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The Tufts Daily
Where you read it first | Friday, March 29, 2024

Men's crew expects growth from talented novice eight

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The men's crew team is still riding the momentum from its strong spring season as it gears up for the start of fall racing in a few weeks. The Jumbos raked in the medals at both the New England Championships in April and at the National Invitational Rowing Championship (NIRCs). Overall, it was a season of growth and accomplishment for the squad, as the novice eight finished an impressive second in the nation at NIRCs, and the team expects even bigger things in the new fall season.

A big change from last season will be the absence of Gary Caldwell, the former director of crew programs. Caldwell retired after 26 years as the director of crew programs at Tufts and coach of the women's crew team. The current state of the program is his legacy.

"Coach Caldwell's impact is impossible to overstate," coach Noel Wanner told the Daily in an email. "He developed the Tufts Rowing program over most of three decades, influencing generations of young athletes, coaching some champion crews, and securing the future of the team. As one of the crowning achievements of his career, he secured the funding for the building of [Shoemaker] boathouse, which is one of the best rowing facilities in all of Division [III]. As his successor, I am beyond grateful for all that he accomplished."

Caldwell coached over 1,300 rowers in his tenure at Tufts, building a powerful alumni network and saving the program from being cut due to budgetary concerns in his first few seasons.

"Gary [Caldwell] is the reason that Tufts Crew is where it is today," senior tri-captain Doug Burt said. "He built this program. He coordinated the building of the new [Shoemaker] boathouse; he helped get the school to fund us; he's really established the team as a viable competitor. We will miss him around the boathouse but we hope to continue building upon his success going forward."

The crew team was highly successful last season, and Burt cited the team's development as a big reason for that success.

"We really got to see the team grow and develop tremendously over the course of the year," Burt said. "The best example of this was the novice eight."

The novice eight is a group of first-year walk-ons that the team brings in every year. Last year, they were particularly successful.

"These were guys that were mostly walk-ons who had never touched a boat before," Burt said. "Over the course of the season, they not only got fast off the water but on the water as well."

Senior tri-captain Zach Merchant also had high praise for the novices from last year.

"The novice boat, of all the boats last year, had the most success," Merchant said. "They took silver at New Englands, and at NIRCs. At NIRCs, they lost only to Michigan. That's a school of 60,000 and our novice boat lost to them by a little more than a second."

This season, the team has another strong class of first-years. The novices are still in the process of being selected, but the recruited class is earning high praise from the captains, just like last year's novice class did.

"I think it's safe to say it's our best recruiting class in a long time," Merchant said. "These are really fast guys. They're leaders right off the bat – guys who know what it takes to be part of a serious, competitive varsity program."

Burt thinks just as highly of the first-years, noting their potential and talent.

"They're very promising," he said. "They're all very driven, very competitive and they're fast. They've been putting in the extra work, going the extra mile. I have nothing but positive things to say about them."

The new rowers and the returners will compete on some of the biggest stages in collegiate rowing. The biggest race of the season for Tufts is the Head of the Charles, which takes place in Boston on Oct. 23.

"The Head of the Charles is the biggest regatta in the world," Burt said. "You've got 15,000 rowers and another 200,000 spectators. So that's the biggest stage for us, the most exciting regatta."

All four of Tufts' fall regattas are during the month of October. The first regatta of the season is on Oct. 1, when the crew team will travel to Putney, Vermont for the Green Mountain Head Regatta. In this race, Tufts will just be sculling: a type of rowing that features single rowers in their own boats, rather than in a boat of four or eight.

"Sculling in a single-person boat is one of the best ways to rapidly develop rowing skill," Wanner said. "The hull is small, highly reactive and it provides strong, direct feedback to the athlete about what kinds of movement[s] produce speed, and what movements are slowing the boat down.  As well, there is no confusion about who is responsible – you can't blame anyone else if things aren't going well, and when you're fast, it's your doing as well. This combination of factors enables rapid athlete development."

The crew team will be sculling throughout the fall season, and its abilities will be on full display in its first regatta in two weeks.