Bates College women won so many times at the New Rowing Championships Saturday, when it came time to accept the overall women's points awards at the end of the day, senior coxswain Hannah De Bruyn had to bolt from the group and dash back to the team tent to get the trophy her second varsity eight had won earlier in the afternoon.
Seems she forgot to bring it in all the excitement.
"Wait for me. Wait for me," De Bruyn shouted over her shoulder as she ran from the dock while her teammates stood laughing and waiting on the awards dock on Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, Mass.
A full five minutes later, De Bruyn ran back onto the dock with the trophy over her head and took her place among the gang of defending D3 NCAA national champion women who had swept the New England Champs, winning all four varsity eight women's grand finals.
If the day was not busy enough for head coach Peter Steenstra, his men's squad also had a full day of successful racing, taking gold in the men's first and second varsity eights.
"The day has been full," Steenstra said. "And these guys getting this (men's varsity eight trophy) back after not getting it last year, this is a really good improvement from last year."
For the Bates women, the day's success was another step on the path to the NCAA Championships in Sarasota, Florida, on Memorial Day weekend. The D3 NCAA qualifier for Bates takes place back in Worcester next Friday, but right now Bates is the top ranked D3 team in the country, and is showing no sign that they will slow down anytime soon.
For both the men's and women's squads, the success these past few years is rooted in the leadership of the 21 seniors on the two combined teams.
"It’s a big senior class," Steenstra said. "We have 21 seniors combined on both sides between the men and the women. It's a very dedicated group, and they're very close. Every single one of our boats racing today has a senior in it; there's a lot of pride in that group.
"They’ve been a strong force within the program that's developed this great integrity and character that has carried the program into a whole new realm of depth. The season's been great," he said. "We've gone nearly undefeated as far as against Division 3 and our general competition, and we've been racing them up all season."
Even after being tagged to sprint for the 2V trophy, De Bruyn had enough left in her lungs to talk about what it has been like to row for Bates during her collegiate career.
"This weekend is really fun because it shows all the hard work we've done, and because some of these teams we haven't had a chance to race yet," she said "So it's fun to see where we stand in the competition, and see what's up ahead. I've actually been the spare for three years so this is my first time coxing, so I'm really looking forward to it."
For a spring season that has been mostly characterized by cold, wet, windy weather, yesterday was a perfect day for racing in Worcester, and for putting an exclamation point on some productive seasons.
In addition to Bates having won a significant amount of hardware, Boston College men's squad took over the overall men's points award and captured silver in the men's varsity eight and gold in third varsity eight.
"It was a great day for us," said BC head coach Alex Dillon. "There was awesome racing from all the competition and I think we just found ourselves in a good position. Hopefully it continues into the next two races.
"I think we're in a new position, as a team," he said. "I think we might have been here once or twice. We've won the points trophy three times before. But I just hope this continues and that next year we keep the ball rolling, keep taking the small steps and getting a bit further."
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