The men's and women's crew teams took their boats and oars out west this past weekend for the 2013 Head of the Fish Regatta, held in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. The Tufts team fielded over 30 boats and 70 rowers, the most of any participating school.
The top performance of the day for the Jumbos was a first-place effort in the men's collegiate lightweight four event. Freshman Doug Burt, sophomores Jackson Horwitz and Jonathan Lapadula and junior Sam Helrich, as well as sophomore coxswain Maria Karam, placed first in a nine-team field to claim victory in the event.
The rest of the men's crew team had impressive performances as well. Two Tufts squads raced in the men's collegiate four event, and both performed up to expectations. The squad of juniors Jeff Aalberg and KrzysztofDanieliewicz, sophomores Spencer Moslow and JJ Zhou and coxswain junior KasiaGawlas placed 17th overall in the 32-team field. Meanwhile, the team of freshman John Bailey, senior Lex Clary, sophomore Martin Van Mierlo, sophomore Andrew Warren and coxswain junior Gracie McKenzie were not too far behind in 23rd place.
Gawlas then returned to cox the Jumbos to a 14th-place finish in the men's collegiate eight event, where they placed 14th out of 25 boats.
"This is our biggest trip of the year," senior William Ross, who was part of the 14th place men's collegiate eight team, said. "Our goal on the day was to try out different things to get the best possible results and win the most medals, with an emphasis on fun as well."
Tufts did not have many of its men's rowers race individually, with the exception of Ross, who placed seventh overall in a 15-rower field in the men's collegiate single event, and Dixon Minnick, who placed ninth overall in a field of 12 in the men's open light single event.
"I was very pleased with my individual performance because it was my first race this season, and I managed to finish in the top half of the pack," Ross said. "In the collegiate eight race, we were passed early by a small Wesleyan crew, which kind of gave us a reality check. We definitely recognized there is still a lot of work to be done both technically and physically this winter."
The women also had their fair share of quality races. The quad boat of senior tri-captain Caroline Ricard, sophomores Grace Reilly and Rachel Siegler and senior Virginia Trumbull had the best varsity performance by the women on the day, placing second out of nine in the women's collegiate quad event. Tufts boats also took fourth and fifth in the event, cementing top-five dominance by the Jumbos.
Tufts also raced four boats in the women's collegiate double event and did not disappoint. The tandem of Siegler and senior tri-captain Caitlin Meeks placed sixth overall in the 17-boat race; freshmen Julia Davis and Natalia Kastenberg were not too far behind in ninth; seniors AleciaHagman and Maureen Hilton were 11th and senior Rachael Filer and sophomore Claire Markoff were 12th.
The women's lone win of the day came from the novice division, as sophomore Kate Ainsworth reached the top of the podium in the women's open novice single event. In that race, which featured only Tufts rowers, junior Lauren Paik took silver, sophomore Kellie King took bronze and sophomore Amy Kao took fourth.
Tufts also had strong performances in the collegiate singles final. The Jumbos had four rowers competing in the field. Ricard led the Tufts rowers with a fourth place finish. Behind her were sophomores Claire Sleigh in eighth place and Emma Wells in ninth.
Rough conditions played a factor throughout the regatta.
"The morning started cold. It was probably in the upper 30s, low 40s, and the wind picked up throughout the day," freshman coxswain Victoria Moore, who led the women's novice eight to a 21st-place finish, said. "By the afternoon, the wind was around 20 miles per hour, so the water was pretty choppy."
Other challenges unrelated to the weather also arose for the Jumbos.
"The skeg [the part that helps control the steering] of our boat fell off mid race, so steering the boat became difficult," Moore said of the novice eight. "Despite this difficulty, I'm still pleased that we came in 21st place."
Ross described the constructive team dynamic as the men's and women's teams came together at the same competition.
"Bringing the entire program together definitely helped all of us," Ross said. "The men's program is too caught up on power on occasion, so it was helpful to cheer on the women's team, who has a great focus on technique. We can feed off each other and learn from each other, which creates a healthy environment for the program."
The fall season has now ended for the men's team, which will begin competition on April 5 in the spring. The women's team still has a small boat regatta on Mercer Lake in Princeton, N.J. this weekend. After that, the entirety of Tufts crew will continue to train throughout the winter to prepare for the spring season.
"A long winter off from rowing will allow us to work on our strength work," Ross said. "We know we'll be standing somewhere different at the end of the year."
This article has been changed from its original version. It previously stated that Gracie MacKenzie is a member of the crew team. In fact, her last name is spelled McKenzie.
