Sports

No. 5 women’s rowing wins the Gilman Plate

By Kevin Welsh ’15

The women’s rowing team has already made history and plans on making even more this season. After several successful races this season, Hamilton’s women’s rowing team is ranked fifth in Division III rowing by Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association, the highest ranking ever earned by the team. With two more wins this weekend at home and at Union they solidified their high ranking and have paved the way for even more improvement this season.

So far this season the team has raced four times, each with more promising results. The spring started slow at the Memorial Murphy Regatta where they placed seventh and finished in 6:52. Despite the heavy competition that weekend, the team shot to the number six ranking, then a program best. A week later the women’s first varsity boat placed third against Mount Holyoke, Tufts and Trinity No. 1. In addition to the faster times from the team, they continued their rise in the rankings and moved into the fifth spot.

With weeks of promising figures, the team kicked into high gear last weekend and won two back-to-back races. On April 11 the team competed on the Erie Canal against No. 14 RIT and No. 10 William Smith College. Arriving that morning, the conditions on the water initially posed a potential problem for the Continentals. With a strong head wind on the canal, waves were increasingly strong and made it difficult for the team, already very familiar with the features of the canal, to perform their best. “The conditions were rough, there was an incredibly strong headwind and it was freezing outside,” commented Karly Moore ’15, “While that makes the race more challenging, it also makes it more fun because you have to fight much harder to win.” When all was said and done though, they persevered and easily bested their competitors. The first varsity boat finished the choppy course in 8:03, beating RIT and William Smith by sixteen and twenty-nine seconds respectively. The second and third varsity boats both managed second place finishes.

However, the weekend did not end there. The team travelled to Union the very next morning. For 18 years the two schools have competed for a series of prizes including the Gilman Plate, and once again the Continentals won big and took home three trophies from the event. Caroline Walton ’15 said the team set high goals from the get-go. “The women’s 1V met before the race and set out to win by the biggest margin we’ve seen all season. We set a goal to beat Union by 42 seconds, and we ended up beating them by exactly 42 seconds!” All the women’s boats came out on top with the first varsity women finishing in 7:35. Moore beamed about the day, “It was a really rewarding day for the team, and really showcased how much work we have put in this season.”

Last weekend’s successes held Hamilton at fifth, continuing their best season ever. One potential cause of this year’s improved performance is a change in coaching staff. Taking over at the beginning of this year Coach Robert Weber has worked hard to challenge and enhance the women’s program. Explaining his approach to coaching he said, “It’s an aerobic-based sport, so we do a high volume of work...The U.S. women’s national team has had incredible success with this type of training, so I set out to make us the fittest team in Division III.” Coach Weber attributed most of the success to his student athletes though. “They completed some pretty challenging workouts during our winter training, and I think it showed them what they can do and how far they can go...[they] have been open to my training program and have responded remarkably well.”

Next weekend Hamilton will host St. Lawrence back on the Erie Canal. With their ever improving performance this season, there remains plenty of room for another rise in the rankings in the weeks to come, but Coach Weber cares more about the team’s morale than any medals, “I want them to be open to the experience that they are having, enjoy it and race with passion.”

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