Fall 2023 Preview

Hello Marist Rowing Alumni, Family and Friends,

I need to apologize for not writing more frequently this summer. A LOT is happening here at Marist and I have so much to write about that I feel it could take up several posts. Today I want to focus on the current team, our plans for the fall, where we’re headed in the near future, and the fall so far.

Start of School

We came sailing into the end of the summer in a pretty quiet mode. The team had a very difficult and young building year in 2022-23 and coupled with some departures from the crew over the summer, I get the sense there was some real uncertainty amongst returners about what life was going to look like this fall. The start of school but these questions to bed quickly. The sophomore class returned 100% of its members including the entirety of our very energetic 2023 2V8. These men were joined by 7 enthusiastic recruited athletes. While none of the recruits is at an elite level right out of the gate we have a fantastic mixture of size, talent, potential, and grit. This group has jumped in and had an immediate and noticeable effect on our training and mentality. We had the pleasure of two surprises. One was the addition of Maya Bialas, a local Hudson Valley coxswain and a transfer from Syracuse and OCCC. The other is the return of Tennessee James, now a junior who had been with us in the fall of ‘21, left us to pursue the Airforce Academy but was let go from the USAF as a result of a broken leg. Needless to say we were happy to see both of them. This crew has been joined by the usual rabble of walk-on/novice athletes who were aggressively pursued during week 1 on campus. Over the last 5 weeks the novice crew has gradually whittled down to a core of 10 athletes, some of whom are showing really exceptional progress and potential in just a short time

First Race Weekend: Quinsigamond Snake Regatta

We have been going to Navy Day in Philly for the last 3-4 years as it’s a great mixture of programs and it’s always fun to get a race in Philly (especially when it’s all in one fair lane). Navy Day unfortunately got moved to Sunday this year and we felt like the close proximity to the Head of the Charles really worked against us. Coach Stratton and I decided to shift our plan to row at the Head of the Housatonic which we hadn’t attended since 2018. After a week of drama, getting signed up and off the wait list and getting everyone prepared, the race was cancelled on the Thursday before-hand owing to dangerous predicted flooding on the Housatonic during race day. Bowed but unbroken, Coach Stratton and I decided to pivot yet again, this time to attend the Quinsigamond Snake Regatta in Worcester. Shoutout to the organizers of the QSR who allowed us and several other teams to sneak our entries in at the last minute and get our team’s a race! The weather was cool and cloudy but the rain and wind help off for a great little race morning. We boated our novices in their first race in a boat that was nearly 100% novices led by recruited from Matthew Roscoe in stroke seat and Joe Wyrozemski as cox. The novices had a great first showing and placed 4th of 8 crews in their category! The varsity men were entered in two lineups. One was the predicted Head of the Charles varsity 8 and the other was our 2nd varsity men. This sounded nice but the 2V had other plans and both finished in the middle of the pack and only separated by 0.2 of a second! The margin was so close in fact that Coach Sanford was reminded of the old freshman crews racing at the Belly of the Carnegie and several other coaches congratulated Stratton and I on our ability to make even lineups! (shaking our heads). Never—the-less, it was nice to get one race under us and a notch on our belts

What’s Next?

After such a close result at the Snake, it was clear that our selection was not accurate and so we set about racing for seats again this week and have developed a new lineup that seems to be showing much promise at practice. More on the HOCR crew oarsmen to come next week. The team fought long and hard over these seats and for sure some of the competitiveness can be attributed to very similar levels of fitness across the group. Coach S and I are hopeful that this will breed increased levels of internal competition that will help push us forward towards our bigger spring goals. The men’s team only received a bid in the collegiate 8 this year for HOCR which will be racing on Sunday afternoon Oct 22nd. Following the HOCR it’ll be a short week and then a quick hop to race at the Head of the Fish regatta, always a fan favorite, and a major full team opportunity.

Overall Feels

The boathouse is bursting with hard work and positivity right now and there are few, if any eyes looking backwards. We are still young and inexperienced but the team is learning what it’s going to take to get where we want to go and we’re seeing a great number of athletes taking more initiative in their training and technical improvement than last year. That said, the numbers don’t lie and the numbers demonstrate that we have a ways to go before we’re going to return this crew to “gold medal standard”. Coach Stratton and I feel like these men are a perfect foundation to build on and we’re looking to add more strong men through better recruiting who can be influenced by the hard work and leadership of the current crew. This fall is definitely going to be one of transition but based on what we’re seeing, I definitely feel like we have the size and physicality that was lacking in last year’s eight and we’re ready to take the next steps as a crew to go to the next level. With the freshman class biting at their heels, it’s going to keep everyone pushing in the right direction and we’re excited to see where the next 6 months takes us!

I’m looking forward to posting more updates on this website but will keep the emails coming to announce when I’m posting!

We hope you’ll mark your calendars for:

Sat Oct 21st: Alumni Racing in Boston in the morning and the Marist Women Racing in the afternoon at HOCR

Sun Oct 22nd: Marist Men racing in the afternoon at HOCR

Sat Oct 28th: Both M’s and W’s teams racing throughout the afternoon at the Head of the Fish Regatta in Saratoga Springs NY

More specifics to come in the next weeks on those events! Thanks for the Support as always and GO RED FOXES!!!

Campbell Woods

Head Coach, Marist Men’s Rowing Team