Justin Moore has been at the helm of the SU women’s crew team for a year and a half. During that time, the varsity eight boat has gone from a middle of the pack competitor to the cusp of the top-tier competition.

When Moore was hired in July of 2010, he immediately changed the culture and mindset of the SU program. Allison Todd has been the boat’s coxswain since the middle of her sophomore year, and together with Moore has gained the Orange national recognition as a team on the rise.

‘We’re definitely, compared to last year, moving in the right direction,’ assistant coach Alicea Kochis said. ‘However, the truth is that we’re just not quite with the top teams yet.’

Leadership from Todd and fellow seniors Carmen Failla and Tiffany Macon, with Emma Basher and Anna Kaszycki, twi highly skilled freshmen from Australia, has improved the boat’s talent level immensely. This weekend, that talent and leadership will be put to the test as Syracuse will race in the Charles River Challenge on Saturday in Boston.

From last year to this season, the difference in the talent level of the team is night and day.

‘We’ve made such huge improvements since last year,’ Failla said. ‘All of us are so excited when we get on the water to race to see where we stack up against the crews we didn’t do so well against last year.’

SU’s crew has competed close portions of races this season against No. 14 Cornell and No. 18 Clemson, as well as the strong Northeastern and Boston University teams.

Still, the team hasn’t put together an end-to-end race to the best of their ability.

On March 17 in South Carolina, Syracuse posted a strong first 1,000 meters but faded toward the end, and on April 7, the team finished strongly after starting off the race slowly.

SU will take on more tough competition this weekend at the Charles River Challenge in Boston. The Orange will race the third-highest ranked team it’s faced all season, No. 20 Dartmouth, and a strong team from Harvard-Radcliffe.

‘It’s going to be a tough race because they have really good crews,’ Failla said. ‘But I think the experience we’ve had leading up to it. …It’s something we’re prepared for. We’re prepared to fight to finish first.’

SU hopes to put together its first complete performance of the season.

‘The first race in Syracuse against BU, we got off fast and then lost it at the end,’ senior Emma Karpowicz said. ‘But last weekend against Northeastern and Penn we had a really great first 500 and didn’t finish strong…Now I just think we need to piece it together and within that middle 1,000 go after and attack it.’

Emma Basher said the objective this weekend is finding the right mix between aggression and control.

‘We just have to do it in a way that’s efficient.’ Basher said.

SU’s rowers are hoping the high level of competition it’ll face this weekend will prepare them for the Big East Double Dual on April 28 in Indianapolis and the Big East Championship, which will take place in Mercer, N.J. on May 12 and 13.

‘We just need to take it day by day and work on everything Justin has talked to us about. Waking up every morning and going after it is what’s most important,’ Karpowicz said. ‘We do hope that Big East is the best race we have this season. Our main goal is to win and I think it’s definitely within reach.’

Syracuse is still searching for a season where it makes great strides as a program, and the results it’s posted this season show that this season could do exactly that.

But SU is still searching for one complete performance.

‘Thinking back to all of our previous races this season,’ Karpowicz said, ‘there are bits and pieces of each one that we can now combine together to hopefully make a full, complete race.’

jmhyber@syr.edu

Published on April 13, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Josh: jmhyber@syr.edu