Women’s crew manned four eight-seat boats at the Head of the Housatonic race in New Haven, Conn. last Saturday in its first race of the year. The top two varsity boats finished second and third — within six seconds of each other — with the other two squads finishing sixth and eighth of 22 boats.
Head Coach John Murphy wrote in an email to The Herald that the women had a solid start, and the “crews raced hard and as a team demonstrated good, all-around depth.”
“The depth of our team is very strong,” said co-captain Camilla Polakoff ’14.
The women come into the season as a young team, after graduating three seniors last year, Polakoff said.
“We are building off where we left off,” said co-captain Susannah Green ’14.
Green said excitment is palpable at practice and people are stepping up.
“We are a team that wants to win,” she said.
“There is a team tradition of always putting our heart out on race day,” Polakoff said.
With such a strong start to the season, Polakoff said the team aspires to win the NCAA Championship in the spring. But first, the team must win the Ivy League.
“The Ivy League will be a good test for us,” Green said.
The Bears will compete this Saturday at the Head of the Charles Regatta in Cambridge and head to Massachusetts with “Butter the cat” — who passed away last weekend — on their minds.
The boathouse adopted Butter, a stray cat, many years ago, Green said. She added that the cat seemed to have nine lives, surviving with only one eye at the end.
Butter’s death was hard for everyone, Green said, adding that he was the “best mascot a team could ever have.”
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