2008 Woodie Awards
Crew takes third.
Nick Cunkleman
Issue date: 4/23/08 Section: Sports
The Colby men's and women's crew teams had their busiest weekend of the spring so far on Apr. 19-20, competing in races in Massachusetts and then back in Maine under fair-weather skies. On Saturday, rowing on Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, the Mules showed their mettle in the close races and also had some surprise performances. On the men's side, competing against Ithaca College and Tufts University, the varsity eight finished second out of the three boats, covering the 2000-meter course in 6:20.2, behind Ithaca (6:03.5) and ahead of the Jumbos (6:22.2), whom they rowed down in the last quarter of the race.
"It was a good strong race for our guys and they executed both the race plan and the things we've been working on in practice pretty well," said Head Coach Stew Stokes. Of the race, co-captain Trevor Hardigan '09 said, "We had really been working on improving our starts off the line, and it paid off as we sprinted out to an early lead in the race. Ithaca was an exceptionally fast crew, and ended up winning the race, but we fought hard the whole way down. This especially helped in the race between Tufts and us for second place. With 500 meters to go, they were about a half a boat length ahead of us. We ended up sprinting through them and taking the lead at the finish by about a half a length, which was very exciting. For such a young crew this year, we made some great improvements in a short time this week."
The men's second varsity eight also placed second, making for the same school order as the race with the first boats. However, this race did not feature a thrilling showdown with the NESCAC-rival Jumbos, for the 2V boat, comprised almost entirely of first-years, rowed strongly away from Tufts in the middle 1000 meters of the course. "It was their best race of the year so far," said Coach Stokes. Co-captain Hardigan heartily agreed, adding that the 2V boat "has come a long way so far this season and will bring a lot of depth in the upcoming years." In the men's varsity four event, Colby took second place out of five boats in 7:06.6, narrowly losing to Tufts (7:04), while beating Connecticut College (7:17.1), Clark University (7:24.1) and Vassar College (7:28.3). This race was a nice surprise for the Mules. "We don't spend much time in the 4's," said Coach Stokes, "so it was nice to jump in it and have a strong race."
"It was a good strong race for our guys and they executed both the race plan and the things we've been working on in practice pretty well," said Head Coach Stew Stokes. Of the race, co-captain Trevor Hardigan '09 said, "We had really been working on improving our starts off the line, and it paid off as we sprinted out to an early lead in the race. Ithaca was an exceptionally fast crew, and ended up winning the race, but we fought hard the whole way down. This especially helped in the race between Tufts and us for second place. With 500 meters to go, they were about a half a boat length ahead of us. We ended up sprinting through them and taking the lead at the finish by about a half a length, which was very exciting. For such a young crew this year, we made some great improvements in a short time this week."
The men's second varsity eight also placed second, making for the same school order as the race with the first boats. However, this race did not feature a thrilling showdown with the NESCAC-rival Jumbos, for the 2V boat, comprised almost entirely of first-years, rowed strongly away from Tufts in the middle 1000 meters of the course. "It was their best race of the year so far," said Coach Stokes. Co-captain Hardigan heartily agreed, adding that the 2V boat "has come a long way so far this season and will bring a lot of depth in the upcoming years." In the men's varsity four event, Colby took second place out of five boats in 7:06.6, narrowly losing to Tufts (7:04), while beating Connecticut College (7:17.1), Clark University (7:24.1) and Vassar College (7:28.3). This race was a nice surprise for the Mules. "We don't spend much time in the 4's," said Coach Stokes, "so it was nice to jump in it and have a strong race."
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