Two different men's crew teams showed up to race on the Malden River two weekends ago - one, the group that emerged triumphant over BC and Vermont on Saturday, March 31, and the other, the squad that faltered against Tulane the following afternoon, losing the weekend's final race by nine seconds.
The Jumbos emerged at their next race, held on the Malden River against Williams Saturday, hoping to erase the memory of the previous Sunday and return to winning form.
Instead, they took a step in the wrong direction. A visiting Ephs squad soundly defeated the Jumbos, taking all three eight-man races and both four-man runs.
"I hate to make excuses," coach Jay Britt said. "We just didn't row as well as we needed to, and Williams rowed very relaxed, together and had good timing. We were very tense, and didn't let it flow at all."
"We just didn't focus as a team and couldn't pull it together," said junior Faith Davis, coxswain of the first varsity boat. "We had a plan but just didn't execute it. When we're having problems, we usually try to lower the stroke rating a bit and have rowers individually make adjustments. We didn't make the necessary adjustments as a boat."
Williams won the first eight-man race by roughly 15 seconds, finishing in 5:58.05 to Tufts' 6:12.49. Both of their four-man boats clocked in under seven minutes, while the Jumbos could only muster times of 7:17.79 and 7:17.33.
Tufts has struggled with consistency so far this season, most evident in BC's March 31 win and Tulane's April 1 loss. After Saturday's sweep at the hands of the Ephs, this Tufts squad continues to be uncertain of its own strength.
"We've surprised ourselves this year," Davis said. "The BC race surprised us by how well we could race, and the Tulane race by how badly we can race."
The team wasn't happy with this weekend's performance against a Williams crew who, though usually quite strong, had only been rowing on the water for one week at the time of the race.
"Saturday was a step backwards," Britt said. "This week, we need to focus on trying to find that button to push that will allow us to be consistently fast. Every stroke is different - it has its own shape and size - and we have to be able to adapt to each one."
Tufts will face a real challenge this weekend, when its sophomore-laden crew will face Wesleyan, UNH and Bates at home on the Malden.
"Wesleyan is the crew to focus on, because they have a senior class that's been together for four years," Britt said. "They've already beaten Holy Cross and Trinity this season, which are some very good crews. They're going to be fast. It'll be a good test for us; we need to take it one race and one stroke at a time though."
This Saturday is also the last race on the Malden for the Jumbos during the 2007 spring campaign. After this weekend, the team currently has four more races scheduled before the New England Championships at Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, its biggest race of the season.
"We have some time to make some improvements and find the speed that we need," Britt said.
