While the varsity rowers took this past weekend off to continue preparations for the Head of the Charles next weekend, the women's novice crew team began its fall season at the Quinsigamond Snake Regatta in Worcester, Mass., entering two boats in the women's eight.
There were 15 varsity and nine novice boats in the race — in other words, the Jumbos' 16 freshmen and two sophomores faced stern competition. The Tufts C boat took the 15th spot out of 24 with a time of 20:47, while the D boat finished 19th in 22:06. With a time of 17:04, Bates took the top spot over Wellesley by a 10-second margin.
"It was our first race of the season, so we really wanted to go out there and have a good time and learn what it was about to race, because a lot of us had never done it before," said sophomore Katharine Fitzgerald, who was in the C boat. "There were definitely some boats that were way out of our league, but it was great to understand what the competition would be like in the future."
Given that it's only three weeks into the season, Fitzgerald felt that her boat pulled together nicely.
"I think we did really well working together and listening to the coxswain," she said. "Toward the end of the race you get tired and it gets a little bit sloppy, but I think that with time and more practice we'll get a lot better at that."
Fitzgerald added that, at the starting line, her team decided that 21 minutes would be a time to shoot for, so they were excited to learn afterward that they had achieved that goal.
"It was pretty nerve-racking at the start," said freshman Georgiana Burruss, who was in the D boat. "You're lined up at the end of the river, and there are just boats all around you. But once we started going it was really fun. … We didn't think we were going to do as well as we did."
Burruss hasn't even been rowing for a month, but already she feels she has learned a great deal from the sport.
"I only did individual sports in high school, like running and skiing," she said. "Working as a team, your boat is only as strong as its weakest part…so you really have to be in 100-percent unison, which is really hard to do. It can be frustrating at times, but it's an amazing way to learn how to work together. There's nothing like it when you're flying on the water in unison — you get this rush."
The novice team's second and final fall competition is the Quinsigamond Fall Novice Championships on Oct. 30.
As the novices start getting their feet wet, the varsity team is preparing for the Head of the Charles Regatta, the world's largest two-day rowing event. Over 8,000 college, club and national team rowers from around the world will gather in Cambridge, Mass., on Oct. 23-24, when Tufts will race a college four, a club four, a lightweight four and a college eight.
Boats that finish in the top 50 percent of their races solidify a bid in next year's Head of the Charles, and therefore the Jumbos will try to spread their talent somewhat evenly among their four boats.
While some of the boat lineups have yet to be determined, the lightweight four will feature senior tri-captain Bianca Velayo, junior tri-captain Kathleen Holec, sophomore Ali Maykranz and senior Kaylee Maykranz. Velayo said that while it's impossible to know just how good the competition will be, this boat certainly has the potential to do very well. On Sunday, the team had the opportunity to practice on the Charles River, which Velayo believes will come in handy in two weeks.
"It puts us ahead of the game, because crews who come from far away don't know how difficult the course is," she said. "It's common for people to crash. For us to be able to have that practice on the course definitely gives us an advantage, because we can focus more on making the most efficient path. Sunday was a really productive practice, and I think it got everyone really pumped for the race."
