Adverse conditions at Vails a challenge for GVSU rowers
by Katie Phelan
The Grand Valley rowing team has trained all year to work with whatever challenge they meet, and rather than reward them for this training, the Aberdeen Dad Vail regatta tested them further. Saturday’s final events were raced into a 25-45 mph headwind, causing technical difficulties for every team, and creating an inconsistent current across the river.
Friday’s heats, on the other hand, were raced in nearly perfect conditions. The Grand Valley rowers plowed through calm water to move on in nearly every event – the Women’s 8+, the Men’s 8+, Men’s 4+, the Women’s 4+ took first, while the Men’s 2-, Novice Men’s and Women’s 8+, and Women’s DII 8+ took second. The Men’s Novice 4+ didn’t advance, but rowed an impressive race. The sunshine and light headwind gave no indication that Saturday’s weather would add another component of difficulty to the races for which the rowers have been preparing since September.
Saturday’s early events proceeded as scheduled even in brisk winds. Again, Grand Valley showed its depth and dominance across the board, winning semi-final events in the Women’s 8+, and sending boats to finals in the Women’s 4+, Novice 8+, and Men’s 4+.
The Varsity Men’s 8+ raced in a stacked semi-final, and just missed a second place finish to Delaware and Temple. Jeff Slater noted the guys were pumped and ready to go at the start of the semi, but couldn’t quite pull it off even despite a solid sprint. “We started behind and we didn’t gain back the ground,” he said. The guys moved on to the petite finals.
The novice women placed 4th in their final event, and the Women’s 4+ placed 6th.
The weather took a turn as the remaining final events were scheduled to compete. The regatta was postponed for about an hour as winds howled through the venue, lifting dust and rowers’ pillows and even blowing an eight off the top rack of a neighboring team’s trailer. As the winds persisted even through the delay, it became evident that no solution existed but to continue racing as normally as possible. The regatta was called back on, and rapidly the boats launched onto the Schuylkill’s rough water.
The Men’s Varsity 4+ took home Grand Valley’s only victory of the day, pulling off a first-place finish even in the conditions. Aaron Gesquire, Zak Armstrong, Marty Reed, Tucker Anderson and coxswain Dayna Campbell were down as they pulled into the bridge, but shortly thereafter shot out to a lead which they held until the island and re-established into the finish. Aaron Gesquire says, “It was really hard to row through the wind,” citing the weather as the most difficult aspect of the race. “Not every crew is used to having that wind, or any wind.” He says he and his teammates were excited at the victory: “It hurt, but after we won, the pain went away.”
The Women’s Division II 8+ rowed to a fifth place finish from an unprotected lane, after finishing second in the semifinal to Barry. Lauren Adlof describes the course as “wavy and windy,” and when asked whether she thinks the conditions affected her unfairly, she says, “I don’t know – it probably affected everyone the same. But it made racing in general a lot harder. It was a rough race.”
The Men’s 8+ finished second to St. Joseph in the petite finals. They rowed a solid start and were up by open water when they rowed through the bridge and hit the wind. “Lanes one through three were out of the race, and five and six were more sheltered,” said Jeff Slater. Grand Valley, who raced in lane four, saw the weather affect all the boats in the race – one team dropped down to rowing by sixes as the speculated result of a crab. “We were more frustrated with the weather than anything,” he says. Mike Stoll, who kept last year’s Vails wristband on until completion of the races this year, said the guys agreed that “it really makes you question every decision you’ve made all year. We’re still optimistic. It was a fast field this year, and we look forward to ACRA where we can redeem ourselves.”
The Women’s Varsity 8+ finished fifth, after winning their semi-final by open water over Sacramento and posting the second-fastest semi-final time of the day. Sacramento won the final event out of lane 6, and none of the top three seeds placed in the race. Purdue, who had the fastest semi-final time of the day, lodged a formal complaint to the regatta after their 4th place finish, claiming that the currents varied enough in the lanes to create unfair racing conditions. Kelsey Arnold says, “The conditions were the worst I’ve ever rowed in, and if not for the wind, I think it would have been a different outcome. The weather was an advantage and a disadvantage to all the crews.”
The Grand Valley rowers experienced a team-wide frustration after training for eight months for one six-minute race – and besides the Men’s 4+, having little to show for it. Across the team, conversations were held about grueling erg pieces, pair time trials, and practice in a blizzard, all of which should have ideally culminated into a stronger showing at Vails. Despite these hours of intense training, no one could compete to their full potential with the wind undermining their meticulous bladework practice.
The coaches understood their team’s frustration, and encouraged the rowers to look forward to ACRA and the Henley Regatta in England. In a speech to the team after the regatta, Coach Bancheri reminded the rowers that rowing is not about the medals, it is about the struggle and triumph that goes into training for one. “Medals will end up in a drawer somewhere,” added senior captain Sam Morgan. The Dad Vail regatta, this year, was not about the results, but rather about facing a difficult and potentially unfair situation, performing to the best of their abilities regardless, and keeping their heads up even in disappointing results. Grand Valley rowers have been trained for adversity. They could not prove it on the water, so they shouldered the disappointment and tried to keep spirits high, and for this weekend, proved what they’re made of off the water.
