Dealing with issues from chilling weather to bouts with swine flu, the Tufts men's crew team was nonetheless able to pull together at the fall season's premiere event and emerge from the weekend with positive results.
After an outbreak of the H1N1 illness that sidelined many of the team's rowers, coach Jay Britt had to rush to fill his boats for three races, two on Saturday and one on Sunday at the Head of the Charles Regatta. But even with the problems created by rower absences, the Jumbos were pleased with their efforts.
"I think we were very happy with how the race went considering the ups and downs we had over the past week," senior co-captain Stephan Juergensen said. "A lot of the guys over the past week were sick. We had a few cases of the flu, one person had pneumonia and the lineups were constantly changing."
"Our biggest obstacle was the health of the squad," Britt added. "We had some guys quarantined that missed the race, so we kind of had to scramble to fill the boats."
These issues affected every boat, including the team's top boat, which competed in the Collegiate Fours race on Saturday. With Juergensen and two freshmen — Kyle Flood and Will Hickey — filling in the missing links, the foursome was not any worse for the wear, finishing in 18:12.845.
"The Collegiate Four did very well," Britt said. "We had one guy that was quarantined, so we moved Stephan into that spot, and it may have made the boat a little bit faster. The fact that they came in 19th when it was their first or second row together, I think they did very well."
Britt noted the efforts of Flood and Hickey, who stepped into Tufts' top boat in their first Head of the Charles. Hickey had actually missed a few days of practice out of caution for H1N1, but when the results proved negative, he was able to race.
Juergensen claimed that the weather conditions on Saturday, which were cold but not nearly as abysmal as Sunday's snowstorm, were a key factor in his boat's performance.
"We actually had a little bit of an advantage in that we had a tailwind … and that gave us a little more speed and we were able to work more effectively at higher rates," he said.
The shuffling was also apparent in the other race on Saturday, the Club Fours. Because the race was not exclusive to college teams, the Jumbos got a chance to compete against some of the better club teams and top alumni in the country. The makeshift quartet, which had never raced together prior to Saturday, was content with its performance despite the results of a 43rd-place finish out of 55 boats in 19:41.705.
"Most other boats from other schools had rowed together for at least a week, but because so many people were sick, we had to put together a boat last second," said junior Ryan Flood, who was a member of the Club Fours boat. "We were able to have a pretty well-set boat and finish the race. We did a good job of putting forth our best effort, and when we got off the water we felt really good about it."
Britt lauded the performances of some of the members of that boat, which featured members from all four classes.
"The whole team took a step forward because I had guys — like Ryan Flood, Kyle's older brother — [who] went from port to starboard, which is not an easy thing to do," Britt said. "Thursday he was rowing port, and in the race on Saturday he is rowing starboard. Everybody did what they needed to do in order to try to make the boat go as fast as they could."
On Sunday, in the cold and constant precipitation, the team also raced in the Collegiate Eights, finishing in 37th place in a time of 19:13.510. Due to the rash of illnesses, this crew was largely comprised of novice members.
"We had to fill the boat out with the novice squad in order to fulfill our requirement in that event," Britt said. "The silver lining is that the novices got a real treat in rowing in the Head of the Charles, something that a lot of novices don't get to do."
Overall, the team was excited about its effort and about the opportunity to compete on the sport's biggest stage.
"Head of the Charles is always a lot of fun because it is such a huge event and it draws such a crowd," Juergensen said. "You really don't have a choice but to be excited when you are racing."
And after facing some of the best college and club crews, Tufts gained a better idea of where it stands heading into the rest of the fall and the spring season.
"It definitely raises you to a different level knowing you are against such competition," Juergensen said. "In our events we were up against some really great crews, and we should be pretty happy with how we raced against them."
"It is kind of looking into the looking glass to see how fast we are," Britt added. "Sometimes we think we are going pretty fast on the Malden River and all of the sudden we put ourselves in amongst the world's best and we can say we are going pretty fast or we have a little work to do. It is a good barometer to throw ourselves in against some of the world's best and say, ‘This is where we are at and this is what we need to do.'"
