Coming off its final race of the fall season before heading into winter offseason training, the women's crew picked up a pair of top-10 finishes at the Head of the Fish Regatta in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. on Sunday.
The Jumbos changed their strategy for the final race, putting more focus on their Varsity Four boat and moving four of their normal Varsity Eight starters -- senior co-captain Steph St. Thomas, classmate Becca Herbst, sophomore Kaylee Maykrenz and freshman Kathleen Holec -- from the stern of the Eight into the Varsity Four race. Tufts took ninth in that competition out of 27 crews with a time of 14:23.06, one minute behind race-winner Williams.
"On Tuesday we decided to prioritize our Varsity Four, which is something we've never done before," St. Thomas said. "We took the stern four, the four that set the rhythm in the Varsity [Eight] and put that in the Four, and we did that because the four of us row similarly and really well together, so we hoped that [by] concentrating a lot of effort on the four of us that we'd be able to perform well."
While the move toward fielding a stronger Varsity Four boat for the Head of the Fish was essentially a one-time deal -- Tufts opts to focus solely on the Varsity Eight in the spring because Varsity Fours don't qualify for NCAAs -- the change provided the rowers with some important experiences. Once more, the crew improved markedly against the elite competition from Williams.
"The Williams Varsity at Head of the Charles [last weekend] came in first and then they split their Varsity into two Fours [at Head of the Snake], which we didn't know was going to happen, so their first Four won," St. Thomas said. "At Head of the Charles [the Tufts Varsity Eight was] 90 seconds behind them, but our Four this weekend was only 60 seconds behind them ... knocking off 30 seconds of time is ridiculous in just a week, so we were excited about that."
Meanwhile, the Varsity Eight crew finished with a solid sixth-place showing out of 18 boats, clocking in at 12:58.31, 40 ticks behind Williams, which captured first in this race in addition to the Varsity Four. While pleased with the results from these races, the team found itself caught somewhat off guard because of the Head of the Fish's relatively short race distance.
"We were very happy with sixth," said senior co-captain Kaitlyn Mula, who rowed in the Varsity Eight on Sunday. "The Head of the Fish is a little weird because the race course, which is typically 5k, was way shorter at 3.2k, so it's closer to a sprint than an actual head race. We decided that this is the last race of the fall so we were going to go for it, and it wasn't the cleanest race, but we definitely pulled hard and it paid off. Basically we had the mentality of a head race, but we were racing at a pace that was much closer to a sprint."
"I think it was harder for us because we're used to having low-cardio races," St. Thomas said. "It's much closer to a spring race so they expect the rating to be a lot higher, which we weren't really prepared for."
Tufts also fielded three other boats at the Head of the Fish: one JV Eight crew, which took 10th out of 14, and two all-freshmen crews that competed in the Collegiate Novice race, which took 11th and 13th, respectively, out of 36 competitors.
"Talking to [the JV Eight], they said it felt good," Mula said. "They looked good in the water, and they ended up middle-of-the-pack, which is pretty good for the second Eight ... it's how we've been doing pretty much all season."
As for Tufts' decision to race two all-freshmen boats in the Novice Eight, Mula and St. Thomas agreed that this move was an important one for a first-year crew class as large and as experienced as this one.
"We were really excited because all the freshmen this year are really strong," Mula said. "To be thrown into a novice category where presumably none of the rowers has any experience, we thought it was nice for them to have that unity at the end of the fall season.
"[Coach] Gary [Caldwell] has been really throwing them around this season into any old seat to see what they can do because no one really knew," she continued. "They were new to the team; they all had a lot of potential, but we didn't know exactly where in the boat they were best or with whom they rowed best, so it was fun to see the freshmen show everyone what they were made of."
With the final head race of the fall behind them and several months of winter training ahead, the Jumbos were satisfied with the outcome of the fall regattas in terms of training, competition and acquainting the freshmen with the competitive climate.
"In the fall, it's not really the end-all be-all to have the fastest boats out there," St. Thomas said. "Every day we get out there trying to get stronger and get more powerful, and it doesn't really matter what the lineup is since in the spring the goal every day is to get the fastest lineup."
"The first couple races of the fall we realized what our weaknesses were, what we needed to work on, and by the time the Fish came around we basically said, 'Okay this is what we know we have to do; this is how we're going to push the envelope, and we're just going to finish as hard as we can,'" Mula said. "And I think we really accomplished that. Look at the results: We've gotten better in every race, so we're pretty happy. It was a good ending to the fall season."
