After a tough weekend on the Head of the Charles, the women's crew team finished its fall season on a high note on Sunday by earning five medals at the Head of the Fish Regatta in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
The Jumbos took second place in the Lightweight Eights and third place in the Collegiate Doubles, Collegiate Fours, Lightweight Doubles and Mixed Eights events.
They raced a multitude of boats on the 2.3−mile course, including seven singles, three doubles, three quads and two eights. Many of the lineups were just assembled last week, and every member of the team raced at least twice each day.
"We entered a lot of events and tried to really spread ourselves out and try new things," senior tri−captain Bianca Velayo said. "Our coach [Brian Dawe] is really nice about trying to give us our choices, but he also tries to put together good, competitive lineups. Obviously it was a fun event, but we're always looking to be competitive and show off."
Senior coxswain Jordy Wolfand embodied this experimental spirit, racing as a rower and not as a coxswain for the first time in her college career. Although she finished seventh out of seven boats in the Recreational Singles Final, she completed the course smoothly and certainly made a bold effort.
Racing so many boats in a relatively short amount of time made Sunday a hectic day for Tufts' rowers.
"It was important for us to be very pulled together and on top of everything," senior tri−captain Rachel Steward said. "From around 8:45 a.m. until around 4:30 p.m., we had at least one boat on the water. It was a very busy day in terms of what everyone had to keep track of, and everyone did really well to make sure they were organized, which I think helped people buckle down and focus for their races."
To make things even more chaotic, there was a powerful head wind and the water was extremely choppy.
"The conditions were really, really bad," Velayo said. "A lot of people would come out with bloody knuckles because the water was so choppy that it was hard to control your oars, and your knuckles would keep clanking together."
Junior tri−captain Kathleen Holec and senior Kaylee Maykranz earned three medals apiece racing in the Collegiate Doubles, Collegiate Fours and Lightweight Eights. The pair won the Collegiate Doubles event last year, but this year two boats from UMass Amherst — known for its strong sculling program — stood in their way and bumped them to third place.
In the Collegiate Fours, Holec and Maykranz teamed up with senior tri−captain Bianca Velayo and sophomore Ali Maykranz to overcome nasty conditions for a third−place finish. Colgate and UMass Amherst took first and second, respectively.
Tufts' Lightweight Eight had not practiced together before their race, yet they managed to place second out of three boats and beat Div. I Sacred Heart, which, unlike Tufts, has a lightweight rowing program.
Senior Lindsay Hull and sophomore Molly Goodell medaled in the Open Lightweight Doubles Final, finishing third out of four boats.
The Mixed Eight lineup — which consisted of four women and four men — was thrown together at the last minute, according to Steward, but, like the Lightweight Eight squad, pulled together and came in third out of seven boats.
The Jumbos accounted for seven of the 12 boats in the Collegiate Singles final, with Steward finishing fourth, Velayo finishing sixth and the other five occupying the 8−12 spots.
Overall, the team's solid Head of the Fish performance left them feeling positive as they start to train for the spring season.
"This was just all around a really fun weekend, and I think everyone was proud of how well they did," Steward said. "It's going to set a really good tone going into our winter training and really hitting our workouts hard and making sure that we're pushing ourselves. Because winning feels good, and we want more medals."
