Women's Crew Open Seasons Winning Three of Four

Following a successful fall season, the Columbia women’s rowing team opened its spring season this past weekend at the Florida Tech Invitational by winning three of four races.

The Lions finished first in the varsity eight, novice eight, and second novice eight events, losing only in a varsity four race.

The day’s closest race was the varsity eight, in which the Light Blue fell behind a solid University of Central Florida entry early before coming back to win by two-tenths of a second, 6:45.1 to 6:45.3.

Though pleased with her team’s performance, new Lions head coach Melanie Onufrieff feels there is room for improvement.

“I don’t think that they had the best piece that they could have,” Onufrieff said, “but they were able to fight back once they got behind early to come out on top. Even so, they need to do a better job from start to finish.”

The 26-person women’s novice crew, one of Columbia’s largest ever, was also impressive. The first novice boat clocked in at 6:56.6, 5.9 seconds ahead of UCF’s entry, while the second novice boat finished at 7:26.9, more than 10 seconds in front of its nearest competitor.

“The novices were great,” Onufrieff said. “For their first race I thought they were outstanding.”

This weekend’s performances only serve to heighten expectations and anticipation that have been building since Onufrieff, a Penn graduate, took over for former coach Mike Zimmer last summer. Though last year’s varsity team finished 4-9, Onufrieff sees a different team this season.

“There are three returning rowers from last year’s team, but I didn’t know what that boat’s personality was,” Onufrieff said. “I know that this year’s boat will have the right personality, and that is to win every race.”

This coming weekend’s races will mark the Lions’ northern debut, when they face off against Penn and host Yale in the Connell Cup regatta. But while Onufrieff says that there will be something “personal” involved when racing against her alma mater, that won’t change her approach to the regatta.

“I went to Penn, but I’ve also coached Rutgers, Princeton, and Cornell, so there’s something personal every week,” Onufrieff said. “But the goal doesn’t change. I want an intense desire to win every weekend.”

Coming off the team’s promising first performance, however, Onufrieff’s biggest challenge may be to keep expectations in check for what promises to be a long season.

“The team ran great this weekend, but I don’t think that they reached their potential yet. They have the capacity to do the 2000 a lot faster,” Onufrieff said. “I was very proud of the races this weekend, but we still have a lot to improve on.”