Heavyweights head to Stonehurst

BY DARCY WIECKS

The Yale men's heavyweight crew team opened its season last weekend at the Head of the Housatonic and defeated every team in the competition—aside from their fellow Bulldogs on the lightweight team. Though the team faced less difficult competition than it will face during the rest of its season, the regatta offered coaches the opportunity to test out different lineups and watch team members perform in a competitive situation. And despite losing to the lightweight team, both coaches and rowers were satisfied with their performance.

An early taste of competition should benefit the Bulldogs, as the team was forced to form lineups a full two weeks prior to the Head of the Charles, rather than the usual one week. Captain Nate Kirk, BK '02, said. "To the lightweights' credit, they had a good race and beat us, but we only practiced in that particular lineup twice before racing."

COURTESY SPORTS PUBLICITY Heavyweight crew works towards success at Stonehurst.

Since the Housatonic, the Bulldogs have shifted their attention to the Stonehurst Regatta, which will be held Sun., Oct. 14 in New York. While the Stonehurst does not draw the strongest crews from the international arena, rower Garrett Wheeler, PC '02, described the race as "a great first look at opponents for the year." The Bulldogs will compete against Ivy foes Dartmouth, Brown, and Harvard, as well as several other area teams. Terry Heller, PC '02, said, "Last year, six of the top 10 teams in the country were at Stonehurst, and we finished third." Kirk added that this weekend's regatta traditionally provides both "faster competition" and a better venue than the Housatonic.

The Stonehurst offers a unique racing structure, as teams will compete in a three-mile race in the morning and a 1,500-meter race in the afternoon. Because the heavyweight team races on 2,000-meter courses in the spring, the race provides an early-season preview of the nature of future competition. "This is not simply preparation for the [Head of the] Charles," Kirk said. "It is a good race course and a good field, and this early in the season it is all we can ask for."

Ultimately, however, the team will use its early season competition as a gauge for the Head of the Charles, the fall's most important meet, held on Sun., Oct. 21 in Boston. The Charles is the fall's only opportunity to compete against the most talented crews in the world and to experience the pressure associated with racing at the highest level.

The team's greatest strength may be its wealth of experience. The Bulldogs boast 12 seniors, eight of whom are returning letter winners. "The senior class is not just big," Kirk said. "It is filled with leadership by example that no individual is capable of creating."

Yet the team must find a boat that can blend its veterans with its talented underclassmen. The Bulldog coaches will make personnel changes between the Housatonic and the Stonehurst, and again between the Stonehurst and the Charles, as they ensure that the best combination of oarsmen races on Oct. 21. "We will have lots of boats at Stonehurst and will evaluate combinations of oarsmen in order to find the eight rowers that perform best together," Vogel emphasized.

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