Battling cold, driving rain and significant wind gusts, the Boston University women’s crew team had a respectable showing at the Head of the Connecticut on Sunday, placing among the top five in three of five races against top-ranked crews from across the country.
The course was a grueling three-and-a-half-miles, which was the longest head race of the season for BU.
“It was rainy, windy and kind of crazy,” said BU Coach Holly Hatton.
Despite the inhospitable conditions, the two BU women’s championship fours both placed in the top 10. The A boat rowed to a fifth place title finishing at 20:34.38, and the B boat rowers followed their teammates closely, coming in ninth place only six seconds later.
Sophomore Ariel Kraten, who raced in the A boat, said their finish was surprising.
“It was a totally thrown together lineup,” Kraten said. “We had never practiced together. It was a random conglomeration of people that Holly threw together. But we raced cleanly, and we raced hard. I think it was a pretty strong showing.”
Sophomore Stephanie Szabo agreed.
“Considering we hadn’t practiced in that lineup at all, we did really well,” she said.
The B boat rowers felt they, too, had a surprising result but for different reasons. Initially rated as the underdog in the race, “no one really expected us to do well,” said sophomore Tara Kelley. “But we passed five crews and were six seconds off the A four. We were really psyched about it.”
“We were really intense the entire race and definitely put a lot of pressure on the other boats,” sophomore Elesa Einsenhart said.
“We did excellent,” said sophomore Tori Botticelli. “We were totally together. The run was great. The power was spectacular, and there was not one point that we ever stopped, where the boat felt heavy or that we were lagging. It was always strong.”
The second race for BU was the double sculls. Senior Kate Cebulski and junior Laura Skriner raced against four national development teams in addition to the other club and collegiate teams, which made their seventh place finish at 21:11.95 just six seconds behind the winning crew a satisfying accomplishment.
The third race of the day turned out being the team’s strongest finish. The novice eight, made up of experienced freshman rowers, finished first, beating out Northeastern University.
There was initial confusion about the results. The officials pronounced Northeastern the winner initially, but the announcement was later retracted when the Northeastern University coxswain admitted there had been a mistake in the recording of their time.
Megan Keyes, one of the freshmen in the eight, said the race “felt really good. It was a really strong race. It was a great way to start off the season. I’m proud of us.”
Their varsity teammates agreed.
“I think the novice eight did a really good job,” Eisenhart said. “It seemed like they were really together and stuck it out.”
Overall, the feeling among the teammates was congratulatory, while still admitting room for improvement.
“I think the whole team put a really good effort forward,” Eisenhart said. “I think we were really competitive, one of the top crews there, and in the results you can see that.”
“I think we did really well overall, but if you ask any one of us, we’ll say we could have done better,” Botticelli said.
So early in the season, the general sentiment was that it is too soon to make predictions on spring races and possible NCAA titles just yet.
“I think a lot of our competition wasn’t at that race, so it’s hard to forecast the season based on the Head of the Connecticut,” Kraten said. “We showed some good flexibility and good power.”
“We’re trying to get some consistency,” Hatton said. “We’re trying to find the best combinations at this point. In the big picture, it’s really early on in this team’s life, and to make selections six weeks into the year is pretty difficult. We’re going to still gain a lot and improve.”
“I know everybody on the team is hoping for some consistency on who we’re practicing with and everyone’s hoping for consistency in lineups and in standards we set for ourselves and for each other and that our coach sets for us,” Kraten said.
Pleased with their results in Connecticut, the team is turning its sights toward the biggest race of the fall season: the Head of the Charles.
“It’s a huge event. There’ll be two national team boats. I certainly want to be in the top 10. It’s going to be a challenge,” Hatton said.
The lineups for the upcoming races, a varsity eight and a varsity four, remain unsettled. However, the flexibility gained in Connecticut will certainly aid in their quest for a top ten finish.
“I can’t think of anything huge that stands out, but there are tons of things individually we need to work on that will improve the overall quickness of the boat,” Botticelli said. “It’s those little things that really make you faster. We have such strength right now it’s just insane so I think they’re definitely going to do well. We’re just going to kick butt.”