The Alabama women’s rowing team will get its spring schedule underway this weekend with the Louisville Invitational Regatta. The competition will take place Saturday and Sunday in Oak Ridge, Tenn.
The Crimson Tide will look to continue being a force on the waterfront this season, having earned bronze medals last fall at the Head of the Charles and Head of the Hooch competitions. UA head coach Larry Davis said he is optimistic that the team’s recent success is going to carry over to this weekend.
“The team has pretty much been putting in 20-hour work weeks for a while now,” Davis said. “They’re really excited about what they want to accomplish this weekend and the rest of the season.”
The Crimson Tide will face off against many of the top teams in the nation, including Duke, Louisville and the Virginia Cavaliers. Having won the last two of three NCAA championships, the Cavaliers figure to be a formidable opponent.
Despite the stiff competition, the team welcomes the chance to start off the spring in such a fashion, senior captain Tabitha Coleman said.
“This is the first time the coaches have started us off with kind of a big bang,” Coleman said. “We’re really excited to start racing again. Right now everyone’s been just anxious and excited.”
Though still a relatively young team, the Tide is anchored by a stable group of seniors, including Coleman and experienced coxswain Kiffy Balchon. The many underclassmen are an integral part of the unit as well.
“Some of us need to be examples out there, not only physically, but mentally as well,” Coleman said. “We all feed off of each other, though, and we all can benefit from one rower’s energy.”
As the women’s team enters the final stretch of the season, it looks to solidify specific areas before the conference championships in May. Davis said the speed has been increasing well, and the psychology of the team has also been improving.
“We’ve been getting better as the season has gone along,” Davis said. “This weekend, one of the things I want to see is consistency. Don’t let any other boat get too far ahead or behind. Let no other boat dictate our own boat speed.”
Alabama will take on the Clemson University and Marist College next weekend in Clemson, S.C.
