The Northwestern club crew team hasn’t let a lack of funding and grueling practices stop them from having a successful season.
Over the weekend the team competed in the Dad Vail Regatta, a race considered the championship for many Division III and club teams. Coming off strong showings in previous regattas, the team went into nationals expecting to do well. But by the end of Saturday night, none of the boats was in the finals.
“We rowed well, and we rowed hard,” said Education senior Kat Wunderink, a varsity crew member. “We are proud we went as far as we could.”
Northwestern sent two varsity and two novice boats to the competition. The varsity women’s A 4, the women’s team’s top boat, went into the Dad Vails undefeated and finished third in the semifinals, behind Vermont and Jacksonville. The varsity men finished fifth overall, and both novice boats failed to make the semifinals.
Although the team didn’t do as well as they had hoped, Wunderink said, “We take a lot of comfort in the fact that we did well all season. You can’t judge us on this one race.”
The team’s strong showing in last week’s Mid-American Collegiate Rowing Association Championships in Ohio provided good momentum for the Dad Vails. Along with the varsity women’s A 4, the novice women’s 4 also took first. Both the varsity women’s 8 and varsity men’s 4 placed second.
Crew, a student-run sport, receives little funding from the university, leaving members to raise almost $50,000 in yearly expenses. The team not only is responsible for paying for its own transportation to races but must also pay the coach’s salary. Crew’s minimal funding makes its success this year impressive, said Jeanette Nelson, the varsity women’s captain and a Medill senior. Nelson rows for the women’s A 4.
In February the team held its annual ergathon, in which team members rowed non-stop near The Rock for an entire day. Each novice had to row for one hour, and every varsity rower had to row for two hours.
Prior to the event, which raised nearly $10,000, members raised $200 each by going door-to-door in Evanston and writing letters to family and friends.
“It’s a great sport that goes beyond just athletics,” said Josh Veatch, the team president and Weinberg senior. “Because we do our own fund raising, a lot of satisfaction comes from that.”
The team members begin their rigorous training at the start of every academic year, practicing on the Chicago River before sunrise.
“We leave campus around 4:30 in the morning and are back at around 8:45 for morning classes,” Nelson said. “Sometimes we have extra afternoon practices on the rowing machines in Patten.”
Despite this year’s success, Nelson said “given the dollar signs in the athletic department’s eyes,” it is unlikely that crew will become a varsity sport any time soon. Aside from Northwestern, Penn State and Purdue are the only Big 10 schools not to count crew as a varsity sport.
But this doesn’t bother Nelson. “I love the sport. There’s nothing like it – people moving in one motion and killing your body until you drop,” she said. “It’s pretty fun.”
