Last weekend, our team traveled to Saratoga to race in Head of the Fish. It was our last weekend of fall racing and it was a big one. Our schedule had us at the Fish on Saturday and at the Fall Metro (a new race for our team on a 2k course in New Rochelle) on Sunday. Since all the varsity girls and some of the freshmen were racing multiple events each day, we went into it prepared for a lot of racing in a short amount of time.
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| Head of the Fish Course (courtesy of Saratoga Rowing Association) |
We arrived in Saratoga around 8:30 am to windy and very cold conditions. For the women, the first races of the day were the varsity 8+s. The 1v8 raced the same line-up we had the previous weekend in our still unnamed new boat. The 2v8 raced a line-up they had never rowed before, composed of a senior, two juniors, a sophomore and four freshmen.
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| 1v8 |
Despite having a strong race in Delaware, our eight did not have a good race at the Fish. The Fish is a little bit shorter course than Delaware (3.7k vs. 4k) and it is a lot straighter. We were also racing in a field of 17 rather than 7. All of these factors meant that we needed to be aggressive right from the beginning and row at 32 spm to be competitive. We ended up racing at 30 spm, which just wasn’t enough to hang with a stronger field. I think another contributing factor was the fragmented practice we had the Friday before the race. I think that one of the reasons last spring’s 1v8 raced well (in the few races Mother Nature allowed us to have) is because we had been rowing together for a long time and we worked well with each other. I believe a team builds a certain kind of cohesion after going through years of training. I think our eight is still in the process of figuring each other out, as is expected with a transitioning team. As much as it was upsetting to have a disappointing race, I think it was a good learning experience. Now we know we have to work on keeping higher rates, and we have all of winter training to get stronger, tougher and become more of a team. I am very excited to see what we can do in the spring once we iron out the kinks.
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| 2v8 |
The fours had much better races in a bigger field (28 boats). My four had the same lineup as Delaware but the 2v4 was composed of the stern 4 of the 1v8 and the 3v4 was composed of the upperclassmen from the 2v8. The 3rd four had a good race, considering this was another line-up that had never practiced together. The 2v4 felt that they raced better than they had practiced, despite a broken cox box. My co-captain, Maggie, sat in bow seat and “coxed” the race. They placed 7th, showing that they were not about to let adversity stop them from having a good race.
My four had a great race. It was probably one of the best races I’ve had in my entire life. From the beginning, everything just seemed to go well. We built confidence early on by passing the boat in front of us and carried that mentality throughout the entire race. We kept the rate at 31 spm and just cranked on it the entire time. I was in flow state almost the entire time, which rarely happens to me in sweep races. I felt totally focused and in control. The only thing that made the race less than perfect was the last ten strokes. We got cut off going into the finish and our coxswain had to hit the rudder hard to avoid ramming them. But other than that it was a fabulous race and we placed 2nd.
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| Silver medals! |
Both freshmen 8+s did a great job too. They raced in their same line-ups from the previous weekend, something that I think contributed to their success. When I was a freshman, we didn’t have enough people to have a set lineup, which doesn’t allow the boat as a whole to learn from mistakes and get better together. These freshmen are also ambitious and competitive, whether they have rowing experience or not. The 1F placed first, snagging the coveted Fish Head trophy (yes, it’s a real fish) and the 2F placed 10th, beating a bunch of first freshman crews.
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| The actual Head of the Fish! |
We got on the bus to find out that Fall Metro had been canceled, due to the freak fall snowstorm. Although it was very disappointing to have yet ANOTHER race canceled (totaling half of our fall season and the fifth canceled race in 2011), I think we ended on a good note. Our eight race might not have been what we wanted, but we came back in the fours to end the day strong. The freshmen had another solid racing experience with great results.We got in a great day of racing before the snowstorm hit and then we got to go home and play in the eight inches of snow that fell while we were away.
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| Post Race Snowsurfing |
Marist’s coverage of the Head of the Fish can be found here.
Row2k results can be found here.
Lineups
| 1v8 cox: J Guzzardi 8: F. Siclovan 7. M. Kolb 6: T. Fillipini 5: M. Ladouceur 4: T. Mather 3: A. Carafas 2: J. DeLisle 1: K. Butta 2v8 cox: Z. Christopher 8: A. Devorak 7: S. Moriarty 6: K. Wilson 5: S. LaRose 4. M. Banks 3. E. Waskiewicz 2: M. Soprano 1: N. Washburn | 1F8 cox: S. Cillo 8: A. Devorak 7: S. Moriarty 6: M. Romer 5: S. LaRose 4: K. Wilson 3: S. Blau 2: T. Mullaney 1: A. Khoury 2F8 cox: K. Perkins 8: B. Logue 7: L. Hehir 6: K. Melendez 5: N. Culhane 4: K. Orzech 3: M. Perry 2: N. Washburn 1: K. Mahoney | |
| 1v4 cox: B. Rodriguez 4: T. Mather 3: A. Carafas 2: J. DeLisle 1: K. Butta | 2v4 cox: Zoe Christopher 4: F. Siclovan 3: M. Ladouceur 2: T. Fillipini 1: M. Kolb | 3v4 cox: J. Guzzardi 4: M. Banks 3: E. Waskiewicz 2: M. Soprano 1: N. Washburn |
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