BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The Lehigh rowing team will wrap up its fall schedule on Saturday when it takes part in the Frostbite Regatta on the Cooper River in Camden, N.J. The Mountain Hawks are coming off a two-week layoff after Hurricane Sandy forced the postponement of last weekend’s Rutgers Fall Classic.
“A little extra rest will hopefully help the team a bit with healing injuries and soreness as the team has been training hard up to this point,” said Lehigh head coach Brian Conley. “We held a couple extra-long practices at the end of last week to help get more fluidity in the boats. The team is definitely ready to race again.”
Last season, the Mountain Hawks enjoyed success at the Frostbite Regatta, finishing near the top of several races, including a first-place finish from the Women’s Freshmen Eight.
Despite the success, Conley says it doesn’t factor into the team’s mindset heading into this year’s regatta.
“We talk a lot about how each year is a clean slate across the board both within our team and against our competition,” he said. “We understand as a team that every year is a new opportunity to be faster and I think the team knows they’re faster than the previous year and that’s the confidence they use going into races. We don't know other teams’ speed, so it’s a chance to find out where we stand one last time before going indoors [for the winter].”
Saturday’s regatta is important heading into the winter and ultimately spring season.
“It’s important in a lot of ways,” said Conley. “Mentally, it puts us in a mindset that we can out train anyone and be faster in the spring, but it also tells us that physically, we’re headed in the right direction with our training and technical work.”
Despite only three races in the fall, Conley and his staff have learned a lot about this year’s squad.
“This year's group is more technically capable than we’ve seen in the past which is giving them some good base speed,” he said. “But we have to get physically stronger, which we’ll do during winter training. The varsity knows that and traditionally finds a great deal more speed in the winter.”
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