The men's crew team ended its season on a high note with impressive results in two events one week apart. On May 10-11, the team competed in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) National Invitational Regatta at Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, coming in third in the final of the men's varsity fours race. The previous weekend, the Jumbos won the 1V fours race at the New England Championships on the same lake, fulfilling a goal set by the team at the start of the season.
"It was by far the most successful program I've been a part of," junior Robbie Bayless said. "We went to smaller boats this year and spent a lot of time practicing in them, getting good work in. We built a really cohesive team."
After its success at the New England Championships, the ECAC regatta was a chance for the team to add to its winning season. The Jumbos decided to place their emphasis on the fours races this year rather than the eights, and in the first heat, they finished second with a time of 7:00.581, less than a tenth of a second behind Coast Guard.
That result was good enough to qualify the team for the grand final, where it earned a medal by finishing third in one of the most exciting races of the year. The Jumbos got off to a quick start to the race, leading for a good portion of the way until Coast Guard, Virginia and Marist all made late charges. Still, Tufts was able to hold on for third, with the top four teams separated by less than two seconds.
"It's been a long time since Tufts has medaled at the ECAC," Bayless said. "It was really exciting and an incredible race."
The Jumbos entered New Englands the week before looking to culminate their season by winning the event. The 1V fours team won its first heat in a time of 6:53.00, defeating Amherst by a shade over one second. In the grand final, Tufts led wire-to-wire, holding off a late move from the UConn crew to finish in 6:52.383, 2.69 seconds ahead of the Huskies. Amherst finished third with a time of 6:55.188. The victory in the 1V fours race was the program's first in 18 years.
"It was our best race of the season, and probably ever," Bayless said. "Normally, we have a good start, then we move really well in the middle of the race, and we have a pretty good sprint. In this race, we had a good start, then kind of walked away from the other teams in the middle of the race. UConn came on strong at the end, but we picked it up. And Amherst pushed us hard in both races."
The 2V and novice teams also had solid showings, both coming in fifth in their respective grand finals. Overall, the team placed third out of 15 teams.
"The 2V came in second in our heat and advanced to the grand final," junior co-captain Nahv Etedali said. "In our first heat we didn't have a great row, but we still did well, so we had confidence heading into the grand final. Unfortunately, we didn't row as well as we could have for a number of reasons, and we came in fifth."
Etedali attributes the team's overall success to the confidence the rowers gained as the season wore on.
"Our confidence grew after the first few weeks of rowing in the fours and realizing we could compete," he said. "Almost every weekend we went out and competed in the eights before breaking down into the fours. Knowing we could stay competitive even with a 2K already in us and compete against teams that were still fresh gave us faith in ourselves and in the program."
With all of the success this season, Bayless is optimistic about next year.
"Hopefully we can keep the momentum going and get a second boat in the medals next year," he said.
