“The inlet looks like a bomb went off because its water level is really low. It looks like a barren wasteland. It’s not a happy place,” said junior Erica Crump of the not so lovely Ithaca waters at this time of year.

Judging from Crump’s description there is plenty of logic behind why the women rowers will be headed to South Carolina for spring break.

The crew team will bring a number of its girls, to be determined at some point this week, down to South Carolina for a chance to take advantage of higher water levels and more room to move around in the water. As it stands now, Cornell simply can’t fit all of its rowers in the water at once due to low water levels.

This weekend’s trip follows a winter spent lifting twice a week, managing to row on land while the inlet was iced over. Referred to lovingly by the team as the “Valentine’s Day Massacre,” the girls completed in an 8.5 km. erg, a 5.4 mile run with body circuits.

“It was a pretty awesome time,” said junior Audrey Ahlholm.

“We had a lot higher level of personal accountability,” said Crump regarding this winter’s focus on erg times. “People actually cared about the workouts this year.” Love that dirty water: The women’s rowing team will have a chance to crew in the flowing waters of South Carolina over Spring Break. - By: Beth Spergel

Perhaps part of the increased focus has to do with new assistant coach Liz Dennison, who rowed for George Washington and interned at the George Washington and Syracuse rowing programs.

But with the winter over, the team is looking forward to seat races to figure out the lineup.

“Basically seat racing is a method of determining who deserves to be the in top boat,” Ahlholm said. “It is a controlled way of measuring individual performance. We have been doing a little seat racing so far and basing the lineups on past seasons. But spring break generally involves many seat races.”

And this year for the first time ever, freshman will be included among those whipper snappers competing for seats.

“There’s always young wiper snappers snapping at your feet,” Ahlholm added.

“In the past it was divided between varsity and novices — first years were novices,” Crump said. “The NCAA is restructuring so that there is one team in ranked boats. This increases depth — everyone is on the same playing field. Overall, the hope is that you have greater top boat speed.”

With no novice division, freshmen will have to compete for the same seats as the older girls building up for their race against Ithaca, for better or worse.

“With 47 rowers we’re a big team with lots of depth,” Crump said. “There will be lots of people pushing from the bottom up.”