Crew launches successful 8s program

The Middlebury Crew Club is a team caught in transition. The team has grown to its largest membership ever, with 21 members on the varsity men’s team and 12 members on the varsity women’s team. At the end of the spring season, every single varsity boat medaled in the New England Championships in the fours category. Competing in these four-man boats, against programs with similar levels of funding and recruiting ability (limited on both counts), the Middlebury Crew team dominates. The varsity programs from Division-I schools and with recruited rowers all compete in eight man boats. This fall, Middlebury crew forayed successfully for the first time into the elite eights competition.
The disparity between Middlebury Crew and the opposing teams in eights competition is apparent even at first sight. The quality of the team’s equipment, although improved in recent years, is still on a different level than opposing crews. In sheer size of the rowers, nearly every other boat towers over Middlebury.  By a very simple measurement of strength on the erg machine (an indoor rowing simulator), the team is far behind other schools.
On a deeper level, out of the 20 rowers and 3 coxswains that competed at the Head of the Charles this fall, only 4 had rowing experience before coming to Middlebury. Of those four, just two rowed for all four years at competitive high school programs. For most schools competing in eights, only a handful of the rowers are walk-ons and are all generally of the freakishly large variety.
“We don’t have any 6’5, 220 pound recruits so if our team was judged on erg scores alone we would come in near the bottom of the pack, but as the saying goes, ‘ergs don’t float,’” said men’s tri-captain Ben Rubin ’11. “I think our results have proven this aphorism true. We have not done it by individual heroics, but through the cohesiveness, concentration, and determination of each boat on the team.”
Despite the odds stacked against them, the team established themselves as viable competitors in the eights field. They routinely beat crews with nicer boats, bigger rowers and more experience. Some important results include finishes by the men’s top eight such as fifth of 13 (Head of the Textile), first of six (New Hampshire Championships),  22nd  of 42 (Head of the Charles) and seventh of 19 (Head of the Fish). The women’s top eight finished third of eight (NH Champ.), 28th of 31 (HoC, impeded by opponent collision) and 14th of 19 (HoF). The men’s team was so large they fielded additional boats as second eights or top fours and saw success against other program’s top rowers, exemplifying the depth of the team.  Additionally, when the women raced in fours, their excellent performances harkened back to last season (fifth and ninth of 17 at NH Champs., 12th and 15th of 31 at HoF). Not to be forgotten is the novice team, who did well against largely recruited freshmen teams in a men’s eight and women’s four in their first race at the Head of the Fish (19th of 26 and 11th of 23, respectively).
On the surface these finishes don’t seem as impressive as the silver and bronze medals of last season’s New England Championships. But included in these races are victories over Division-I, varsity programs such as University of New Hampshire, University of Vermont, University of Massachusetts, Bucknell University, Lehigh University, Penn State University, Rochester Institute of Technology,  Villanova University, College of William and Mary and many more.
“It was a strong season made even stronger by the commitment of the team to the tenets of Middlebury Crew: teamwork and hard work,” commented tri-captain David Peduto ’11. “It was a team effort, through and through, starting with the coaches and coxswains, and extending to every member of the team.”
These successes are a testament to the team’s superb coaching by head coach Noel Wanner, who is in the midst of his third year at the helm of the team. A former U.S. National Team rower himself, his tenure as head coach has marked Middlebury’s explosion into prominence in the New England rowing atmosphere. Also worth mentioning is the influence of novice coach Scott Robinson ’08, who oversaw the first-year development of a large portion of the team, including five of the sophomore varsity rowers who competed at the Head of the Charles. Members of the team are quick both to praise their coaches and to express a strong excitement for the future of the program.
“It was another great season for Middlebury Crew. The team seems to be getting stronger and faster every season, and I’m looking forward to what the spring season will bring,” said women’s captain Meghan Blumstein ’11. The future of the Middlebury Crew team is contingent on this continued development as it surges forward.
“As coach Noel says, ‘If you want to make fishing interesting, you go for bigger fish on thinner line,’” reports Rubin. “I believe this statement describes a fall season where we have beaten much bigger and stronger crews, and will continue to be the story of the team in the future.”