If you have spent some time down at the boathouse recently, you've probably witnessed the wacky pre-launch ritual performed by the women's novice crews.
It goes like this. Once they've set their shell in the water and placed their oars in the proper places, they all huddle around their coxswain. Then they get into a circle and stack their arms in the middle and they holler at the top of their lungs a simple two-word cheer -- "Represent, yo!"
This weekend the novice crews will have their chance to "represent" as they and the rest of Dartmouth's women's crews head south to Lake Waramaug in New Preston, Conn. for the 1997 EAWRC Sprints Regatta.
The way many of the rowers see it, Eastern Sprints will be a chance to settle some unfinished business left over from the regular season races.
"A lot of the season's results have been inconsistent," junior Kathleen Eibl said. "Crew A beats Crew B, Crew B beats Crew C. Then Crew C beats Crew A. Basically Sprints will give us a chance to see how everyone rows in the same conditions on a fair playing field."
In the case of Dartmouth's JV eight, there remains some controversy over the Big Green's victories over Radcliffe and Yale during the regular season.
"Some doubt that our victories over Yale and Radcliffe were solid," Eibl said. "We intend to show them otherwise."
Team co-Captain Ingrid Brody '97 shares that same degree of confidence and has no grave worries about her boat's fifth seed going into the race.
"Although we've only lost to two crews in our league, some of the crews whom we beat went on to beat other fast crews, so through indirect margins we wound up fifth," she said. "But this doesn't worry us at all -- we're ready to race anytime, anywhere, against anyone, no matter what they're ranked."
The Big Green's greatest strength going into this weekend will be their depth -- there's talent throughout the ranks of the women's crews from varsity straight through to the novice boats.
"This is an especially exciting Sprints for us, since we have exceptional depth this year," Brody said. "Every boat has come up with some big wins over the course of the season."
"Our novices are really fast," Eibl said. "They've had some really great races against Princeton and Cornell."
There's probably a good reason why the novices have so much potential going into this weekend. Perhaps it's the confidence and trust between the rowers and their coxswain.
"I think if we have a clean race on Sunday that we have just as good of a chance at a medal as any other boat there," said first novice coxswain Athena Maikish '00. "Quite frankly, I don't think my expectations are high -- I think they are justified in the eight rowers that sit in front of me."
"I have seen what my crew can accomplish when they want something," Maikish said. "And two 'races of their lives' at Sprints is something this crew really wants."
While Dartmouth's first novices will enter the race seeded fourth behind Radcliffe, Brown and Princeton, Maikish believes that they can surprise a few crews this weekend.
"I hope this weekend to rock it," she said, "not only to surpass others' expectations, but to show each other in the boat how much we can inspire each other and where that inspiration can lead us."
Varsity rower Becky Frost '99 has similar aspirations for her boat this weekend. "It's important for us to go out there and make our boat as fast as possible."
