Last weekend, the Alabama Crimson Tide rowing team came back with a third and sixth place finish at the Hobbs Island Regatta. The rookies were the only rowers to compete during the weekend and seemed to fare pretty well.
The Hobbs Island Regatta gave the rookies a chance to learn the sport. Although the Tide experienced adversity at the start of the race, the Tide finished third with a time of 19:05.00.
“The course was not mapped clearly, and the girls were unsure of where the actual start of the race was,” said assistant coach Chelsea Pemberton. “It was just an error that comes along with the learning process. Both of our boats were completely novice competitors, so placing third in a varsity race was a great accomplishment.”
The second novice boat placed sixth with a time of 22:48.00 in a division up from their normal second novice race.
“We didn’t do as well as we wanted to do,” said sophomore rookie Mary Hauswirth. “We have been changing up the boats this week. We are just trying to make adjustments to get the best combination of girls into one boat.”
While the rookies will be off this weekend, the varsity rowers will head to Massachusetts to compete in the most prestigious race of the fall season, the Head of the Charles.
“We are hoping that our championship 8+ boat will finish in the top half [of this weekend’s competition],” Pemberton said. “Also, we hope our club 8+ will medal. [However,] there is just a lot of tough competition, and we need to place in the top half to come back to Massachusetts next year.”
The Tide will compete against historic rowing teams this weekend, including Yale, Boston University and Virginia. Being such a young program, the Tide has many walk-ons and inexperienced rowers. However, the Tide made its first cut this year at tryouts.
“I think we could beat Yale this year [at the Head of the Charles],” said head coach Larry Davis. “We are gaining a consistent, uniform ability in the upper boats. We have better depth, and the girls have risen to higher standards. We made our first cut this year because of the risen level of competition.”
The automatic bid system places a pressure on the Tide to place in the top half of its races.
“The biggest challenge this weekend will be unifying as a whole and trusting each other,” said senior Daniella Barone. “We are all from different backgrounds, so we have to learn to click together. We have a lot of power on our boat. This should be a good weekend for us.”
The weekend marks the halfway point in the Tide’s season. Gaining medals and placing in the top half in the Head of the Charles could help the Tide in its true NCAA season in the spring.
The Tide has high expectations for the completion of the season.
“We have huge goals,” Pemberton said. “We are hoping to make some strides to be conference champions and be the best team that Alabama has ever been.”
