Women's Crew Season Preview

After graduating nine seniors in 2008, it would be tempting to call 2009 a rebuilding year for the Ephs.  However, as the Williams College women’s crew goes in search of their fourth consecutive NCAA title, they’ve proven that they never rebuild.  They just keep reloading.  

Nine seniors, led by co-captains Samantha Smith and Katherine Robinson, will lead the Williams College Ephs this spring.  The senior class has been instrumental in the progress the team has made throughout the fall and during winter training.  With a successful outing at the Head of the Charles this fall, where the first varsity captured the collegiate eight race and the second varsity placed fourth, the women’s team entered the winter training period with their fall success fueling the fire.  

While the Charles victory seems indicative of great things to come this spring for the Ephs, Moore is quick to point out that much can happen during a season of winter training, an approximately four month period where the women train, per Division III rules, without a coach and under the leadership of the seniors, coxswains, and captains. 

“Things change in the winter,” said women's head coach Justin Moore, “and we’ve seen huge shifts in speed occur over winter training. We also had many women abroad and some of these women are back and contributing heavily to our top couple boats.”  Under the leadership of the seniors, the team has flourished during winter training, with significant aerobic and technical progress made during the last four months. 

“The seniors have done an amazing job leading and bringing a variety of personalities,” said Moore.  “The 2008 class was a dominant personality in our program for four years and sometimes that can leave a void, but the class of 2009 has done an amazing job of carrying on what the class of 2008 did so well, but adding their own twist and personality. It’s an energy that’s uniquely theirs.”   

And let’s not forget, this is a group of women that have never taken home anything but the National Champion trophy at the NCAA Championships. 

Winter Training

The winter was marked by many impressive accomplishments. In January, Robinson captured the U23 Lightweight title at the CRASH B World Indoor Rowing Championships in Boston, pulling an impressive 7:19.2 for 2000 meters, taking fifth overall among all lightweight women.  

“Having Katherine race and win at CRASH B’s was great for our team,” said Moore. “One of the messages we give to the women on the team and to prospective rowers interested in Williams is that we have the resources, the coaching staff, the training facilities, and the environment to allow for student/athletes to take their rowing as far as they want.  By attending—and winning—Katherine reinforced this message.”

In November, five athletes had the opportunity to attend a US Rowing U23 Identification Camp.   Robinson, 2008 All American coxswain Allison Prevatt ’09, Jess Kopcho ’09, Bianca Czaderna ’11, and Dorothy Macausland ’12 spent a day in Princeton, NJ participating in a variety of ergometer tests to measure peak power and aerobic capacity, with many women putting up impressive numbers while competing against top rowers from the National Team and Division I programs. 

In addition, Moore was named the head coach of the US Rowing Junior National Team, a commitment that fits perfectly with his coaching duties in Williamstown.  Moore was able to work with potential junior national team athletes during winter selection camps, while the Ephs were out of season, and will then lead the junior national team at the Junior World Championships, to be held in Brive la Gaillarde, France, July 29 - August 8.

Finally, the Ephs were able to get a mid-winter burst of inspiration from the US Rowing Women’s National Team who attended a week long training camp in Williamstown, arranged by Moore, where the national team athletes were able to use Williams’s facilities to erg, bike, swim, and lift in the morning, and supplement their training with cross country skiing in the afternoon.

Looking Forward to Spring

Last year, with graduation weekend conflicting with NCAAs, Moore’s return from sabbatical, the departure of an assistant coach midway through the season, and the adjustment to a new coach just weeks before the spring season began, there were many things—often outside the team’s control—that demanded a lot of time and energy from the coaches and athletes.  This year, according to Moore, the team has been fortunate to avoid any distractions of this nature so far, allowing the team and the coaches to focus on issues relating to rowing, training, and team dynamics.  

Looking forward to the spring, Coach Moore likes the outlook his athletes have on the season.  “Like last year, competition for seats is going to be really fierce,” Moore commented. “What’s been very pleasing is that there seems to be a lot less anxiety surrounding this competition. People seem to be very excited about rowing in any of the boats that we put on the water and in general, this team worries a lot less about everything.” 

Beyond the talented senior class anchoring the team, the Ephs are fortunate to have depth in numbers from their junior and sophomore classes, as well as a very talented group of both recruited and walk-on freshmen, several of whom have the pote ntial to make an impact on the Eph’s top boats this season.  Two freshmen, Macausland and Kate Shaper, showed promise by racing in the first varsity boat that took the win at the Head of the Charles, while the second varsity boat that took fourth at the Charles, coxed by senior Monsie Munoz, was comprised of entirely sophomore and freshmen rowers.

With three consecutive national titles, it is a challenge for the coaches and athletes to define success and create goals for the upcoming season when these women have accomplished so much already.  “One of the challenges for the women of the Williams Crew is the management of our expectations,” says Moore.  “We finished 2-3 at last year’s NCAA Championships and won the team title, yet many of us were disappointed not to have won the 1V race.  Rowing and athletics needs to be about much more than winning; discipline, commitment to others, and courage are the things I hope these women will take with them when they leave the women’s crew.” 

The Wiliams women will, of course, not be the only determining factor in who takes home the national title.  “I think we have the talent to potentially win a National Championship”, said Moore.  “If healthy, our top rowers compare very favorably to past championship crews, but I expect that Bates, Ithaca, Trinity and one or two other DIII schools will have very fast crews this spring.”  Williams will not face these three schools until late in their season, when they host Bates and Ithaca on April 25 at Lake Onota, and then race Trinity for the first time at the New England Championships on May 2. 

With four regular season regattas during April, followed by the New England Rowing Championships, and ideally the ECAC National Invitational and the NCAA Championships in late May, the Ephs will be on the road for all but two of those weekends.  On Lake Onota in Pittsfield, Williams will host Wesleyan and Amherst on April 18 for the Little Three Championship, and Bates, Marist, Ithaca, and Coast Guard on April 25 in the final tune up before the New England Championships. 

The team, fresh off a two-week training trip in South Carolina, will open their spring campaign on Saturday, April 4 on the familiar waters of Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, Massachusetts, facing off against Holy Cross and UNH. 

Preseason Rankings:

Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association/US Rowing (CRCA) Poll -- Williams #1, Bates #2, Trinity #3 (4/1/09)

New England Rowing Championships (NERC) Coaches Poll -- Williams #1, Trinity #2, Holy Cross #3 (4/1/09)