Rowing usually requires teams to be together for competition. That’s why one may find it odd that more than 2,500 miles separated the SU rowing team for the conclusion of its fall season.

The Varsity Eight boat raced in Seattle shortly after 8 a.m. Sunday while the Varsity Eight B and freshman boats competed four hours later in Princeton, N.J. The Orangewomen reunited in Syracuse early Monday morning after head coach Kris Sanford and her team of eight took a late-night flight from Seattle back to Syracuse.

The varsity A team placed seventh out of 16 boats at the 22nd annual Head of the Lake regatta in Seattle with a time of 17:45.10. It was almost 30 seconds slower than Michigan State’s winning time of 17:18.77.

‘We had a good race but our results were not as good as we would have liked,’ junior Kelly McGrorey said. ‘It was kind of a fun way to compete against teams from the West Coast.’

SU’s Varsity Eight, cox-swained by senior Marisa Begley, arrived in Seattle on Thursday night and had little time to practice on the 4.8-kilometer course. It’s the first year SU is competing in the Head of the Lake.

The Varsity Eight B boat placed 18th out of 30 with a time of 17:27.16, and SU’s freshman eight placed 20th with a time of 17:37.14 at the Belly of the Carnegie in Princeton. Both times were slower than Pennsylvania’s winning time of 15:55.38, which beat Princeton by two-tenths of a second.

Though the Tigers placed second, they won the Belly Bowl Trophy for the second straight year. The trophy is given to the team with the best combined men’s and women’s times.

Now, the Orangewomen will train indoors in the anticipation of a frigid Onondaga Lake.

Syracuse will spend much of the winter in the weight room and on Erg rowing machines as well as in the water tanks at Archbold gymnasium.

For winter break the Orangewomen will travel to Melbourne, Fla., to train in the warmer climate. Then, during Spring Break, the Orangewomen will make their yearly training trip to Miami.

SU opens its spring season at home March 27 against Boston and Duke.

If Syracuse wants to claim its fourth straight Big East title, the path won’t be easy. The Big East competition is improved and will provide a challenge for the Orangewomen, McGrorey said. Over the past three years, SU had won the race easily. But now, the skill level between the teams is narrowing.

‘I think we are in a good position to win the Big East again,’ McGrorey said. ‘There are a lot of teams getting better, particularly Notre Dame. It is going to be a very competitive spring season.’

‘We have a lot of weaknesses but we have a lot of strengths too,’ Sanford said. ‘I think that people need to get better fit and I think that people need to get more focused on racing. Our strengths are our competitiveness, our fight and our desire. And I think that that goes a long way.’

Published on November 10, 2003 at 12:00 pm