Big Red Crew Takes On the Head of the Charles

The boat plunges into the darkness created by an overhead bridge as the coxswain’s commands echo off the bridge’s stone underside. The rowers mimic the heaving backs in front of them, stroking in a steady rhythm and maintaining the symphony of movement all through the three miles of the Charles River.

This past Sunday, Big Red sent three crew boats down to Boston to compete in the Head of the Charles Regatta. The three boats that competed were a men’s four, a women’s eight and a women’s four.

The men’s four placed 37th out of 85 boats. Senior and co-captain Alexander Urquhart said that the race plan was to “send it.”

“Head races are notoriously long and challenging, so it was imperative that we kept our strokes powerful even when we wanted to die midway through,” Urquhart said.

The men’s coxswain upper Alexander Ranganathan simply said that the mindset was to “go in and chop other boats up. Nothing more, nothing less.” Ranganathan also mentioned that it was hunting season for their boat—during the race, they hoped to hunt down the boats in front of them.

Upper Jack Puchalski elaborated, “[Head] Coach [Albert] Leger had told us that every stroke and every second counted when it came to results in the end. So we wanted to push ourselves to the max and leave everything on the water.”

While the team had some difficulty settling on a lineup for the boat, once the regatta day came, the boat that they went with got the job done, according to upper Graham Guite. To have a guaranteed spot for next year’s Head of the Charles, the boat had to be inside the top 42—a feat they managed to achieve by a six-second margin.

Several rowers highlighted their fellow teammates. Ranganathan shouted out Puchalski. “[Jack] had to learn how to row starboard after two years of port,” Ranganathan said, explaining that to create the most effective lineup, Puchalski had to drastically change his stroke.

Guite highlighted Urquhart for keeping “a consistent, strong rhythm in stroke seat. He did a great job maintaining a high rate for the duration of the race.” Ranganathan agreed, noting that “maintaining a strong stroke rating for three miles is a tough job, however, Alex did an impressive job.” Ranganathan went on to say that “even when Alex was gassed when I called a sprint, he responded by accelerating his drive and powering us through the finish.”

While there were only four rowers and one coxswain representing the men’s crew team, Ranganathan pointed out that members who didn’t attend should also be commended.  “They pushed the people that were going to try their hardest and made the whole team better in general.”

In the end, Coach Leger said that his boat “rowed a clean and powerful race. Alex Ranganathan steered a good course and the boys gave 100% effort for the entire duration—17 minutes and 34 seconds—of the race.”

On the women’s side of the regatta, the four had an extremely impressive finish in 12th place. The eight also had a stellar race and requalified for next year’s regatta.

Senior Hanna Brigham, who was on the four, said that she and her boat came into the regatta ready to win. “We were hungry to prove ourselves on the world stage. We’d put in so much time and effort and we wanted to show the world that we were a force to be reckoned with,” Brigham said.

Senior and co-captain Shelagh Coombs agreed. “We came into the race with bow marker 29 (the placement the four got last year) and we finished in 12th place.” The four’s goal was to be top twenty and they smashed that prediction.

Beyond the results, Coombs thought of this regatta as a learning opportunity. “It is a great chance to be at a major regatta, racing against some of the best teams in the country and to watch college and championship races,” Coombs said.

Upper Johanna Calderon, who rowed in the women’s eight said that “going into the race we were all super pumped and wanted to requalify for next year.”

The eight, being such a big and heavy boat, had a tougher time getting around the windy turns of the Charles so their coxswain, senior Kelly Mi, had to be extra vigilant. In addition, the rowers had to be even more connected with each other. Calderon said, “we went over all the turns that ports and starboards would have to make when one side would have to pull harder to make sharper turns.”

Calderon also said that Mi provided extra motivation by “dedicating each power 10 to a specific rower.” The teamwork by all the rowers and the motivation provided by Mi translated into what upper Alicia Coble called a race that was “powerful and connected.”

Alicia also pointed out how proud she was of the two lowers who rowed in the eight, Michelle Park and Emma Lyle. “It’s a big deal for anyone to go but for two underclassmen to go is really special.”

The Head of the Charles is only a precursor to the exciting season of spring crew that lies ahead for all of the Big Red rowers. Coombs is stoked for the spring when “we have more time, more commitment and all of the momentum that we gained from having a strong team this fall.”