The Lehigh women’s rowing team lost a lot of its members due to personal reasons over the summer. In response, the team is changing its mindset to become more competitive.
Coming back from summer break, Lehigh has been preparing to improve this fall both on the water and by building team cohesiveness.
“We’re in a lot different mindset,” senior Carolyn Mazzie said. “We’re a lot more bonded this year than we have been in the past. The team culture has shifted to a more cohesive one.”
This year’s team has taken a more serious approach to the upcoming season than in years past in hopes of placing higher and improving its overall status in the Patriot League. Coach Brian Conley considers this coming year as a rebuilding year and a way to establish Lehigh women’s rowing.
“Our team culture has been switching a lot lately, and we’ve been on the upward trend towards making a more serious, more committed team,” Mazzie said.
Although its official season is in the spring semester, the team will participate in three races this fall in preparation for winter training and the spring season.
In the spring season, the team participates in sprint racing, which is a 2,000 meter race. However, according to sophomore Julia Malachin in the fall, the team competes in head races, which are longer paces.
This fall the team will be competing in the Bucknell Invitational, Navy Day Regatta and the Rutgers Fall Classic.
The Bucknell Invitational is a race between Lehigh, Bucknell University and Drexel University.
“The reason we choose to go to (the Bucknell Invitational) is because Bucknell is usually one of the better teams in the Patriot League, and Drexel is also one of the better teams at the Dad Vail Regatta,” Conley said. “We like to see them early on.”
The Navy Day Regatta includes teams from Philadelphia including Saint Joseph’s University, Temple University, University of Pennsylvania, LaSalle University, Villanova University and Drexel, as well as some schools that aren’t as close to the area.
The Rutgers Fall Classic race typically includes schools that are highly ranked.
During the fall season the team tries to integrate all team members into the three different varsity boats in hopes of getting a better understanding of where they stand all together. This means that underclassmen will be placed in different boats to better grasp an understanding of what will take place during the actual season.
The varsity eight boat is the one in which many sports may consider their starters. This boat includes eight rowers and one coxswain, who is responsible for navigation and steering. Second varsity eight is the boat just under varsity eight. The third and final boat that races is varsity four which includes four rowers and a coxswain.
“Our biggest goal is to do better than we did last year,” Conley said. “If we can improve each day, eventually the wins come, and then the wins stay.”
The Mountain Hawks will take on the Bucknell Bison and the Drexel Dragons in a race on the Shamokin Dam in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania on Sunday.
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