Men's Crew | In poor weather, impromptu race against UMass opens crew season

    The men's crew team unexpectedly kicked off its spring schedule on Sunday in drab conditions with five boats racing against Div. I UMass.
    "It was a kind of last-minute race," senior co-captain Robbie Bayless said. "Coach talked to the coach at UMass, and they weren't racing this weekend, so they were nice enough to come on over to race with us today."
    It was the team's first competition since the fall schedule closed with the renowned Head of the Charles Regatta.
    In the varsity eight race, UMass posted a 22-second victory, finishing with a 6:26.57 time on the 2,000-meter course, while Tufts crossed the finish line in 6:48.55.
    "We still have some work to do — some technique to straighten out and some strategy to work on — but we had [good starts] across the board, and our finishes and sprints were pretty good, especially from the second four," Bayless said. "We just need to work on the body of the race."
    The Jumbos managed a better outcome in the varsity four, finishing in 7:14.48 and picking up the win with UMass being disqualified for lane interference.
    "It was a narrow river, and their coxswain steered the boat over onto our side," Bayless said. "The officiating boat trailing us said several times ‘UMass come to starboard,' but their boat was ahead of us, and we were making a move, so their coxswain couldn't see us. The officiating boat was behind yelling, and their rowers could see what was going on, but somehow they didn't communicate it to the coxswain.
    "Oars clashed, and [senior David Orellano], who was sitting at the three seat, his oar caught a crab," Bayless continued. "A crab's when an oar is taken out of your hands and pinned against the boat, and he caught a crab, and his oar hit him in the chest. We had to come to a full stop and start rowing again. It wasn't ideal, but we ended up finishing, and the ruling was determined that UMass was in our lane."
    Tufts fell in the second varsity eight by 12 seconds, as the Jumbos came in at a time of 7:01.84, but nearly pulled out a win in the second varsity four, falling by a mere half-second at 7:23.20 to UMass' 7:22.68. The result bodes well for the Jumbos, as Tufts is prioritizing the four-man boats this season with the team's personnel more suited to that type of crew.
    "We got off to kind of a slow start," junior Jonathan Jo said. "We fell behind early in the race, so we were down maybe a boat length. After about two-thirds of the race, we were able to fight back and gain some ground and we were fighting pretty hard. In the end, we lost by half a second, but to fight back and put all your effort in, and then fall short by just half a second, it's definitely disappointing … Maybe if we had started our sprint just a few strokes earlier or if one other thing had gone our way."
    Jo rowed in three events on the day and admitted that by the end, he was exhausted. Senior co-captain Nahvid Etedali was held out due to back problems.
    "Within our fours, we definitely are going to try to start sprinting a little earlier from now on," Jo said. "Our four rowers are more power as compared to endurance."
    The novice four competition was shortened to a 1,500-meter race due to the weather conditions, but it made little difference as Tufts was blown out of the water by the UMass squad by finishing times of 6:21.6 to 5:40.1. Still, as the race was the first of the spring season, Tufts was pleased with the results.
    "For the freshman four, it was their first race of the spring, and they did pretty well," Bayless said. "I'm pleased they had a good row. They didn't fare so well in the results, but it was a good first race for them, and now they have one under their belts."
    The day was marked by dreary weather, with a strong headwind and intermittent heavy rain that made the conditions on the water less than ideal.
    "The weather today was pretty bad," Bayless said. "We were going into a headwind, which makes the race a little more difficult. But other than today, we've only had a couple cold days. This was rare bad weather."
    The team stayed at Tufts over spring break, and they have had the chance to row outdoors for a couple weeks. Over the break, they worked out on erg machines and lifted weights, and they had two-a-day practices once the weather was nice enough for them to get out on the water. Now that classes have started, the team rows in the mornings, getting to the boat house at 6 a.m.
    "We've been working on developing boat chemistry and getting used to each other's rowing styles," Jo said. "We want to maximize our set and swing and have the most efficient rowing style possible."
    For Tufts, this weekend's races marked the first step toward duplicating last season's success.
    "We finished fifth in New Englands last year, and we're just trying to medal and potentially win New Englands this year," Jo said. "That would be our goal. We had a shot at it last season, so we want to live up to our potential."
    "We had a really great season last year, and ideally, we'd like to emulate that," Bayless added. "If we had both our first four and our second four competing for medals at New Englands and ECACs, that would be great."