By Peter Lorenz

With the temperatures getting warmer, and the days getting longer, the women’s crew team has taken to the water with one goal in mind: overall team improvement from top to bottom.

Team captain Colleen Saville said that “in terms of numbers we have a lot of depth even though we are a young team.” After graduating 12 girls from last year’s team, it is now up to the four seniors to provide leadership for an overall young roster.

Head coach Joe Wilhelm stressed the importance of the individual effort that each rower will bring. He is looking to Saville, the junior coxswain, to play a pivotal role in keeping the team focused.

Wilhelm said that while the team may be young, the youth of the team brings a lot of experience. Junior Pia Zubrowski, who strokes the Varsity 8, brings much expertise to the boat, Wilhelm said. Also in the Varsity 8 are two freshmen who attended the United States Junior Selection camp this past year.

With two training trips this off-season, one to Cocoa Beach, Fla., and the other to Oak Ridge, Tenn., the Huskies had a lot of on the water training in the winter months. They were able to cap off their training trip to Tennessee with an unofficial race with Notre Dame in order to gauge their pre-season speed on the water. With the goal in the off-season to be able to log as much time on the water as in the weight room, the women look to be in top conditioning form entering the season.

“Overall everyone we race this season is going to be a challenge, but when we line up on race day it’s up to the individual boat to perform its best,” captain Alida Durrant said.

The 2007 season was a successful one for the Huskies with victories over Syracuse, Pennsylvania and Texas, but that is in the past and the ladies are looking forward to races this season against Columbia, Boston University and Gonzaga and others. The team will open its season against Dartmouth April 5 on the Charles River.

“I stressed to the team that it does not matter who you are racing on any given Saturday, rather it is important for them to row their own race and to put their best effort forward every weekend,” Wilhelm said.

The Charles River Challenge April 19 is an important mid-season test for the Huskies. With crews from Texas, Notre Dame, Boston University and Brown, amongst others, expected to participate, the team will be able to measure its speed heading into vital season-ending races that include the Eastern Sprints and potentially the NCAA Championships in Sacramento, Calif May 29-31.