Dave Reischman knows his rowers are a passionate bunch. Between screaming and yelling during practice and training year-round, Reischman does not question his team’s will.

But with a young, earnest varsity eight, sometimes the Orange tends to push a little too hard during races.

‘The race course is 2,000 meters long,’ said Reischman, the Syracuse men’s rowing head coach . ‘That’s a long time to rage all the way down. You do have to race with passion, but you also need to have a good sense of pace.’

At the mid-point of the season, the Orange still has not mastered Reischman’s race plan. Reischman preaches a pace-first, sprint-second approach, and for the past month, SU has struggled with establishing its base speed in the middle of its races.

The Orange will look to find that base speed quickly in the first cup meet of the season – the Goes Trophy against traditional rivals No. 11 Navy and No. 13 Cornell Saturday.

‘If we’re doing our job, this race will be side by side for the whole race,’ Reischman said. ‘It will be one of those races where every stroke matters all the way down the race course.’

Though Reischman stressed there is room for improvement, SU has received national attention. Fresh off cracking the top ten in the most recent USRowing Men’s Varsity Eight Collegiate Coaches’ Poll, the No. 9 Orange enters the cup season seeking its fourth straight Goes Trophy victory on Onondaga Lake.

At No. 9, SU occupies its highest ranking since May 2007, when the Orange peaked at No. 8. SU is aiming for its 11th Goes Trophy. The Orange has never won the event four straight times in the 56-year history of the cup race.

In preparation for the cup races like the Goes Trophy, the Orange traveled to Southern California for the San Diego Crew Classic two weeks ago, when it faced off against seven crews in the top ten. In the first semifinal, heat the Orange finished fourth, behind No.1 Washington and league competitors No. 7 Harvard and No. 4 Brown. The Orange advanced to the consolation final, however, where it defeated second place No. 10 Yale by three seconds.

‘Nobody in my program is excited about consolation finals,’ Reischman said. ‘But that was against some real fast competition, and we finished a length off against arguably the second and third best teams in the nation.’

Now entering the stretch run of the season schedule, with four meets in five weeks, SU is unfazed by the task laid ahead of it. The Orange carries five sophomores on the current varsity eight, putting extra pressure on senior captain Martin Etem’s.

‘He’s been driving the bus all season long,’ Reischman said. ‘He’s a pretty similar guy to a Ray Lewis-like figure, keeping guys in line.’

At the number six seat on the boat, referred to as a stern position, Etem is the engine that drives the Orange. Etem pushes the sophomores during the sprint portions of the race and is the essential rally-starter on SU’s varsity eight.

One of those sophomores occupies arguably the most important position for SU. Coxswain Ken Marfilius judges the progress of the opposition, relaying to the stroke seat exactly when the Orange sprints or sets a steady pace.

‘I’m confident in my eight rowers that whatever I ask them to do, they will respond in the ?right way,’ Marfilius said. ‘All eight guys in the boat are a highly competitive and respectable group of guys.’

As a tight-knit unit, the Orange is approaching tomorrow’s race the same way. Though Saturday’s race is a rivalry meet, SU is wary that it is still early in the season, and the team has room to improve before the postseason I.R.A. Regetta May 4.

‘We want to be at our best going into the I.R.A.,’ Reischma said. ‘With that said, there’s no question that Cornell and Navy are our biggest rivals, but there’s no animosity whatsoever between the crews. We are more concerned with our own performance.’

tchalmer@syr.edu

Published on April 15, 2009 at 12:00 pm