By Allison Grande '08

On a bitterly cold Saturday morning, one of the largest Sarah Lawrence crew teams in recent memory made the twenty minute drive to their home water at Glen Island to compete in the annual Fall Metropolitan Championships with some of the top schools in the Northeast.

The only team in the Hudson Valley Athletic Conference with a competitive rowing team, the Sarah Lawrence crew team consistently competes with such schools as Hofstra College and Fairfield University—much larger colleges which can consistently field deep and talented squads. However, with state of the art rowing tanks and easy access to the water at Glen Island, Sarah Lawrence continues to improve each season.

This year, the team established a precedent for the crew program by entering a Women's Varsity 4+ Boat in the Head of the Charles competition in Boston, Mass. on Oct. 20. This prestigious regatta features 300,000 spectators and more than 7500 competitive rowers from some of the best crew programs in the country. The team held their own at the competition, finishing 29th out of the 32 boats in their heat.

At the Fall Met Championships on Nov. 10, which was the last regatta of the fall season, the team competed in their first sprint race. Prior to this regatta, the team had only competed in Head races where each boat races individually and is placed depending on how long it takes them to row their course. This final sprint race was an event in which the boats in each heat race side by side—serving as a prelude to the spring season where the majority of contests are sprints.

This race also featured the first sprint competition and second overall competition for the Novice rowers. The team raced two novice boats –a Women's Novice 8+ and a Men's Novice 4+– which joined two Women's Varsity 4+ boats on the weather shortened course. The distance was reduced from 2K to 1.5K due to low temperatures and misty conditions.

The Women's Varsity A boat finished the strongest on the day, completing their race fifth out of the six boats in their heat. The other three boats finished last in their heats, but the two Novice boats accounted admirably for their first sprint competition, and the Varsity B boat featured a few rowers who were fresh off of just rowing the entire course on the Novice 8+ boat. The weather also did not help matters, with sophomore captain Chantal Gil describing the day as "the coldest day I have ever rowed". The team was frozen on the water and took every available opportunity to huddle in the warm confines of the team van.

After the racing was over, the team continued to display the strong sense of community - which even drew praise from a spectator - that has become a hallmark of this unit. Head varsity coach Carolyn Miles along with the new Novice head coach –and former Olympic rower– Elizabeth Smith, barbequed for the team after their meets. Tri-captain and sophomore Alexis Gordon's father even helped out by cooking hot dogs and hamburgers on the grill for the team members.  The extremely young squad, which features mainly first years and sophomores with a few upperclassmen, including senior tri-captain Jose Hernandez, talked about crew, their classes, and their life while enjoying their lunch.

At the end of the morning, the team gathered by a rock near their tent for a team photo. While they took one serious group photo, they also enjoyed posing for a few silly pictures as well. The team begins winter training immediately after spring break and begins their spring racing season on April 5 at the Manhattan Invitational.