Marist Crew Brings the Broom!

As our team geared up for the President’s Cup, our annual dual meet against Army, there was one worry in everyone’s mind: would we even be able to race? Last year, the race was cancelled due to high winds. We were hungry for a great race, but with high winds predicted again this year, we just wanted to make sure we could race at all.

Luckily the morning of the Cup was perfect. The water was flat and it was sunny, a rare sight on the Hudson in April. Every year the race alternates venues and for my senior year, it was a home race. Not only is this great because it’s awesome to race on a very familiar course but we also don’t have to load (and then un-load) all of our equipment onto the trailer, a task that is often drawn out and frustrating. 

Rowing up to the start

Despite a rocky first 300 meters, our V8 had a very solid race. Our start was frantic and rushed but once we calmed down, it felt very smooth. Our third 500, usually the weakest part of our race, was actually the best part. We crossed the finish line twelve seconds ahead of the Army V8. After our race, the Women’s 1F and 2F placed 1^st and 2^nd in their race against Army’s freshmen crew. This meant that in order to sweep the events, our V4 had to win. 

Our V4 after the race...whitecaps barely visible in the background

By the time our V4 was ready to race, the conditions completely changed. We had a strong tailwind, racing against the current, conditions that create white caps. Our race was a pretty rough in those conditions, especially because we haven’t practiced in fours since the first day of spring training, but our line-up proved to be successful, as we beat Army’s first 4+ by eleven seconds. We were happy to have gotten the race in, but the Novice 4+s were not so lucky. The conditions had worsened to the point that it would have been unsafe for them to race and their race was cancelled. Marist Crew was successful in retaining the President’s Cup for another year!

Seniors and the President's Cup

After the races, we had a ceremony presenting the Cup and honoring all the seniors. It was really nice to see the administration supporting our team in person and it was a nice event for the parents, who probably often wonder why they spend their free time freezing at the side of a riverbank waiting for a split second glimpse of their child rowing by. As always, the ceremony was a reminder that the year is flying by and it’s almost time for “the G word”.

For results, see row2k.com. For Marist’s coverage, see goredfoxes.com. Marist Crew also swept the MAAC Rowing Awards for this week, where our V8 and V4 won both awards for the women’s side. Go Red Foxes! Happy Easter everyone!

A Wild Weekend of Racing for Marist Crew

After our less than satisfactory result at the Murphy Cup, we put some serious work into practice during the week. We knew that we were faster than our result showed and this weekend was the weekend to prove it. With V8 race on Saturday against Trinity and UConn and a V8 and V4 race on Sunday against SHU, Drake, Canisius, Iona, University of Albany and Fairfield, it was time to show the rowing world some semblance of speed.

Coventry Lake, CT

Saturday morning our race took place in Coventry Lake, CT. As rowers, we’re used to early mornings, but a 5:30am bus with freezing temperatures made this morning harsher than most. The UConn race has traditionally been the coldest race with the most miserable racing conditions on our schedule and it seemed like this year was going to be no exception. Once we arrived at the course, we were pleased to find that, while it was sleeting, or snowing, or precipitating somehow throughout the morning, the water was fairly flat. My pair partner from last year and I were especially pleased. Our joke from last year’s race was that it was a stern six crew team and a bow pair swim team, as we came off the water with about six inches of water in our hull. This year was better already!

In our race, we had a good start, but Trinity and UConn got off the line faster than we did. Because we were testing our new “super secret senior starboard stroke” (direct Tom Sanford quote) line-up, we took a power 15 instead of a power 20 before we settled, which put us at even more of a disadvantage. However we fought back through the second 500 and by the time we reached the 1000m mark, we were even with Trinity. We had decided before the race to delay our middle move in order to focus on strength through the 3^rd 500 and we took our middle 15 at 800m to go. This allowed us to walk on Trinity, a place we stayed until the end of the race. UConn beat us by 3 seconds, but we were very pleased with our race. To see the results, click here.

Race prep for MAACs!

Sunday morning we were allowed to sleep in until our bus left at 8am for the Sacred Heart Invitational in Shelton, CT. Our team had never been to this race before and for me personally, it was exciting to go to a brand new venue, something that never seems to happen in my rowing career anymore. Sunday was much warmer than Saturday.

Conditions for V8 racing were similar to the previous day’s race: relatively flat water. We had a great warm-up. It was a little nerve wracking to get on the line with schools we knew we would be facing again in the MAAC championship but we were excited to see what we could do. We had a strong start, but not as strong as Drake and Canisius, who came off the line faster than we did. However, we made it back on them very quickly and were in the lead by the 500m mark, a lead that we kept until the end of the race. It was great for our boat mentally to have two strong, solid races in a row. We were lucky with the conditions but the opportunities were there and we took them. Overall, it was a very productive weekend for the V8 and we were awarded with MAAC crew of the week for our performances!

V4: Picture from Head of the Fish....the water was NOT that flat!

Conditions for the V4’s were very different: The wind kicked up to create a decent amount of chop and we were pretty sure our race was going to have to be cancelled. Fortunately, it held off long enough for us to race one four that was the same line up as Head of the Fish and a four composed of two girls from the V8 and two girls from the 2V8, who had also won their 2V race. Despite the tough conditions and less than smooth race, both Marist V4's placed 1-2 in the event. It was very exciting for our team to have both crews handle the conditions better than the other five crews in our event and overall, it was very good weekend of racing for our team. To see the results, click here. 

As per April Fool’s tradition, we pranked our coach by calling him halfway through our trip home and telling him we left a teammate at the race course. He caught on fairly quickly, but there’s nothing as fun as giving someone driving hundreds of thousands of dollars of rowing equipment a heart attack. Sorry, Tom, we had to. Happy April Fool’s Day! Hubba hubba hubba! Go Red Foxes!

Click here for Marist coverage of our weekend.