The Colby men’s and women’s crew teams competed in the annual Fall Colby-Bates-Bowdoin (CBB) Head race this past Saturday.

On a chilly and windy morning at the Hume Center—Colby crew’s home course on Messalonskee Lake in Oakland, Maine—the men’s A boat, consisting of Dan Abrams ’13 (coxswain), Jack Vihstadt ’12, Peter Smithy ’12, David Cramer ’12, Andrew Wall ’12, Noah Teachey ’13, Nate Krump ’13, Bill Brewer ’11 and Pat Adams ’13, finished in second place overall with a time of 10 minutes and 20 seconds.

Bates’ A boat finished first with a time of 10:11, but in the words of Adams, “We definitely closed the gap between Bates A and us [by a considerable amount.]”

The men’s B boat surprised many by finishing third overall. Colby’s B boat—Greg Merritt ’12 (coxswain), Matt Silverman ’12, Will Taft ’13, Jonah Belk ’14, Ian Tibbetts ’14, Walker Nordin ’14, Justin Partridge ’12, Andrew Joselow ’11 and Tim Corkum ’11—was pleased with its speed, finishing 17 seconds ahead of Bowdoin A with a time of 10:26. Colby’s C boat finished in sixth with a time of 11:27. Corkum said of the performance, “As a whole crew we were stoked about how well the races went...Crew is a sport that requires the athlete to hold [him or herself] to a higher standard on race day; there is no coach to talk to us during a race, so it’s up to the rower to push him or herself and leave everything on the water.”

The women’s A boat, captained by Lis Henderson ’11 and Amy Paulekas ’11 and also containing Anna Leschen-Lindell ’13, Ally Bolger ’13, Charlotte Gardiner ’13, Molly Clark ’13, Rachel Jacobs ’13, Elise DeSimone ’12 and Katie Ricciardi ’12, rowed to a third-place finish with a time of 12:32, finishing behind Bates’ A and C boats. The women’s B boat—Cassie Huang ’13, Sarah Morris ’13, Laura Gaines ’14, Grace Reville ’14, Annalisa Tester ’14, Olivia Collins ’14, Daria Jones ’13, Jenny Sher ’14 and Ally Mahoney ’14—recorded a time of 14:25 and came in seventh place. Said Paulekas: “I felt that all of the boats really worked hard on Saturday. The conditions were not favorable but we fought through them. I am proud of all the work and improvement we have seen over the course of the fall.”

As the fall season comes to a close, the men’s and women’s crew teams look forward to working hard to improve over the winter in anticipation of the spring season. In the words of Paulekas, “I look forward to watching all of Colby crew gain speed over the winter months. It is everything that we do now that will pay off when the spring season starts.” The relative youth of the teams bodes well for their performances in the coming years. When asked for his opinion on the future of the crew teams, Corkum simply responded, “FAST.”