The women's novice and varsity crew teams finished their seasons last weekend by competing in the Foot of the Charles in Cambridge, Mass.
On the novice side, the women rowers made Dartmouth history by placing first in the race with a time of 14 minutes, 10 seconds.
"It's a great end to a great fall, but the whole team knows that we have a long way to go until the Eastern Sprints Championships in the spring," novice coach Amanda Cashman said.
The varsity boats placed second and sixth with times of 15:22 and 15:52, respectively. The rowers were pleased with this performance considering the varsity event was in fours and not eight person boats.
"We just got into fours this last week," varsity coach Barb Kirch said. "I think everyone raced well and we continued to show this fall that we have the chance to compete for the medal this spring at the Eastern Sprints."
The team entered the race hoping to compete well and establish themselves as a competitive team, Jennie Bracken '94 said.
"I don't think any of us had any expectations since we had only rowed in our lineups once," she said. "I think we just wanted another chance to pull hard and race well. This race was a good indicator for the team. We are right in the pack this year, but to be on top, we are going to need to train harder and better than our competition."
The novice second boat also performed well with a 12th place finish, considering it had to row in a different boat with a new line up due to equipment difficulties, Cashman said.
"We always talk about not giving into distractions and I feel the second boat really put those words into action and did a terrific job," she said.
"We went in with the mindset that we had to be able to race anywhere, anytime, anyhow, making each stroke count," said Sansea Kaphan '96, a member of the second boat.
The team can't depend on past success to guarantee good performances in the future, Ashley Graves '97 said.
"It's tempting to be content with our team's success so far, but although we are all pretty excited about it, we try to keep in our mind that our goals extend far beyond doing well in the fall," Graves said.
Kirch said building confidence is a key for the team to be successful in the spring.
"A lot of people on our team are not used to getting first," she said. "We need to believe we are strong enough to be first, can be first and will be first. The entire squad is willing to do what it takes."
Strong winter training will be essential to achieve this needed confidence, Kirch said.
"We'd like to see significant improvement in endurance and strength," she said. "We'd like to have them see themselves get stronger as individuals and gain that confidence."
Kaphan said although the winter can be long, the team cannot lose concentration on the improvements that need to be made.
"We just have to remember to stay focused and raise our standards daily in training for the Sprints in the spring," she said. "We still have so much to improve upon, and we need to use our off season to become stronger, more precise and more confident as individual rowers and as a team."
