The men's crew team had a busy weekend, racing against three schools in its first action of the year. Tulane's squad made the 1,500-mile trip from Louisiana to Massachusetts to kick off the season on Saturday at William A. Shoemaker Boathouse on the Malden River. It was the 11th annual dual race between the two squads.
The first matchup of the day, beginning at 9 a.m., featured the Tufts novice men's eight. The group delivered an impressive performance, notching the fastest time of the day at 6:39.9 and beating its opponents by more than two lengths; Tulane's crew finished in 7:03.4. By the 500-meter mark of the 2,000-meter race, the Green Wave's fate was sealed as the Jumbos began to pull away. The all-freshman team was led by coxswain KasiaGawlas, stroke Nate Hajian and bowman Dong Park. In descending order (positions seven through two), the middle crew was Sam Helrich, Connor Des Rochers, Chris Rickard, Will Ross, Jihoon Kim and Chris Pires. The crew was entirely made up of freshmen, with the exception of Ross, who is a sophomore.
At 9:40 a.m., Tufts' and Tulane's men's varsity crews went at it. For the first half of the race, Tulane kept a comfortable one-to two-length lead. Despite a valiant Tufts effort to come back at about the 1,500-meter mark, Tulane secured the victory with a 6:41.4 finish to Tufts' time of 6:55.2. The combination of a strong Green Wave eight and deteriorating weather proved too much for the varsity squad. In descending order, the Jumbos' varsity crew consisted of coxswain Jeremy Rosenblatt, stroke Jeff Thibodeau, Kyle Flood, Andrew Rogers, Lex Clary, Tim Peng, Luke Abdow, Mike Bai and co-captain bowman Ben Kane. All are sophomores except Flood, a junior, and Bai, a senior.
"The first race was tough for both us and Tulane, as the freezing rain and wind made keeping the set of the boat difficult," Clary said.
On Sunday, the novices looked to continue their success while varsity hoped to rebound. Hamilton, Wentworth and Mount Holyoke joined Tulane and Tufts for the day's 20-race program to make it a five-way event including both men's and women's crews. The weather conditions improved for the occasion, with temperatures reaching the mid-40s and, more importantly for the rowers, calm winds.
The novice men's eight stole the show again, racking up its second win of the year against conference rival Hamilton, which finished a full 17 seconds behind Tufts. Once again, the team had an aggressive start to thank for its comfortable victory.
Meanwhile, the varsity men rowed much better on Sunday but still could not come away with a victory. Against Hamilton, Tufts finished in 6:26, only five seconds off the lead. The difference was nine seconds - 6:33 to 6:24 - when Tufts faced off against Wentworth. Despite the losses, the Jumbos put in what Clary believed were "two consistent, technically sound pieces" and made sure not to overlook the improvements they had made since the previous day's race against Tulane.
"The score doesn't dovetail with our performance," Kane said. "We went 0-3, but improved massively on Sunday over Saturday's performance. We dropped 14 seconds Sunday versus Saturday on the same course. However, we lost both races in the last 700 meters of each race, suggesting that we were out-rowed during that section. Our last 250 meters - our sprint - couldn't make up for the ground lost during the last 700 meters, although we came close both times."
The team will have a week to rest up before action resumes at the Shoemaker Boathouse on Saturday, April 14. Tufts will take on Wesleyan, Bates and the University of New Hampshire.
