This weekend all three crews will leave Collyer Boathouse behind to face their opponents on less familiar waters.
The heavyweight men will travel to New Jersey to challenge Rutgers in the Howard M. Smith Cup.
After weeks of experimenting, the team seems to have finally settled on a lineup for the varsity and second varsity boats after its races against Princeton.
“The team has a lot of good feeling about the lineup that raced (last weekend),” commented coach Dan Roock.
Last Saturday the heavyweights suffered their first defeat at the hands of the perennially strong Princeton Tigers. Instead of taking it as a loss, however, the team is using the experience to its advantage.
“Last week’s race showed us that we have the potential for good speed. This weekend is another opportunity to develop that,” explained senior commodore Ken Davies.
After tomorrow’s races, the heavies will begin preparing for the Eastern Sprints Championships that will be held in Worcester on May 19th. After that, they will have one more dual race at home before heading to the IRA Championships at the end of May.
The women and lightweight men will both travel to New Hampshire tomorrow to challenge Dartmouth.
The outcome of the men’s battle for the Baggaley Cup is impossible to predict with the teams so closely matched in strength.
“Right now if you look at the rankings, we’re fourth and they’re fifth, so they’re right on our heels,” said senior Scott Triolo. “It’s going to be a good race,” he added.
After this weekend the lightweights will follow the heavyweights to Sprints and then on to the IRA Championships in Camden, N.J.
“We have the opportunity to make this one of our best seasons in years,” added Triolo.
The women will head to Sprints a week earlier than their male counterparts. Their performance at the Eastern Sprints Championships next weekend will determine whether or not they advance to the NCAA Championships on held May 31- June 2.
“There’s always tough crews to race, but I think we have a good chance this year,” said senior co-captain Fran O’Rourke.
Meanwhile, the women are looking to finish up their last dual meet with a victory over Dartmouth.
“We’ve been spending some time trying to sharpen up some of the boats’ movements to make them cleaner and more efficient,” explained coach Melanie Onufrieff. “It’s our last chance to shape up before the championships,” she added.
Archived article by Meredith Long