Anyone who’s been in Tuscaloosa over the last few weeks knows how much it has rained.

Now imagine practicing in that rain in freezing temperatures out on the Black Warrior River. That is what the Alabama rowing team has been doing over the last few weeks in preparation for its first home regatta of the season against Eastern Michigan and SMU on Saturday.

Because of that bad weather, the team has often been forced to practice inside, so the rowers are all anticipating the start of the spring season.

“Definitely really excited to get going again,” senior coxswain Sydney Boles said. “Had some rough weather, so we’re just really excited to get into racing season to get back on the water.”

The team had two regattas in the fall season in Oklahoma and Tennessee but hasn’t competed since November.

Coach Glenn Putyrae said Alabama will be one of the first teams in the country to be competing this spring, so it’s a good chance for the team to get a benchmark of where it stacks up heading into the spring season.

“Obviously you want to race well and win if at all possible, but the bigger picture is almost more important than the individuals at this point,” Putyrae said. “We’ve just got to figure out where we are, and then determine what we need to do better so that we can keep evolving as we go through the season.”

In the sport of rowing, there is a lot of competition within the team to move up to a “higher” or faster boat. Putyrae said that some pieces are solidly in place, but competition on the team is also wide open, so this weekend will help determine the lineups moving forward.

Senior Ariana Sweany has seen this team grow over her four years and is ready to lead the team toward its goals.

“As seniors, we’ve just seen the team come a really, really long way, so that’s really exciting for us,” Sweany said. “For me as an individual, I’ve come a really long way, so just always shooting for a lot higher boats than I once was. And then as a team, we’re aiming to go to NCAAs.”

Putyrae said the seniors play an integral role in the success of this team.

“I mean they’re almost a third of the entire team, and they’re contributing almost everywhere in all of our boats,” Putyrae said. “So the fact that there’s such a strong presence and their presence is felt everywhere makes them super significant to the success for our team.”

This Saturday, Boles will be competing in the 1V8+ race for the Crimson Tide, and Sweany will compete in the 2V8+ race. Those are two of the five races that will be going this weekend in addition to the 3V8+, 2V4+ and 1V4+. The plus indicates that a coxswain, an additional rower who steers and provides directions to the others, is present.

The numbers four and eight represent how many rowers are in the boat for that particular race. The numbers one, two and three generally represent how fast the boats are, so the 1V8+ and 2V8+ should be the fastest races.

“There’s going to be some interesting races in that we have a lot of new faces in some unfamiliar places in some of our boats,” Putyrae said. “Seeing how they perform in competition against somebody that’s not their teammate, it’s going to be interesting to see how some of them respond.”

This is also the Power of Pink Regatta for the team. They will participate in a fundraising event called “Erg in the Ferg” on Thursday afternoon to raise money for breast cancer awareness.

It is a jam-packed weekend of sporting events in Tuscaloosa from basketball to softball to baseball to tennis, and rowing kicks off the day at Manderson Landing on Saturday morning at 9 a.m.

The team encourages fans to start their day of supporting Crimson Tide athletics down by the river to watch some competitive rowing.

“Every team here is trying to compete at the highest level nationally, and rowing is no different,” Putyrae said. “If you want to see high level competition, and especially if you’ve never experienced a rowing event before that’s the biggest reason. We’re not gonna get televised. The only way you can see this is by coming to one of our races, so it’s kind of a unique opportunity.”