PRINCETON, NJ—Five women from the Williams College crew were invited to take part in the US Rowing Women’s U23 Pre-Elite Athlete Identification Camp at Princeton University which took place in early November. These women, three seniors, a sophomore, and a freshmen, joined the top athletes from east coast collegiate rowing programs for a day of ergometer testing with the goal of identifying athletes with U23 or Senior National Team potential. Division III rowers were a small minority among the entire group and Williams was the only Division III school to send five athletes.
Co-captain Katherine Robinson ’09, Jess Kopcho ’09, Allison Prevatt ’09, Bianca Czaderna ’11, and Dorothy MacAusland ’12 spent the day in Princeton, NJ on November 8th and participated in two different erg tests: a one minute test to determine anaerobic capacity and peak power, and a 30 minute test to evaluate aerobic capacity. Women’s head coach Justin Moore, recently named the head coach of the US Women’s Junior National Team, was impressed with the promising results and competitive spirit his athletes showed.
The Ephs showed their strength in the one-minute test, with Kopcho leading the women to place fifteenth out of fifty women in a field that included many talented Division I rowers. Several Williams athletes followed her into the top half of the field. In the 30-minute test, the women found themselves in the bottom half of the group, but nonetheless the performances by the women, many of them personal records at these testing distances, were promising indicators of their fitness and potential going into the winter training season.
Moore attributes the stronger performance in the one minute test over the 30 minute test to the increased volume of training you find in athletes from Division I programs. “Aerobic fitness is derived from training volume and the training volume is much higher at Division I schools than it is at Williams,” said Moore. “Additionally, for these women, who are physically at the top of our team, there exists an artificial "ceiling" for speed. In DI programs, where there are many former Junior National and foreign international oarswomen the ceiling to be #1 on the squad is much higher. I was very excited for these women to attend this camp, because I believe that it may help change their perception about how fast it is possible to go and "raise the ceiling at Williams".
Moore was very impressed with the motivation of these five women to make the trip to Princeton. Following a fall season of regattas, early morning practices and multiple weekend mornings spent doing yard work for local Williamstown residents in an effort to fundraise for their spring break trip, it would be understandable if the women needed a weekend off. However, in their first weekend out of season, the women jumped on the opportunity to travel to Princeton and quickly arranged their own transportation, and lodging and paid their own way to attend the camp. “The cool thing is that it's all about choices,” said Moore. “These women chose to attend the camp and figured out how to organize it, pay for it and get it done. Now they have a choice about how much they want to train. Each individual has to figure out how they want rowing to fit into their collegiate life. Then they have to organize it, fund it and get it done. I'm excited to watch these women, and the others on our team, make these choices and act upon them.”
For the women, this camp had a tremendous impact on their outlook on rowing. “Sending five women to represent Williams in front of national team coaches and elite athletes from DI schools was a great chance to show what athletes from DIII schools are capable of,” said Robinson. “It's inspiring not only to know that there is so much more we can do to improve, but also to know that we can compete with some of the best.”
Additionally, the opportunity to attend this camp as a group of teammates was valuable and proved to inspire the women as they completed their pieces. “Walking into weigh-ins with them at my side made me feel like there was nothing about which I should feel intimidated,” said Kopcho. “We sat next to each other during the pieces and worked off of each other. It was a great feeling to know we were all going through the same exciting experience.”
While Kopcho, Robinson, Czaderna, and MacAusland completed their tests, Prevatt, the women’s 1V coxswain and a 2008 All-American, was able to coach her teammates on the erg and learn from the elite-level coxswains and coaches she was surrounded by. “In the afternoon I attended practice with 2008 Olympic gold medalist team coach Tom Tehar,” said Prevatt. “Watching a coach who has developed such successful international teams was an honor and an inspiration."
The Ephs officially went out of season on November 1, but will continue to train through the winter under the leadership of their coxswains and captains in preparation for the spring season. A highlight of winter training will be an appearance by the US Women’s National Team who will be in Williamstown for a week in late January for a training camp. The national team will be spending the week training in the erg room, using the pool, and weight room, as well as traveling to Prospect Mountain in Vermont to supplement their training with cross-country skiing.
The Ephs will travel to Myrtle Beach, SC on March 20 for a two-week training trip, before officially opening the spring racing season at Lake Quinsigamond on April 4 against Holy Cross and UNH.
