Crew Team Finishes Season Satisfied

Author: Elizabeth Beetem Staff Writer

The Middlebury Crew team traveled to the Head of the Fish regatta in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. this past Saturday. The novice and varsity teams rowed an impressive 12 boats.

This was both the first and last race of the season for the novice teams. Coach Machi and Assistant Coach Doug Welling, a recent Bates College graduate, felt that it was better for the novice to train for 5-6 weeks before racing. This way they have had a lot of water time to develop technical skills before dealing with the stress of racing.

The novice men were the first race of the day in their newly created 4. They reported feeling challenged by the difficulty of a new line-up but enjoyed this opportunity to compete early in the day and then have another go in their eight in the afternoon.

The novice men did extremely well in the larger boat, proving the value of all their hard work this fall. "I was very proud of how well they rowed together," said Coach Welling. "They worked hard this season and I'm looking forward to seeing what they can do in the spring."

The novice women also rowed an eight and a four, but with different rowers in each. The eight raced first and finished a very strong fifth, beating Williams' top boat. "They had a great race, rowing together really well," commented coach Welling. "They have improved so much this season and I expect they'll be extremely competitive in the New England region this spring." The four also rowed well in their race, beating some boats that have already competed in several races already this fall.

The varsity men rowed three 4's and a lightweight eight this weekend. The two lightweight 4's had tough competition but finished fourth and fifth overall, an excellent showing. The men's open four rowed a great race, demonstrating their improvement over these past two months. "The fall season is primarily a time for development; when rising varsity improve their skills and assimilate the technical style of our more experienced athletes. These new rowers have been able to do this really well and will obviously be critical in forming our top boats come spring," said Coach Machi. The lightweight eight had a strong race, finishing 3rd behind tough crews from Saratoga Rowing Club and Manhattan College.

The women's varsity had a busy day rowing two 8s and two 4s. The 4s rowed first, against a very competitive field of over 30 collegiate and club teams. The lightweight 4 passed five boats on their way to a strong 4th place finish. The open four, meanwhile, had a tough race, but they were excited to combine the two 4's to form a second varsity 8.

The first 8 had a great final race of the season, beating two strong UVM boats and a boat from Amherst. The second 8 also rowed well, besting squads they will undoubtedly see again in the sprint season next April and May, as well as some teams wearing funny costumes in anticipation of Halloween parties planned for later in the day. "Having two eights was a wonderful way to end the season," said Nora Greenglass '03. "It was good to row in the bigger boat again and it was a nice bonding experience for the women's team."

All in all the season has been one of improvement. "With so many new members of both the men's and women's varsity squads it's important that we take this time to learn to row together, to develop a single style for the team," explained Coach Machi. "Now we can go into winter training with positive attitudes and knowing what we have to work on in order to make fast boats for the spring."

The team will now clean up their launch site for the winter, removing docks from the water and putting away boats. They then begin four months of weight work and ergo meter training to prepare for the very intense sprint racing of the spring season.