Joe Wilhelm finds it easy to talk about team effort when it comes to his Northeastern women’s crew squad.
“I’m sitting here, I’m looking at a picture of our first race this season [Rowlands Cup] and to try and single out someone would minimize someone else’s effort,” the seventh-year coach said Monday. “In this sport, it’s a complete effort. We want to be the strongest crew we can possibly be.”
The Huskies opened their spring season Saturday on the Charles River, facing off against Radcliffe and Boston College in the 22nd annual Rowlands Cup.
The task proved to be a challenge, with Radcliffe’s strong history of success, including six straight Cup wins entering the race, and 17 of 21 overall.
Radcliffe held the lead early to continue their winning streak, beating NU’s varsity 6:34.8 to 6:44.4, while also taking 2nd varsity, 6:52.4 to 7:04.8.
“I really thought the race would be closer,” Wilhelm said. “I really feel that when we race at our best, that we can race with anybody. I thought we could beat [Radcliffe] this year; they’re just a really good program.”
This year’s varsity team includes captain Amanda Ripley at coxswain, Irina Acsinte at stroke, and Sophie Barkan, Katherine Glessner, Ashley Bruno, Kelly Crawford, Miriam Barsalou, Kate Hayes and Ashley Griffeth at the bow.
Wilhelm and his team have an entire season ahead to plan, including Saturday’s meet at the Charles with Dartmouth College, University of Buffalo and Boston College.
“We set our goals on a weekly basis and then hope to accomplish those goals once the meets come around,” Wilhelm said. “We’ve raced Radcliffe now, and we have a competitive nine weeks ahead of us.”
Last season, NU beat all three teams in the varsity race at 6:44.7.
The Huskies placed sixth at the Eastern Sprints last spring with a time of 6:40.3. As Wilhelm made clear, the team will be racing a majority of the Sprints’ top finishers before the 2005 season ends.
Included in that stretch will be No. 1 Brown and No. 2 Yale in Derby, Conn. on April 30.
“In the next four weeks, we hope to make improvements, have some achievements and make progress,” the coach said. “We’re not looking past anybody and we want to be ready for the nation’s best.”
