The five rowers who won against Iona. From left to right: Michael Lee, Frankie (Francis) Scullin, Gavin Ward, Jason Matthews and Jeremy Lee.
GAVIN WARD / COURTESY
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Manhattan University’s club rowing team attended their first regatta of the semester on March 29, where members secured a victory in the men’s varsity four plus race.
MU’s boat faced off against rowers from Iona University. The only two schools racing in the regatta were Iona and MU, so tensions were high, according to chemical engineering major Gavin Ward, coxswain of the winning boat.
“I will say there were a lot of nerves going into this,” Ward said. “It’s one thing to go to a regatta and race multiple boats, but this was more of a dual setup where it’s just one team versus another. So anxiety was high for sure, but there was also a lot of excitement to be had. There were a lot of first time rowers in a lot of the boats that we put out, so mostly people just wanted to get back on the water.”
It was a tight race from start to finish, but the Jaspers pushed hard in the final sprint to beat out Iona. Ultimately, MU’s approach proved to be more efficient than the Iona Gaels’, with the Jaspers winning by over two seconds.
“I think that one of the distinguishing differences that caused us to win was Iona calling their power too early,” Jason Matthews, civil engineering student and three seat in the boat, said. “I think at the 400 [meter mark] they really called their power, and their guys were just too tired to handle that power. So at around the 150 meter [mark], which is not that many strokes away from the finish line, I don’t think they had the power to keep up with us. And that’s where we really pulled through.”
The race itself came as a bit of a surprise for the rowers, who found out about the competition about only two weeks beforehand. Still, they managed to achieve success.
“We didn’t have this event scheduled,” Michael Lee, a sophomore civil engineering major and 1 seat in the boat, said. “We found out like the Friday of [spring break] that we had a week to prep.”
Despite such short notice, the team’s ability to locate results led to the outcome they hoped for. Ward further explained what exactly led them to their win.
“I think starts set you up for a really good pace to win a race, I don’t think the start necessarily was the biggest contributor to the win of this heat, but I think our start off the line was pretty good,” Ward said. “We were solid. We beat them off the line and to the 500 [meter mark], so it definitely allowed us to have more confidence in ourselves than we had previously assumed.”
Team chemistry is another factor vital to a successful performance when rowing. For the MU rowers, team chemistry is built both on and off water.
“I think rowing is a sport that’s uniquely on its own in a category, in which your movement, along with your teammates, is greatly impacted by each other,” Ward said. “Team chemistry has a big impact on how well a group can race. We’ve spent the last year together, and I think that’s definitely helped our chemistry. Just knowing each other’s habits in the boat, knowing when someone might adjust and by how much they might adjust, is definitely pivotal to us doing good.”
Jeremy Lee, a chemical engineering major, who serves as the boat’s seat two, shared the excitement he felt within such an important race.
“Seeing another boat next to you, and then you slowly start to pass them– there’s no other feeling like that,” Lee said. “It’s like you see them, and then it’s a matter of which team wants it more. And I think our team really had the drive to just beat them…Gavin had a great call, really telling us to pick it up”
GAVIN WARD / COURTESY
This win, though great, was not enough to satisfy the rowers. Instead, they’ll use it as motivation to continue working hard, lowering their times and securing more victories in the future.
“It [the victory against Iona] was definitely a really great confidence booster,” Lee said. “I think all of us now, especially, are feeling a lot more confident going into our next race. And I think it sets us up and the whole team as well, just seeing a victory. It’s really motivating us for the next race and anything we have in the coming semester. And even though we won, we saw our times, we know that we can improve. I think seeing that, it’ll just give us the hunger to do better than we ever have before and keep on improving.”
The rowing team encourages anyone interested in joining to reach out, with positive assurances from current rowers about the team environment.
“We may be small and undersized [compared to other teams] but we use the power of friendship,” Francis Scullin, computer science student and stroke seat in the boat, said. “We’re smaller, that’s why we really hone in on technique. But, that’s what wins the races.”
“It’s definitely a great environment,” Lee said. “Everyone really helps. Even though our boat was the one that won the race, it really is everyone pushing you in the mornings and building each other up.”