Gusting winds and cold weather greeted Jesuit crew as they flew into Boston last weekend for yet another major fall regatta. The Rangers were set to square off with 84 other teams from all over the nation, as well as all teams from Great Britain and Canada. Up the three mile Charles River the Rangers would race, and because of the difficult and windy conditions, they had their work cut out for them.
Jesuit battled alongside some of the nation’s top crew programs and finished 44th out of the 85 total teams. For such a difficult race with such formidable opponents, this finish would be a satisfying end for most respectable teams, but not for Jesuit. Determined to achieve great things this year, Jesuit did not walk away from the race happy with their performance.
“We were not pleased with the end result,” remarked head coach, John Fife, “we believe we could have executed better.” Coach Fife put it best, stressing that although conditions were not favorable, the team cannot move away from this performance without learning a valuable lesson. “We need to do a better job of battling through the wind,” Fife added.
Luckily for Jesuit, the important part of the season is yet to come, which gives the Rangers plenty of time to correct some minor mistakes and gear up for a successful spring. The Championship season begins in the spring, and Jesuit hopes to add another victorious year to the seemingly endless Jesuit dynasty.
“In the fall, we get to see what we’re made of,” explained Jorge Perez ’14, “but more importantly it gives us a chance to change things up before the really important races come.” Almost like a “pre-season,” the fall works to Jesuit’s advantage in locating areas of possible improvement, as well as motivating rowers to try to better themselves between now and the season.
Although this part of the season can be important, the results don’t matter as much as the lessons learned from these races. This week, Crew has worked tirelessly to improve their speeds in hopes to bounce back this weekend for the race in Austin, in which Jesuit looks to be a favorite. The general attitude is still positive, because they now know that they are beatable if they let conditions affect them.
This type of experience is very important for potentially great teams of all sports, because it represents a crux in their season: the team can either back down and accept their average results, or buckle down and control their destiny. Obviously the Rangers will pursue the latter because of the strong wills of each and every member of the team and the unending push of their demanding coach.
“I think this performance will work well for us down the road,” said Mitch McHugh ’14, “because we’ll use this as inspiration during our training.” Later in the year, the notoriously hard-working crew members, without a doubt, will look back at this race and come out stronger than ever during their championship season in the spring.
