As the end of the season looms and the New England Championships approach, the men's crew team is hoping to make up for this past weekend's losing record and striving to regain team confidence.
Saturday proved tough for the men's team, as the Jumbos lost to Marist, Bates, the Coast Guard Academy and Williams. The team finished fifth in its first race with a time of 7:06.3 and fourth in its second race, with a time of 7:05.0.
"Saturday was not a good day for Tufts crew, basically,"sophomore Jeff Vanderkruik said. "The varsity boat did not race very well, for no specific reason besides that we did not have the racing edge we needed to do well. The second boat, which had to resort to rowing in a four due to sickness, missed their race due to poor communication at the race and had to race in novice fours."
The competition was held at Onota Lake in Pittsfield, Mass. The conditions were initially choppy with a steady headwind that did not help the Jumbos in the competition.
Junior Mark Roberts noted that the team did not seem to have the cohesiveness that they had found in past weeks.
"We didn't have a very good performance on Saturday," Roberts said. "We had tough competition and we didn't row well. We had to replace one of our guys, which was difficult. Also, we have been playing around with the rigging on the oars, trying to find the right settings. Getting the right set-up is a challenging task and it was obvious that we didn't find the right one for the races on Saturday."
The men are not letting this weekend's loss mar their morale. The Jumbos continue to look forward to the New England Championships, which will be held this Sunday at Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, Mass.
"All our work for the last nine months is culminating for two six-minute races." Roberts said. "We are polishing up the little details in our rowing like the timing between the eight rowers in the boat and our race strategies. We are using the experiences from the races over the past few weeks to our benefit. And we are in a position to surprise a lot of other teams this weekend."
"We are not even thinking about this past weekend," Vanderkruik added. "We have our minds completely set on working our hardest this week and preparing the best we can to be proud when we come off the water this Sunday at the New Englands."
The team will train this week, preparing for what will be the biggest regatta of the season. If they fare well in the New Englands, the Jumbos will have a chance of competing in the ECAC National Invitational Championships, to be held in Worcester on May 7 and 8.
"Right now, we are using what happened over the weekend to fuel the energy for the race ahead." Roberts said. "We are focusing our passion for rowing into our racing this weekend. We all know what needs to get done."
The women's crew team has enjoyed a successful season on the water and continues to improve its record in preparation for New Englands. This past weekend the women competed against the "sister schools" of Simmons College, Wellesley College and Smith College on Saturday and made up a race against Mt. Holyoke College on Sunday.
On Saturday, the team was able to beat Wellesley in its first race, pulling ahead early with a 6:42.2 time to Wellesley's 6:59.0. The second varsity race against Smith was not as successful for the women, as they lost to Smith 6:31.1 to 6:42.0. Despite this loss, the Jumbos are still confident in their ability to place this weekend, and hopefully go on to the National Championships.
The women's second varsity boat defeated Simmons in the first race, winning 6:44.5 to 7:00.1. The second race, however, was also a challenge. The women lost in a close race against Smith 6:44.9 to 6:50.5.
On Sunday, the varsity eight fell to Mt. Holyoke 6:21.14 to 6:16.62. The second varsity boat met with more success, however, defeating Mt. Holyoke by a large margin with a time of 6:36.40 to 6:56.17.
Like the men, the Tufts women are also keeping up their morale, and looking to every race as a new opportunity and challenge.
Junior Daniela Fairchild expressed her faith in the team and its ability to perform well in the New Englands. As they continue to train this week, they will be focusing on rowing well as an entire boat and keeping a steady pace and rhythm on the water. With a successful season behind them, the Jumbos hope to have
a victorious outing this weekend.
"We have been training well, increasing our speed and improving our technique every weekend that we have raced this year," Fairchild said. "The goal this coming weekend is to use the speed of our competitors to fuel us and help us to place [at New Englands]."
