In the back hallway, people can be seen working out on the rowing machines almost all year. These aren’t just regular people, these are the members of your WS Crew team.
Although the team doesn’t actually compete on the water until March (March 26th is the Polar Bear Regatta competition) the team has been holding regular workouts since early November (their first workout was on November 9). Last year, the team was better than average, but the team feels that they are ready to be one of the elite teams in the area this year.
“We were okay last year, but we’ll be better this year,” said senior crew member Brandon Corbett. “We have the potential to do very well this season.”
Crew competitions (known as Regattas) are not unlike track competitions in that all of the boats do not row at the same time. Different boats will row separately and compete for the best time.
“We have heats,” said Corbett. “Say for example we have three heats with six boats each and the top two boats from each heat go to the finals.”
After working out all year in preparation for the season, these athletes are finally ready to hit the water for in-season practicing. The team started practicing on the water on February 21 and will practice Monday through Friday and on Saturday mornings. The season goes through late May and could go longer depending on how well the team does in their competitions.
Although the team has not competed against other schools on the water yet this season, they did compete against the Langley Saxons in the annual Saxon/Spartan “Ergathon” (an Erg is another name for the rowing machine).
Basically, the two teams compete to see how can row the farthest combined distance on the machine (the machine can calculate how far the rower would have rowed if they were on the water). The WS team had the honor of taking home the coveted “Seat Trophy” for their victory. The team will look to continue this success into the season.
“We’re better prepared this year,” said Corbett. “We’re a much stronger team.”
