The Connecticut rowing team’s Varsity Eight defeated Marist, La Salle, and Trinity to go undefeated last week on Coventry Lake, earning Big East Boat of the Week honors.
When the women’s rowing team puts its oars in the waters of Coventry Lake this weekend for its only home races of the spring season, it will mark the beginning of a six-week push toward the Dad Vail Regatta in Philadelphia, the culmination of the collegiate racing season in mid-May. It is the time when the more than 40 Husky rowers hope the cold, early morning rides in the dark to practice and the grueling conditioning sessions will find their finishing ahead of the competition.
“What’s unique about our sport is the amount of practice versus the amount of opportunity to compete,” says Jennifer Sanford-Wendry, now in her 14th season as head coach. “A race in the spring averages seven to eight minutes. You have the one opportunity. It’s very different from the ball sports where there are a couple of games a week.”
This weekend, UConn will race against Marist, Trinity, and the U.S. Coast Guard on Saturday and against Marist and LaSalle on Sunday. Races begin at 7:30 a.m. and continue every 15 minutes, with the last race at 9:30 a.m. The best viewing for the race is at Patriot Park on Lake Street, just off Route 31 in Coventry.
The rowing team competed in two group meets during its fall season in Boston and Saratoga, N.Y., before heading to Miami in early March, where the Novice 4 boat took a first and the Varsity 8 and Novice 8 earned second place finishes.
Sanford-Wendry said the fall races help keep the team active in the water, even though the type of race is different. In the fall, the racing distance is between 2.7 and 3.2 miles and can last up to 25 minutes, with various maneuvers required as each boat races against the clock for the fastest time. Spring racing is 2,000 meters in a sprint, with all boats in the water in a race that can take just under seven minutes in calm water.
On March 26, UConn competed in Kingston, R.I. during the Yankee Cup against Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, finishing third as a team under difficult conditions, with strong headwinds and white caps on the water. Sanford-Wendy said her three senior rowers in the Varsity 8 were happy to earn a win over UMass for the first time at this race.
“This year’s team is so mature, they work hard every day,” she said of her seniors, who include Amanda Cote, Morfia Efthimiou, Lizzie Littlewood, Audrey Squire, Gretchen Stern, and Kim Weber. “Everybody who is there deserves to be there. It’s a very easy, fun group to coach. The seniors are fantastic; everyone is one you would recommend for awards.”
The extreme snowfall this year has limited preparations on the water, with just one outdoor training session before the late March competition. That has kept the team focused on indoor conditioning for most of the practice sessions that began in January. The conditioning routine includes erging (using an indoor rower, known as an ergometer), lifting weights three times per week, cross training in the swimming pool, and team-building competitions.
“Friday morning is the highlight of the week for us, when we do team competitions,” said Sanford-Wendry. “We set up six teams and they do events not related to rowing, but it teaches them about competition.”
The competition includes flipping a 200-pound truck tire, moving weight plates from one pile to another, and a sled pull. The competition was created five years ago by the team’s strength and conditioning coach, Amanda Kimball, who now works with the women’s basketball team. Last year, the rowing team used the drill to compete against Maya Moore and her teammates.
“It was a great opportunity and a fun experience being in a competition with them, considering the level of athlete that they are,” Sanford-Wendry said.
Like most rowing teams, the Husky squad includes both rowers with experience from high school and walk-ons. This year’s team mix is about 50-50, and includes student-athletes who were highly accomplished team players in soccer, basketball, and track. The team is also skilled in the classroom: the rowing team was among the squads to post a perfect Academic Progress Rate mark, according to the most recent NCAA report, with majors such as pharmacy, molecular and cell biology, education, and physiology and neurobiology.
Sanford-Wendry said the team is looking forward to the rest of the season, which will include the Knecht Cup in Camden, N.J., with as many as 30 rowing teams competing, and the Big East Championships in early May, which will take place on Mercer Lake in West Windsor, N.J., site of four Olympic trial competitions and the 2006 NCAA Championship. The Big East teams include Georgetown, Louisville, Notre Dame, Rutgers, Syracuse, Villanova, and West Virginia.
