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The women’s crew team earned a silver medal in the Women’s Collegiate Four-Oared event at the Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston, Mass., Oct. 22-23.
Rowers Janine Tkach ’06 (Short Hills, N.J.), women’s team captain Laurel Waterhouse ’06 (Northfield, Conn.), Laura Danberg ’06 (Hockessin, Del.), and Kristen Dorsey ’07 (Meriden, Conn.) and coxswain Ben “Skip” Goldstein ’07 (Maple Glen, Pa.) came in seven seconds behind the winning team from Florida Institute of Technology and six seconds ahead of Penn State University.
The entire 65-member team had a strong showing at the Head of the Schuylkill Regatta in Philadelphia Oct. 29. The Head of the Schuylkill event is the world’s largest one-day regatta. The team’s overall performance was one of its best in recent years.
The fall season will conclude Saturday with the Frostbite Regatta in Philadelphia.
The five-kilometer Head of the Charles is the largest two-day regatta in the world, drawing more than 7,000 competitors from top national and international rowing clubs and institutions. The event also includes national team members from the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, Mexico, and the Netherlands. More than 300,000 spectators line the banks and bridges along the Charles River to watch the prestigious event.
Waterhouse explains that work for the regatta began in summer training sessions. The women in the boat committed to extra practices to prepare for the challenging and prestigious event. The international affairs major and her teammates were racing for a first-place finish even though they did not race together prior to the event.
“Going in, we felt pretty comfortable, and we knew the boat had the potential to row very well,” she says. “We were up against some good programs, but we knew we had a fast boat, and we were fairly confident that we had a shot at winning. Many crews go into the Charles aiming for a top five or top 10 finish, but we decided it was better to just go for the win. We entered the race gunning for first, but the only thing that you can do in these races is put in the work beforehand and focus on rowing the best race you can – you can’t worry about the other boats.”
Dorsey believes that the intense competition brought out the team’s best.
“Our goal was to row the best we could possibly row and to leave everything on the water,” says the double major in biology and Spanish. “We wanted to finish the race knowing there was nothing more we could do. We did exactly that. We knew, no mater where we placed, we rowed one of the best rows we had ever had.”
Danberg, a Marquis Scholar and treasurer of crew, says that the team had to focus on the race and not get swept up in the excitement of such an important event.
“You’re kind of in awe the whole time, and you keep having to remind yourself that you’re actually competing in such a prestigious event,” says the biology major. “Our strategy was the same as it is for every race – row the best race you can, as hard as you can, and don’t leave anything behind on the water.”
Boston’s enthusiasm for the sport provided an unforgettable atmosphere for the rowers. Citizens and spectators often stopped the athletes to discuss the races or wish them luck. Concerts along the riverbanks also added to the energy during the races.
“The Charles was the most impressive regatta I’ve been to and one of the highlights of my rowing career,” says Tkach, a double major in history and English and vice president of crew. “The competition alone is awesome, with teams from all over the world coming to row. The amount of rowers, spectators, and vendors was overwhelming. The course itself is one of the trickiest to navigate, with five major turns, and is considered a ‘coxswain’s course.’ Ben nailed one of the hardest 90-degree turns under Week’s Bridge. It really made all of our bad practices and long days worth it.”
As the team’s coxswain, Goldstein’s most important role is to motivate the rowers and ensure that they are mentally prepared for the race ahead. A coxswain must understand the fundamentals of the stroke and act as a liaison between the coaching staff and rowers. Goldstein studied the Head of the Charles course for three hours to develop strategy for the race.
“Competing at the Charles was one of the most amazing experiences of my life,” he says. “Race day was one of the most stressful times I’ve had in my college rowing experience, but the most fulfilling as well. The Head of the Charles is a coxswain’s dream course. This is probably one of the most important races for a coxswain to navigate due to the challenging turns and extreme length. Honestly, the Head of the Charles is a race where either a good coxswain can win the race, or a bad coxswain can lose it.”
Waterhouse, who was a spectator herself on the regatta’s second day when her younger sister competed in the youth division, is still trying to grasp the magnitude of the team’s accomplishment.
“To have prepared so much and worked so hard, and then to deliver our best performance, was probably the most gratifying athletic experience I have ever had,” she says. “Having a race like that while rowing on the world’s biggest stage made all the hundreds of hours of practice and all the blistered hands well worth it. To be honest, I might have to admit that I’m still a little in awe.”
Tkach and Dorsey agree that Lafayette’s performance proved they could compete with the sport’s elite.
“Florida [Institute of Technology] was on our backs the entire time and made great competition,” says Tkach. “They ended up winning the race, but we didn’t know this when we finished. With a head race, you don’t leave the water knowing who won – there are boats behind you who could have made up more time than you did. All you know is whether you had a good race, and we felt like we had the best race as a boat. That feeling alone was worth everything we put into the race, and a second-place medal made it even better.”
“I was extremely happy with second place,” says Dorsey. “We knew that we rowed well and that we placed high. The best part was the number one boat rowed behind us the entire time, and we never let them pass us. We held them off the entire time, even if they did beat our time by seven seconds.”
For Danberg, competing in the Charles event was as memorable as the team’s impressive finish.
“It is such a privilege to have the opportunity to race at the Charles, so just participating felt like an accomplishment in itself,” she says. “After the race, we knew we had done well, but hearing that we got second was the best feeling in the world. We had not only rowed one of the best races of our lives, we had also placed at one of the most prestigious regattas in the entire world. It makes you so proud to be able to say that. It’s a great reward for all the hard practices and dedication we put into the sport.”
Lafayette’s silver-medal finish guarantees an automatic entry in the Head of the Charles Regatta next year. To qualify, a crew must finish within five percent of the time of the previous year’s winners. The women’s collegiate 4+ finished nearly half a percentage point from the winning time to gain entry.
A member of the international affairs honor society Sigma Iota Rho, Waterhouse is working on an honors thesis focusing on Rwandan genocide under the guidance of Kofi Opoku, professor of religious studies. She is a peer counselor, tour guide for the admissions office, and peer tutor.
Goldstein, a biology major, is conducting research on the effects of vitamin D on cancer tumorigenesis. He will study medieval architecture during the interim session in Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands. He is a member of Biology Club, Hillel Society, and Delta Upsilon fraternity.
Tkach is an EXCEL Scholar working with Patricia Donahue, professor of English and director of the College Writing Program, on editorial research for the quarterlyReader: Essays in Reader-Oriented Theory, Criticism, and Pedagogy. Donahue also is guiding Tkach’s honors thesis research on the representation of female power in the platform speeches of the Miss America pageant. She studied abroad in Madrid, Spain, during fall semester last year.
Danberg is working on independent research with Jane Schoeneck, laboratory supervisor in the biology department. She completed an externship program at Valley Hospital of Ridgewood, N.J., under the guidance of Carmela Pane ’78, a neonatology physician at the hospital. She volunteers with the Boys and Girls Club of Easton’s Big Brother/Big Sister program.
Dorsey is vice president of chapter development for Delta Delta Delta sorority and will study abroad in Madrid, Spain, next semester.
The team’s fall racing season will conclude with the Frostbite Regatta in Philadelphia Nov. 12.