Halfway through the semester, regatta season is underway for the Bowdoin Crew Team. As a club sport with many dedicated athletes, the team travels almost every weekend in October to compete against NESCAC schools from all divisions.
Bowdoin is traditionally a Fours school, meaning that the team races boats of four rowers and one coxswain. The Polar Bears also compete in pairs and eights depending on the venue.
This past weekend, the Bowdoin Navy traveled to Pembroke, NH for the New Hampshire Championships Regatta. It was a blustery day on the Merrimack River, but the Polar Bears came home with five medals, including the second set of silver medals for the Novice Men this fall.
"For a group of guys, most of whom hadn't been in a racing shell until five weeks ago, to medal two weekends in a row in some big, competitive fields is exciting," said Captain Mikyo Butler '10, who won the gold with Tom Brickler '10 in the Men's Pair.
Christaan de Vries '12 and Eric Reid '10 took the bronze in the same event while the Novice Men's Eight, Hugo Tran '13, Asher Stamell '13, Zach Perez '12, Mike Hannaman '13, Kenny McCroskery '13, James Henry '13, Brad Cox '12, Tucker Colvin '13, and coxswain Shamir Rivera '10, finished No. 2.
Mel Gaynes '13 then coxed Colvin, Cox, Henry and McCroskery to another silver later in the day at the Novice Men's Fours race. The Novice Women took silver in their Fours event as well with Anna Nussbaum '13 coxing for Erin St. Peter '13, Alex Fogarty ' 13, Jacqui Ruberti ' 13, and Julia MacDonald '13.
"We're proud of the effort the team put in across the board, and very excited about our Novices' potential this Spring," added Butler.
As for the top boats, the Men's Four—deVries, Butler, Brickler, Reid, and Shalmai Rivera '10—took No. 4, while Caroline Ciocca '11, Anne Tolsma '10, Heather Kinnear '12, Megan Rawson '10, and coxswain Capt. Kate Emerson '10 finished 6th in the Women's Four.
"Both crews were up against tough competition from Boston powerhouses Community Rowing Inc., Boston College, and Radcliffe," said Coach Gil Birney.
This weekend, the team heads down to Boston for the prestigious Head of The Charles, where both men's and women's first boats will race on Saturday.