Land Locked Rowers Eye Key Biscayne

Author: Ashley Elpern

After ending its fall season on Oct. 27, 2001, the Middlebury crew team has been off the water for almost five months and only has three more days until the rowers return to their boats. While the local practice spot, Lake Dunmore, has not yet thawed, the team will be spending Spring Break in the balmy climate of Miami, Fla., training at the Miami Rowing Club off of Key Biscayne. Varsity coach Alex Machi and novice coach Doug Welling are already on their way to Miami with the trailer of boats.

Both the varsity and novice teams have dedicated their time and energy to a winter training regimen which includes rowing simulation on ergometers several times a week and a weigh lifting program at the Fitness Center. "The most important thing is to keep motivated through the winter," said men's varsity Captain Brian Ambrette '02. "Miami is by no means the start of our season."

Ambrette entered the varsity team as a first-year and has been a mainstay ever since. The only senior on the team, he is joined by 10 other rowers. Sarah Selgrade '02 and Cory Balint '04 are the coxswains for the men's team.

Ben Yates '03 and Dave Heyman '03.5 will provide leadership as well. Of the eight sophomores of on the team, only one, James Black, began his career at Middlebury as a varsity rower. The other seven all began as novice rowers and have moved up collectively.

"The team is really deep," said Ambrette. "It is wonderful that all of the sophomores stuck with this for two winter seasons. The love of the sport doesn't happen for everyone, but these guys do love it."

The lineups for the spring have yet to be decided but Black said "it looks like we will have two very strong fours and possibly a pair and a lightweight eight. The men's novice team is looking extremely strong, and we are expecting to see some great results from them."

The men will face stiff competition at all races, and Black said that "historically, Bowdoin and University of Vermont (UVM) have put up the biggest local competition, but some of the later spring races will have even tougher competitors."

The women's team has a strong senior presence with captains Anne Thompson, Lisa McAndrews and Maria Stern, as well as coxswains Susy King and Sarain Lay. Thompson and Stern have been varsity rowers for four years and McAndrews joined the varsity team after one fall on novice.

"This will be an exciting season for the seniors," said King. "We hope to have a great, competitive season, qualify for the New England Championships and be competitive enough to go to the Dad Vail Regatta [in Philadelphia, Pa.]" At Dad Vails, teams from the entire East Coast compete in a two-day event.

The women will be racing in the open weight eight division, as well as fielding two open weights fours and a lightweight four. McAndrews said that the shorter distance of the spring races — 2000 meters instead of the 5000 meters raced in the fall — allows for many rowers to race twice a day as the eight splits into two fours.

She is optimistic about the prospects for the eight, as "we had a solid fall and only lost one rower [Haley Olinger '03] who went abroad." Mary Gerrie '03 will be replacing Olinger and McAndrews said that the eight will work off of the progress they made in the fall, including a win over perennial rivals from the UVM.

After returning from Spring Break training, the team begins its season on April 7 at Herring Pond in Buzzards May, Mass., against Massachusetts Maritime Academy and Roger Williams University. McAndrews stressed that the following races against UVM, Bowdoin and Amherst will be tests to the entire team and will determine seedings for the New England Championships held later in the spring. She noted that New Englands is a particularly important race for the women's lightweight four, because it has a specific category for such boats, while most regular season regattas put the lightweights in with the open boats. "That is really their time to shine, as they get to race others in their particular division," said McAndrews.

On the novice side, the women have a good carryover from the fall and trained throughout the winter, while the novice men have added more members since the beginning of the second semester. Many of them will be testing the waters for the first time in Miami, with the help and encouragement of the varsity team.