The women's crew returned to the waters of the Connecticut last week with some unfinished business to take care of. Last Spring, the squad surged past some powerhouse crews to capture the bronze medal at the Eastern Sprints Championships.
This year, they're aiming for the gold. For the women's crew, last season was good, but this season will be better.
"We've only been on the water for about a week," Coach Barbara Kirch said, "but so far we're doing very well. While our focus is still on technique, the intensity of the squad is the best it's ever been this early in the season."
With many of last year's novice rowers returning to join the varsity squad this year, much of the team's success will depend on the experience and leadership of a strong senior contingent.
"We lost three seniors from our first varsity boat last year," Co-captain Rosi Kerr '97 said. "But this year, we have a lot of young rowers coming up from the novice level and we have a big slew of seniors. So on the whole, it's a very strong squad with lots of depth."
If the practices to date are any indication of how well the team will do this season, the women's crew will definitely be winning some races in the coming weeks. "We've been logging in a lot of miles and we've been very disciplined each day out on the river," Kerr said.
With some big fall regattas coming up, the women's crew has been training hard with good reason. They are scheduled to row four 3.5 mile head races over the next two months.
"We've got a great fall racing season ahead of us," Kerr said. "The fall head races are always pretty fun and they're great prep races for the Spring season," she added.
The biggest race will be the famed Head of the Charles Regatta on October 20th. "We only have a four entered in the Charles race, and we should expect a very solid performance," Annie Briggs '97 said.
The women's crew will round out their fall season with some smaller regattas where the Big Green is expected to finish at or close to the top.
