Crew cruises to a first-place finish

Author: Zamir Ahmed

The men's and women's crew teams traveled to Worcester, Mass. on May 5 to take part in the New England Fours Championship, with the women finishing strong in both their races to return home with a first- and third-place finish against competition from throughout the region.

"New England Fours is one of our favorite regattas," said Women's Captain Brooke Adams '07, "because it unites all of the competition we see during the regular season as well as other rivals like Simmons who we only race during the postseason."

The women's varsity 'A' boat, seeded first in the event, started off its day nervously, battling Franklin Pierce in the morning heat for the lead through the race's first 500 meters. Guided by Adams as the boat's coxswain, the team of Miko Heller '07.5, Brett Dollar '09.5, Emily Dawson '08.5 and Captain Kathryn Babin '07 found their rhythm and pulled away the rest of the 2000 meters to finish 12 seconds ahead of Franklin Pierce and qualify for the afternoon's Grand Finals.

Buoyed by its impressive finish in the qualifying race, the team went into the finals positive about its ability to pull away from the competition down the stretch.

"After the morning's race we knew that no matter what happened in the first 500 meters of the race, we had a lot of speed and confidence that we could just get faster over the course of the race," said Babin.

In the finals, the team once again found itself down at the start, this time trailing Simmons College for the first 750 meters. The women would not be deterred, however, battling back to pull ahead and coast to the finish line.

"It's the greatest feeling to have confidence that your boat can calmly and smoothly move right past the competition," said Babin. "We kept pulling away throughout the second half of the race and although they made several attempts at taking back our lead, we finished the race seven seconds ahead of Simmons and in first place."

The win was Middlebury's first win at the New England Fours in over a decade, with the last gold medal won in 1996 by the lightweight women's boat.

"Winning New Englands is almost a surreal experience," said Babin. "It's something I've aspired to all four years of my rowing career at Middlebury and every year we've been getting a little bit faster and little bit closer to that gold medal. This is absolutely the perfect way for the three seniors in that boat to start winding down our time with Midd Crew. I couldn't have asked for a better boat of women to row with."

While the women's 'B' boat did not enjoy the same level of success as the 'A' team, the team of coxswain Hana Nagao '09, Maggie Smith '09.5, Dale Freundlich '10, Flora Campbell '09 and Janet Schroeder '08.5 rowed strong in its opening heat, finishing in second place and earning a place in the finals. Competing against a fast field in the finals, the team edged out Bowdoin to claim a third place finish.

With the women's crew team only graduating two seniors in Babin and Adams, the team expects to return stronger than ever next year. Leaving collegiate crew competition on a high note, Adams was encouraged that the team would be in good hands next year.

"It's been a wonderful senior year having two really competitive women's boats and knowing that our younger teammates have many more seasons on the team to be even faster," said Adams.

While the men's boat could not replicate the success of the women, finishing fifth in its opening heat and failing to qualify for the finals, the team believes its youth will turn into an advantage when next year's fall season rolls around.

"With only one returnee from last year's varsity squad, we were probably the most inexperienced boat in the event," said men's Captain Justin Scott '08, "but there is a great deal of young talent on this team that will undoubtedly produce some impressive results next year."

Hoping to build off the success of the New England Fours Championship, the teams will head to Whitney Point, N.Y. for the ECAC Championships on May 12-13 to compete against teams from as far away as Texas and Washington.