Girls’ crew season has yet to begin, but the energy is high as preparation for upcoming regattas ensues. They have been working hard and pushing forward to start their season with skill and determination.

“This season we’re practicing about once or twice a day for about two weeks, we’ll have regattas almost every weekend, with a couple off weekends, and we’re doing the triathlon too,” Maya Gonzalez ‘23 said, one of the team captains.

To keep up with this rigorous practice schedule, the team had been aiming to get a new boat house and this goal was recently achieved. To do this, the girls had to work hard to raise money, but this hard work isn’t going without reward.

“The boathouse expansion allows us to train on the rowing machines, which will be a big thing in the winter,” Gonzalez said.

They have yet to go up against any other teams, but their team has a lot of good rowers, and size is no issue for the girl’s crew. 

“Our varsity four right now for the girl’s team is Sylvie Devries, Anna Olsen, Elizabeth Chapman, and I, but there are a lot of other rowers and good people on the team. Also, we have the largest number of people we’ve had since we started,” Gonzalez said.

With the team not having any regattas yet, they have a lot to look forward to, such as their first one being on September 17th, the Head of the Cuyahoga, in Ohio. Throughout the rest of their season, the team will face many schools and attend a variety of regattas. At some of these, they will face some of their toughest competitors. 

“Some of our biggest rivals would probably be Skyline, which is in Ann Arbor, and Ann Arbor Pioneers,” Emma Hefner ‘23 said.

Looking even further ahead into the end of the season the girls will have one of their most challenging regattas.

“The Head of the Charles is in Boston, which is pretty exciting,” Gonzalez said. 

Regattas and practices are the bread and butter of the sport, but the crew team wants to extend beyond rowing. They are hoping for involvement. 

“This season we want to improve our community. We want to do more team events, and involve more people in our sport,” Gonzalez said.