Encore

For Chuck Nagle's women's crew team, the encore should be spectacular. In 1982, the women's varsity eight was winless in cup competition. In 1983, Dartmouth leaped all the way to 8-1 and missed the Eastern Sprints title by just four-tenths of a second. And in early June, only two-time winner Washington stood between Dartmouth and a national championship.

Of the nine women who rowed in that boat one year ago, amazingly, seven return led by Captain Heidi Farrish, a senior from Boston. Stroke Anne Hartwel! is back along with junior Cynthia Matthews at bow. The number two through five seats are the same senior Kelly McCarthy, soph Julie Katarincic, Farrish and senior Lucy Patti. Soph Suzanne Hunsicker, a world-class sculler, again returns to her number seven seat.

The task for Nagle doesn't sound too difficult. He must find a coxswain (there are three candidates, sophomores Kris Easter and Liz Shanahan plus freshman Liz O'Connell) and replace Anni Dupre 'B3 at number six.

The 1984 season began with a spring break trip to Tennessee, "where we eat, breathe, and sleep rowing," said Nagle. From there, Dartmouth took on Brown in late March. The first chance to perform at home on the Connecticut River comes April 28.

But rowing isn't something that begins around March 1. There's an informal fall season, highlighted by the Head of the Charles regatta. And that's followed by a tedious winter training season. While the Connecticut River is quiet, a continuous sheet of gray ice, the Alumni Gym tank room is bustling with activity. The tanks are outfitted with a wooden walkway featuring ten seats and oars. It most closely resembles a Viking slave ship.

Another integral part of training is working out on the ergometer, a stationary machine that tests an athlete's mental and physical endurance. "Most rowers feel the hardest part of doing an erg is the mental preparation involved," explained Nagle. "It's similar to a race and the idea is to put everything into it, to totally exhaust yourself."

With the track team working out in Leverone and the tennis players testing the indoor courts, the crew teams are doing weightlifting circuits made more palatable but not much more enjoyable by the rocking sounds of The Police or Van Halen. (For those of you whose class numerals begin with 6 or less, those last two nouns refer to two of today's hottest rock groups.) Running tests and cross country skiing are part of the total picture.

The year-round workouts, dedication, concentration and plain, old perspiration add up to what Nagle suspects could be another vintage year.