Last season proved to be a bittersweet campaign for the Northeastern’s women’s crew team. The team bounced back from a 3-6 campaign in 2001 to go 13-3, and spent much of the year ranked among the nation’s top squads. Under the leadership of fifth-year head coach Joe Wilhelm, The Huskies took their first four meets with relative ease, relying on a deep squad to jump out to an impressive 11-0 start.
Their season reached its pinnacle prematurely, however. After falling to national power Princeton by less then a boat length, Northeastern had a disappointing performance in the annual Rowlands Cup. That was followed by a ninth-place finish at the Eastern Sprints. It was not enough to get to the NCAA Championships.
“We had a strong team last year, but we had some people get sick and injured at bad times,” said Wilhelm. “When it came to the championship regatta, we hadn’t put up enough without anyone firing enough.”
This year’s edition features several new players both from within and outside the program. This, according to Wilhelm, can only improve the team.
“Some girls from the second varsity and a couple of transfers moved up,” he said, noting the team’s fourth-place finish among collegiate teams at the Head of the Charles event. “We had a good winter training; we’re going into the spring pretty confident.
“We are on our way,” he continued. “We have a good crew this year, very comparable in talent [to last year’s squad]. We just have to keep everyone healthy, and race as well as we can.”
When asked if there were any lingering injuries, Wilhelm responded, “They’re all back to 100 percent.”
Still, the greatest difference between this year’s team and last year figures to be the internal jockeying.
“We might have a little bit more depth and more competition amongst the team to make the first eight,” he said. “Every day someone seems to step up, and that lends a little uncertainty to who’s going to be in each boat, but it’s good for the team.”
“Our goal is to make hardest competition while in practice. If they race hard in practice, they’ll be ready to go on Saturdays.”
The key to the team’s season will lie in its consistency. Granted, injuries may have played a part in the Huskies’ uneven performance near the end of the year, but balance is one of the primary focal points for players and coach alike. This is especially important with this season’s difficult schedule.
“It’s very challenging, and similar to last season,” Wilhelm said. “Rutgers and BC are two very good crews. Next weekend against Dartmouth, it will be even tougher. At the end of our season we have Brown, Yale, BU, and Radcliffe. All are crews that were at the national championship level last year.
“We have only been on the water for a couple of weeks. We are going to get faster as the year goes along. You can train all you want on land, but it doesn’t simulate a boat in the water. Having the season get tougher as it goes along is good for us, because we will have more water time for better performances.”
If their first meet was any indication, then the squad should be fine this upcoming season. Northeastern swept Rutgers and Boston College in the varsity, second varsity, and novice races in Saturday’s season opener on the Charles River. An explosive initial burst gave the hosts a length lead in the first 500 meters despite the elements, specifically cross winds ranging from 13 to 15 miles-per-hour.
“March is always a tricky time,” the coach admitted. “We have tough days; Saturday was one of them. The crews handled it really well. We’re going to have to build our speed a little bit; we’re a little low on that right now.
“The crew needs to row a lot more aggressively than we did, and we’ll work on that for this weekend.”
The Huskies settled in, and improved their lead to two boat lengths before finishing the event in 7:22.1. Cross-town foe BC finished last, exactly 12 seconds behind the victors. Rutgers placed second at 7:30.8.
Northeastern heads back to the Charles this Saturday, when they host BC, Buffalo and Ivy League power Dartmouth. The varsity race starts at 9:48 a.m.
