With title to defend, crew opens season

BY RACHEL LUBERDA

Based on the men's lightweight crew team's stellar season last spring, the 2001 squad has a lot to live up to. In addition to capturing the Secretary of the Navy Cup, the Joy Cup, the Dodge Cup, the Durand Cup, and the Goldthwait Cup, the 2000 lightweight crew secured a national championship.

JULIA TIERNAN/YH

The team even snagged the prestigious Temple Challenge Cup at the Henley Royal Regatta to cap off its near-perfect season. With a high number of returning varsity rowers, the Elis seem primed to repeat as national champions. Team members maintain the requisite modesty; rather than expecting race victories to come naturally, they look forward to starting fresh this season and using each contest as a building block for future competitions. "We expect to work hard every race," Patrick McGarvey, JE '01, said. "There are a lot of good teams out there this year, and nobody is going to roll over and hand us a race."

Head Coach Andrew Card added, "We would like to wipe the slate clean and even forget about last season a little bit. There are five or six very talented teams out there right now. We're just back in the hunt again this season. This could be an outstanding season in itself." But with such a strong crop of returning rowers, the Bulldogs are on track to defend their title.

REGARDLESS OF HOW THE ELIS FINISH THEIR SEAson, spectators can count on a number of tight, action-packed races over the next few weeks. "Races in the lightweight league are always close, and the lead crew is never comfortably ahead," McGarvey said. "Usually there are a few lead changes, and the winner is not clear until the last 10 strokes at the earliest. It is high-intensity racing."

Captain Andrew Morley, JE '01, describes the moments prior to a crew race as being very nerve-wracking and pressure-filled, as the rowers wait in apprehension for the competition to begin. He says that the team tries to stay as focused as possible during both the start and the length of the race, always paying close attention to its technique. "Late in the race, it's easy to break down, but you just have to keep moving the boat smoothly until the finish," Morley said.

The Bulldogs kicked off their 2001 season by dominating MIT in all four of the races and winning the Joy Cup on Sat., Mar. 31. The varsity boat finished with a time of 5:27.2, destroying MIT's time of 5:41.8 in the 2k race. Both the second and third varsity boats came in before MIT (5:43.9) with times of 5:28.2 and 5:33.5 respectively. In the freshman races, the first freshman boat secured a victory over MIT with a time of 5:42.5 while the second freshman boat finished with a time of 6:03.2.

According to Ian Malloch, SM '02, the MIT race was a good experience because it enabled the team to evaluate its performance early in the season. "It is good to have a race under our belt, and it showed us the areas where we can improve," he said.

Because the crew season consists of only five races, much of the Bulldogs' focus is on strengthening their racing skills in practices. With so few competitions, the Elis can not afford to be counting on races for experience and improvement. Rather, they must be at pique performance come race time.

Card notes that every race has to be taken seriously in order for the team to reach its optimal performance level at the end of the crew season. "We have to get as much pleasure and excitement out of these races as we prepare for the championships," he said.

As the Elis prepare for the remainder of their races, they should be able to rely upon their veterans for experience. Many of the team's varsity rowers have been practicing and competing with one another for many seasons. McGarvey claims that the Bulldogs' experience is one of their greatest strengths at the moment. "We have raced a lot of races together, and that builds a lot of cohesiveness," he said.

This gives the Elis a key advantage; perhaps one of the greatest challenges for any crew team is to establish a successful balance of strength and speed in one boat. With so many returning rowers, the Bulldogs already have a lot of that cohesiveness that other teams will have to strive for. "In rowing, blending eight pretty aggressive individuals into one unit is always a challenge that takes some time to achieve," Card said. Such unity can only be expected to intensify as the season progresses if the rowers use each additional race as a challenge to work together collectively. Card also points out that the team is trying to find a more efficient way of rowing so that it will be able to reach and maintain an easier speed throughout competitions.

Besides having many returning rowers to provide guidance and leadership, Yale can also rely upon its extensive roster to boost the team's level of competitiveness. "Having a third varsity boat which is very fast and full of great athletes has helped push each boat to a new level, making the JV much faster and thus making the varsity faster," Malloch said. "I would have to say that our depth has helped the entire team achieve a new level this year."

Morley credits the team's mix and depth of talented rowers, yet he asserts that the Elis must remain committed to improving as many facets of their racing performance as possible. According to Morley, this type of dedication to improving weaknesses is what essentially keeps the team working together throughout the season. By re-analyzing certain aspects of rowing, such as pulling harder during races or acquiring a smoother technique, he hopes that the Bulldogs will continue to make strides in the future.

BUT LINGERING OVER THE MANY POSITIVE MEMOries of last season is the stain of a temporary suspension and investigation of hazing incidents affecting the heavyweight team. Although not directly affected by the controversy surrounding the men's heavyweight crew team last December, the lightweight crew team still felt connected to the incidents. "It definitely has made us more aware of the consequences for such actions," Malloch said. Card admitted that the team felt badly for everyone involved, but he also stressed the positive outcomes that arose from the situation. "It initiated a talking point with the crew teams about the certain ways to go about bonding with teammates," he said. "We discussed the situation in depth among the teams. We stressed the importance of taking care and looking after one another."

Morley asserts that the unity of the different crew teams helped those involved, both directly and indirectly, to cope with the difficult situation at the time. Still, while the crew teams have addressed and dealt with the suspension incident, they also hope to look towards the future and to concentrate again on their sport. "As a whole, we've tried to put everything behind us and move ahead with our season," Morley said. "We just want to focus on the important things of rowing again."

With its season in full swing, the lightweight crew team has plenty of things to focus on at the moment, such as competing against talented opponents and securing another national championship. While expectations for future success remain high, the Elis instead plan to take one race at a time; they remain dedicated to adjusting and working on their performances over the next few weeks.

"We expect to reach our fastest speed for the Sprints and IRAs and see where it takes us," Malloch said.

AS THE ELIS DELVE INTO THE REMAINDER OF THEIR season, they anticipate a highly competitive battle for the national championships, coming mainly from the direction of their Ivy League rivals. The Ivy League contains many formidable opponents this season; Card stressed that Yale cannot overlook any of these talented teams if they expect to win. In fact, the Bulldogs' only loss last season came at the hands of Columbia; at the Eastern Association of Rowing College Sprints last May, the Lions beat the Bulldogs by 0.11 seconds.

The Bulldogs will have to get ready in a hurry; the Lions are next on the team's schedule when the Bulldogs travel to take on both Columbia and Penn on Sat., Apr. 14. As the defending champions of the Dodge Cup, the Elis hope to both capture another title and to improve upon their performances from MIT. In preparation for their upcoming race this weekend, the Bulldogs have been focusing on the basic fundamentals of rowing to fine-tune their performances. According to McGarvey, the rowers are striving to improve their technical rowing, fitness, and overall unity during the course of the week. "Every team has great potential this year. The league is extremely strong, so every race will challenge us to be at our best." Photo of the Gilder Boathouse courtesy Yale Sports Publicity.

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