, the last-500 yards of the course were where the Jumbos made a triumphant comeback. But this race proved to be different.
As both teams went into a full-sprint, Tufts just could not overcome UNH's speed and lost by a time of 6:52.16 to 6:54.27.
Senior co-captain Sara Douglass noted that it's not the strength of the team that is in question but rather their ability to maintain a steady rhythm throughout an entire race. Congruity is something the team has been working on all season and will continue to improve.
"I think everyone was pulling really hard at the end of the race, but we had trouble coming together as a boat and creating a rhythm that would allow us to pull even harder and faster; it was more of a cohesion issue," Douglass said. "What makes it frustrating is that we felt that we could have performed a lot better."
"We basically just let them ease away from us in the third-500, and we've got to figure out ways to stop that from happening," coach Gary Caldwell added.
The second race of the day for the first varsity boat didn't provide for much of an improvement, though Tufts was at a clear disadvantage to its subsequent opponent, Wesleyan. The Jumbos had raced the Cardinals directly following their run against UNH and had to remain in the water and then row without a break.
It was clear that the first race had taken everything out of the Jumbos, as they rowed languidly for most of the course and could not overtake a Wesleyan team that they had expected to defeat. The Cardinals edged Tufts, 6:47.53 to 6:49.20.
"I think everyone had put everything in our first race, so it was hard to muster up the strength and energy to do well in the next one," Douglass said. "We lacked the jump we needed when it came time to race again."
Wesleyan also had the advantage of having soundly defeated Bates first, which allowed them to take it easy for most of their first race.
"Wesleyan rowed away from Bates very early on so it was not pressed down the race course and they weren't rowing at a high rate," Caldwell said. "They were much fresher for the second race than we were, but that's one of the byproducts of the duel racing format. But I'm not taking away credit from Wesleyan - they won fair and square."
Both the second and third varsity boats fared much better on Saturday as they won each of their races. The 2V boat defeated Bates, 6:53.97 to 6:58.18, and UNH, 7:04.14 to 7:09.74. The 3V trounced Bates 7:15.89 to 7:58.80.
This upcoming weekend will feature the Jumbos' first meet away from home waters as they trek to Worcester's Lake Quinsigamond and face off against some of New England's strongest competition. On Saturday they will race against Ithaca, Holy Cross, Colby and Conn. College while Sunday will feature WPI, RIT, Washington College and William Smith.
Douglass believes that this past weekend proved to be beneficial since the tough competition showed them exactly what they need to work on and where they need to improve in order to do well in Worcester this weekend. Last season, the team had finished in the middle of the pack of the competition and hopes to improve upon that showing.
