Both the open and lightweight women’s rowing teams are looking forward to strong seasons, after enjoying a host of successes last year and starting on the right note in fall racing.
The lightweight women’s team 2014-2015 season included highlights such as capturing both the Class of 1999 Cup against Harvard and Class of 2006 Cup against Georgetown University. The Tigers concluded the year at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) National championships, where they missed the medal stand with a fourth place finish, being edged out by Boston University by 2.5 seconds. Reflecting on last year’s heartbreaking result in the eight grand final, junior co-captain Christina Warren said, “It was a super well fought out race and there was nothing else anybody could have done. Our performance took a lot of guts and we were really proud.” Though the team was certainly delighted with its efforts, Warren added that last year will provide extra motivation for the squad this season: “IRA was tough, but we have a lot of returners keeping that in the back of their heads and using it as fire under their butts.”
In the fall racing season, the team fared well at both the Head of the Charles Regatta and the Princeton Chase. The 8+ boat finished fifth overall, losing the fourth place position by a margin of only 3 seconds to University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the 4+ took sixth in the championship event. At the Chase, the V8 was happy to produce a 22 second swing from the Charles a week before, and top one of their rivals Boston University. Junior co-captain Juliette Hackett summarized the races saying, “We knew we were making progress, and we started to get our culture going. The main takeaway was getting motivation moving forward. We were also more focused on the Chase this year.”
The team boasts two new recruited freshmen, Grace Cordsen and Madelynn Prendergast, both of whom have had an immediate impact on the team, with Prendergast in the top four and Cordsen in the top eight. Hackett says the team has high expectations as it looks forward to its upcoming season: “We’re aiming big, looking at Radcliffe especially, and trying to be gutsy in all of our races, not leaving anything behind.”
Meanwhile, the open women’s squad is trying to build on its improvements from last season which included victories against all-Ivy League teams except Brown and an impressive 12th place finish at the NCAA championships. This year at the Head of the Charles the team made great strides, seeing it’s a boat jump from 10th in 2014 to a fourth place finish this year. The team was second fastest in the Ivy field, trailing only reigning champions and powerhouse Brown. At the Chase, the team slipped slightly, taking fourth in a strong field, but the fours had a nice 1-2 finish. Senior Mary Ann McNulty explained how “the Chase was very frustrating because Yale got third. The second half of the race was a little more disconnected in comparison with the Charles, where we were really gunning for it.”
The team is eager to take a shot at Ivy champion Brown this year as it continues to embrace a perfectionist philosophy. Senior captain Meghan Wheeler added, “At this point, every moment matters, and we can’t lose sight of the loftiness of our goals in the long winter stretch. We’re definitely aiming to beat Brown, as we have lost our opener for two years in a row. We think this is a feasible target and in general our goal is always to win. Also, our coaches remind us that there was no Ivy boat in the final last year, so we’re always looking to change that too.”
With such strong confidence and deep lineups, the Tiger lightweight and open women’s rowing teams are poised for great success this year.Read More
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