Coming off a dominant 2008 spring season in which the Cavaliers captured their ninth straight ACC Championship, the Virginia women’s crew team is back in action this weekend.
The team will kick off its fall season at the Princeton Chase in New Jersey. While the fall season is secondary in importance to the Cavaliers’ spring season, the fall season helps to gauge how this year’s team will stack up against its competition. This weekend will provide an important early look, as Virginia’s main competition will come from some of the nation’s best crews.
“In this weekend’s tournament, we will face Yale, Princeton and Brown, among others, but these are the top teams we will compete against,” coach Kevin Sauer said. “We will find out right away how we’re doing this fall, as rowing against these teams will give an indicator on how we’re doing and what our potential is.”
Last year, Brown won the NCAA Championships, Yale finished fourth and Virginia finished fifth.
Though the rowers are facing the same teams they will square off against in the spring, they will be doing so in a longer distance race, 5,000 meters as opposed to the normal 2,000 meters. Though the fall season is regarded as a pre-season and has no effect on the ACC and NCAA Championships in the spring, it is important to the coaches and rowers for preparation.
“The fall season is long-distance racing to prepare for the spring season, which is our main season,” Sauer said. “In the spring, it matters because you get selected to the NCAA [Championships], whereas the fall is used for training to get you ready for the spring.”
This week’s race, in addition to being 3,000 meters longer than a traditional spring race, will also be different in format, Sauer noted.
The teams will start 15 to 20 seconds one after another and race for the lowest time, sometimes even passing each other during the race. Yale will go first, and Virginia will follow directly behind the Bulldogs.
Fall races such as this one are good opportunities to evaluate new talent, and this year’s Cavaliers have a lot of it. Freshmen Martha Kuzzy and Cara Linnenkohl will both be competing for the varsity team this weekend in the second eight and will be main contributors to the team this year, Sauer noted.
Kuzzy and Linnenkohl join a team that is already strong in both talent and experience; in addition to its ACC dominance, the team has had strong showings in the NCAA Championship meets as well.
“We have quite a few people returning for this year,” Sauer said. “The combination of returners and the new kids makes our team really deep in quality. They all work hard and bring great attitude.”
Though the freshmen lack collegiate experience, they are well-versed in success. Kuzzy won a gold medal at the 2008 FISA World Rowing Junior Championships this summer in the women’s eight; it was the first gold medal by an American crew ever in the event.
Linnenkohl won a silver medal in the single sculls.
These new rowers have added to a talented team, and perhaps just as importantly, a deep one, which has the coaches and rowers excited about getting back on the water.
“I think we have a great group of girls and there are a lot of them,” senior Augusta Stratos said. “A lot of them have competed with the under-23s and national team, doing very well. We have a really strong group and a really deep group, which aids in our strength as a team and as a whole.”
Even with all the new and returning talent, Virginia is not looking simply to maintain its past success. While nine ACC Championships might cause complacency on some teams, last year’s results will satisfy this year’s squad. Instead, the Cavaliers are raising expectations.
“In the long term, our overall goal is to win a championship in the NCAA,” Stratos said. “This fall is just build-up in trying to assess where we are in a way. We plan to do our best. We’ve been really close to winning a championship, and our main concentration is to get to the spring and strive for a championship.”
Sauer shares his team’s high expectations.
“Our goals this year are to win our 10th straight ACC title, to win South/Central Regionals again and to finish higher in the NCAA,” he said. “These may be lofty goals but we aspire for them every year.”
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