Midd crew washes away competition

Author: Stephanie Pritchard

Middlebury Crew participated in the New England Championship Regatta (NECR) this weekend on Lake Quinsigamond in Worchester, Mass. The regatta is by invitation only and only those teams that have earned a bid can compete. There were 21 total entries for the women's varsity four event and 25 entries for the men's varsity four event. With the cancellation of last week's New England Fours Championship Regatta due to dangerous conditions, Middlebury was at a disadvantage, having one less result to submit to the seeding committee.

Because there are a maximum of 18 spots in each race the rowers waited with crossed fingers Monday night for the results of the seeding committee. The women had hoped to get a bid for an eight and a four. The eight was unable to secure a position in the competitive field, and only a spot for a four was obtained. This meant that only half of the women from the eight would be able to compete. The women spent the next two days on the water in poor conditions fighting for the four spots in the boat and after a series of intense race pieces and a lot of stress, Coach Alex Machi announced the line-up.

The next three days were spent by the four rowers (Anna Eisenstein '07, Miko Heller '07.5, Kathryn Babin '07 and Emily Loesche '05) and their coxswain Camden Burton '06.5 preparing for the biggest race of the season so far. On Sunday the rowers knew that in order to earn a place in the grand final they had to place at least second in their heat against Clark, Fairfield, Amherst and Assumption. Burton described the race saying, "We simply dominated off the start line, no questions asked. It was our race from the first stoke, and we all knew it. It was raining, but the water was still, and we took advantage of that to simply fly down the course." The girls placed first, more than three seconds ahead of second place Clark.

In the afternoon in the grand finals Bowdoin, Franklin Pierce, Clark, UNH and Brandeis lined up with Middlebury to compete for medals and t-shirts - NECR follows in the tradition that the losing boat gives the winning team the shirts off their backs.

After a slightly rough start, the girls fought with Clark down the course, the entire race spent no more than a few feet ahead or behind. Bowdoin took an early lead that they kept for the entire race. Babin remarked, "Even though it was only five girls in the boat it really felt like the whole team was there pulling with us. It sounds cheesy but it's true." At the finish Clark pulled ahead by 2.5 seconds giving Middlebury a third place, good enough for a bronze medal and a spot in next week's ECAC Regatta at the same location.

The varsity men's four (coxswain Brooke Adams '07, Doug Penrose '06, Dave Wood '07.5, Matt Daylor '06 and Matt Griswold '07.5) turned in a solid performance, coming in third in their heat behind Bowdoin, one of the strongest NESCAC crews and a surprisingly strong boat from UMass Lowell. The men also held off a strong move by Trinity in the last quarter of the 2000m race. Middlebury's third place finish earned them a spot in the petite final, where they finished second. The four took the pace up for an intense sprint in the last few hundred meters that Adams referred to as the strongest sprint of the season. The men nearly closed the gap between first-place finishers Amherst, placing Middlebury as the third NESCAC school in the event. The men's team is much younger than most of their competition but as Daylor commented, "Prospects look bright" for the upcoming seasons.