Last weekend Hamilton’s crew team completed their final race, finishing a wonderful fall season. All boats completed against very talented crews and were very happy with the results after finishing their race. They finished 11th of 27 boats in the open heavyweight championship eights at the Head of the Schuylkill Regatta on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia. In the novice eights, the team placed eighth out of 27 boats. For some students, this was their last fall race as a college athlete, but for the freshmen, they have just completed their first season realizing the determination needed to be a collegiate athlete.
The women’s crew team, consisting of about thirty girls, has hosted one regatta this season in Rome, New York and has traveled to three regattas in Rochester, Boston and Philadelphia. These all day regattas not only provide a chance for the girls to show off their talents, strength and hard work, but also to bond as a team. “Good lucks” and “Congratulations” are constantly being passed out from encouraging teammates when a boat of excited and prepared rowers leaves the dock and then when they come back exhausted and proud.
The women’s captains, Kelsey Burke, Helen Higgins and Rachel Johnson have been at the head of team moral and the efforts to make the team feel like a family, especially for the incoming freshmen. Kelsey, the senior coxswain, has noted that “the team has really come together to realize that no matter the novice or varsity boat, the goal is to become collectively faster. Our ultimate goal is to make it to NCAA championships in the spring and this team has the speed and the drive to get even faster in order to make it to championships. The team is young with mostly sophomores and freshmen but it just gives the team the ability to grow by following the leadership of the upperclassmen.” Coach Summers and Turner have led the girls in workouts, where one girl’s frustration is quickly forgotten from the encouraging words of a teammate. Events outside of rowing, including a ropes course and various get-togethers, have allowed for a wonderful collaboration outside of the boat.
The entire team is slightly saddened by the end of the fall season knowing that these next three months of winter training in preparation for the spring racing season will be difficult. After months of training the team will get back on the water in March for spring training in Florida and then back to Clinton for the official beginning to the spring season. The winter months will prove tough for everyone, but as always, the girls’ hard work and training will pay off during the spring racing season, as it did this fall.