SRA’s ‘Great Eight’ is on a historic streak at states
Freshman eight have won 17 of the past state championships
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. » Some things in life are certain.
Death and taxes are two. The Saratoga Rowing Association girls freshman eight rowing to a gold medal in the New York State Scholastic Rowing Association championship regatta seems to be a third. There not be any better way to group the ninth-grade boat that has won 17 out of the past 20 championships, including the last four years. A loss to Shaker in 2012 ended a 12-year gold medal run.
What makes it more impressive is that the entry must contain rowers currently in the ninthgrade or younger. That means there’s an almost entirely new line-up every year.
“It would be a lie to say not a little (pressure),” first-year girls freshman coach Colin Nevins said. “Alida (Durant) has done such a great job for so many years with them at the state and scholastic level, national level, I’m feeling like they are big shoes to fill, but she’s done a good job preparing these guys so I think they are going to get the job done.”
The SRA freshmen eight are schedule to race early Saturday afternoon in the NYSSRA time trial to determine the lane assignments for the 7:14 p.m. final. A gold medal is on the line once again.
“I think they are very aware of the history of it and what the people before them have done, but we do talk a bit about how we hold ourselves in the big moments and what we’re really preparing for and what the opportunity really affords them as opposed to the pressure it’s going to give them and they’ve really embraced it,” Nevins said. “They’re still undefeated this season in their events, we’re not overlooking anybody, but we’re feeling like our momentum is growing every week.”
The decisive winning history is not lost on the stroke pair (front seated rowers) of Kathryn Cuneo and Olivia Vavasour
“We’ve always had very strong crews that come out, we have a streak for winning nationals for a couple years, so we’re trying to keep that up and our crew mostly focuses on technique and building power onto that,” Cuneo said.
Being aware of the winning streak includes the expectations that come with that success.
“There is a little bit of pressure that comes with it because there has been a good streak that’s going and to know that there haven’t been that many loses it just puts a little bit more pressure on it,” Vavasour said. “We can’t be that crew that’s known for one of those loses, you want to be really powerful and known, ‘They won nationals, look at that crew!’”
It may be cliché to say that this year’s entry is mature beyond its years, but Nevins agrees.
“For the most part they are ninth-grade girls and then when they get on the water they really flip that switch,” Nevins said. “They can be much more mature and they take a note from the varsity and they adapt that behavior. It lets them really get out here and do good things and build speed.”
To earn a spot in Saturday’s freshman eight entry, the rowers had to move up the depth chart of 24 rowers.
“We’ve been doing lots of weights and stuff like that to continually get stronger,” Vavasour said. “It’s just one of those things, keep pushing yourself every day to get better because you know behind you, you have so many other girls that want your spot and it just pushes you even more to work harder.”
That hard work is expected to pay off Saturday night when the SRA freshman eight lines up 1,500 meters from the finish line on Fish Creek. A berth in the Scholastic Rowing Association of America and the US Rowing Youth Invitational will also be on the line.
“I am confident in our crew’s ability,” Cuneo said. “On race day we are always in the same mindset and focused. I think with our abilities and the hard work we’ve been putting I think we’ll have a good race.”