Championship season, already? That's right, folks, if you made the mistake of blinking, or worse sleeping in April you probably missed the entirety of the (very very short) regular season here in New England. For crews and spectators alike, it was a dreamy spring day at the New England Rowing Championships (NERC), on Lake Quinsigamond. Perhaps weather is too obvious to discuss in rowing, but after a brutal winter and an impossibly short rowing season, we would be remiss to not revel in such a fine conditions, though maybe not quite hot enough for the coxswains who were tossed into the icy waters.
For many crews, NERC is the first stop on the championship season tour as they face competitors they haven’t seen since a year ago. Not a single coach or athlete went without mentioning the brevity of the season – it really impacted the training as crews spent a significant portion of the season indoors.
Bobcats Attack
Rowing is a sport of numbers – 2000 meters, 6 boats across, margins, splits, stroke rates – but for Bates College the number 24 was the prominent one at the NERC. The grand final was only the 24th row of the season for its crews.
It was a tremendous day for the Bates Crews, led by head coach Peter Steenstra, who spent a good portion of his afternoon on the awards dock as his crews came in to accept their medals – golds for the men's and women's varsity eights as well as the women's 2V8 and 3V8, a silver for the men's 3V8 and a bronze medal for the novice women who "get faster every time they look at water," said Steenstra.
It was an especially sweet victory as it was the first time either of the varsity crews had taken home gold at the NERC – the team that shares a head coach for the men and women, practices together and pushes one another – were able to celebrate together. Steenstra also believes this may have been the first time a coach has won both the men's and women's varsity eight races in the same year - can anyone confirm?
"It’s a very cohesive group - we make each other competitive," said senior captain Nicholas Flynn who stroked the men's varsity. "When one is doing well, the other does well; it’s a productive relationship."
For Flynn, this win was not just the culmination of a season of hard work, or a single winter of training, it was a longtime goal – one he set his freshman year at Bates.
"When I was a freshman I sat in the 2V8 and I really looked up to the varsity boat. When they took 3rd that year, I made it a goal to one day win in the varsity."
The Williams men won the gold in the 2V8, Wesleyan took the win in the 3V8 and Trinity was victorious in the novice 8.
For the women, the strong performances at NERC are just the beginning of a month of training for the NCAA Championships. Last year, the 2V finished the season undefeated, while the V8 finished 4th at the NCAA Championships.
"At the beginning of the season we were back to the bottom of the mountain," said Steenstra. "It wasn’t a year that was different from any other. They spent the winter training on their own, and now in spring we spent a lot of time indoors, and taking about how we were going to attack every race regardless of the water prep we've had."
They may have been back at the bottom of the mountain, but the 2V8 went for a repeat win.
"It feels amazing, looking at the trophy we got today. The first time Bates was on that trophy was last year and now we get to put our name on their for a second time – we're ready to make this a tradition," said 2V coxswain Abby Bierman.
One of the most impressive sprints of the day when the Bates varsity women battled Williams just barely edging them out for the win by .129 seconds – now that's racing!
"For Bates, our sprint is not our strong suit, so we try to make the most of the race during the body and when we get to the sprint - we call it the unload - we just unload everything we have and go for it as fast as we can and hope we cross the finish line first," said senior captain Mallory Ward.
Sibling Rivalry
There was one Bates crew that didn't take home gold, the novice crew, but four-seat Bella Miller will still see the medal around her house –her twin sister, Bertie Miller won the race with Williams Crew.
NERC was the first time the two had ever raced one another – or even rowed on the same course. While Bertie started rowing in high school, Bella didn't begin until this past fall when she started her freshman year at Bates.
"I just wanted to try something new and I've seen how important rowing has been to my sister," said Bella. "It seemed like a good opportunity knowing Bates has a very competitive program."
Though the inspiration may have come from her sister, Bella didn't even tell her twin that she had taken up rowing last fall!
"My plan was to just show up at a race like this and row right past her and say 'I do this now!' but she has a good friend at Bates…I got a text one day saying 'What did you do!?'" said Bella.
"It was completely unexpected, one in our family expected her to row," said Bertie. "But it was nice to be on the race course with her, I didn’t feel like I was just racing my sister, but it made me want to go a little faster."
The two will rematch next weekend at ECACs, as their parents continue to swap Bates and Williams baseball caps back and forth – no favoritism here!
Fours Racing
The afternoon kicked off with the finals for the fours – with many of the schools that focus on fours dominating the podium. One of those schools, Bowdoin College, medaled in every one of its six entries – winning both novice events and taking home two silvers and two bronze medals. Bowdoin, a club program headed up by coach Gil Birney, had a late start like the rest of New England, but made the most out of their short season. Like Bates, the team has a central head coach for both the men's and women's programs (Are there lessons to be learned about teamwork from the Mainers?)
"One of the most pleasing aspects of this team is they way they encourage and support one another," said Birney. "As boats returned to the docks after racing, the first thing out of their mouths was, 'how did the other boats do?' We don't have a men's team and women's team, we have one team with men's and women's events and the upper boats are just as interested in the novices' performances as they are in their own."
Another remarkable performance in the fours came from the Merrimack women's varsity four who took home the gold. The DII team, that’s only a few years old doesn't even have enough members to qualify for the NCAA Championships this year, yet they demonstrated that it isn't always depth that makes a program fast.
"Last year we made the final, this year we were hoping to race in 8s and every week throughout the winter I would get 3-4 emails or texts from people who were sick or injured – this is what's left! These are the four best ones and happened to be the ones who stayed uninjured, put in all the work and never stopped believing," said head coach Dave LeFebvre. "A month ago I was ready to pack it in, and we finally got on the water 2 days before the Knecht Cup. I just got out of the way and they shot off; they've been really fast and a lot of fun to be with."
Both Bowdoin and Merrimack, along with many of the crews that raced at NERC will be heading down to Philly next weekend to finish off their season at the Dad Vail.
row2k will be back shores of Lake Quinsigamond next weekend where many of the NERC crews will be looking to defend their wins, seek vengeance, and get some of their last strokes of the season at the ECAC Championships.
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