Last year, the Massachusetts rowing team had one of its best performances of the fall season at 2009’s Head of the Fish Regatta, earning five first place finishes and several top 10 performances.
          It was more of the same in 2010’s version of the race, as the Minutewomen rowed to four first place finishes and a slew of top five and top 10 performances from other boats.
          “The success of the past weekend was that of a team working together for good results,” said UMass coach Jim Dietz of his team’s performance in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. this past weekend.
          Going against several other schools around the northeast on Saturday, the Minutewomen more than held their own, and will be happy about where they are as they head into the last three weeks of their fall season.
          Starting off the day for UMass was junior Emily Boucher in the singles race. Boucher finished in third overall with a time of 16 minutes, 47.53 seconds, just over a minute behind the first place finisher from Montreal.
          More success followed up that performance, as the Minutewomen finished in both first and second in the doubles race. The duo of Boucher and senior captain Elizabeth Euiler finished in first at a time of 14:38.97, about 14 seconds ahead of the team composed of juniors Kendall Bennett and Amanda Doolin.
          UMass found more victory following that in the Light 4+, finishing in first with a time of 15:49.03, just one second ahead of a boat from Sacred Heart. The boat was led by senior Amy Nash.
          The Collegiate 4x boat, consisting of Boucher, Euiler, graduate student Megan Donovan and senior captain Chelsea Wakeham claimed second place in its race with a time of 14:37.25, about 15 seconds behind the winning team from Colgate.
          The Minutewomen also brought their Lightweight 8+ team to competition and seemingly destroyed their competitors, finishing in first place with a time of 13:42.69, which was 30 seconds ahead of the second-place boat from Tufts.
          UMass capped off the day with a strong performance in the fours race, entering three boats into a 31 team field and finishing in the top 10 with all three of its boats.
          The boat of Bennett, Doolin and seniors Alexandra DiMatteo and Kelsey Schachter finished in third place with a time of 13:40.81, about 20 seconds ahead of the next Minutewomen boat that came in fifth place.
          With three weeks remaining in the fall season, Dietz and the coaching staff are very pleased with how things are shaping for the spring.
          “We are showing a lot of potential and will continue to work different combinations for the remaining three weeks on the water,” Dietz said.
          The varsity crew will take this weekend off from competition, as the novice crew will travel to Hanover, N.H., to compete in the Dartmouth Novice Head this Saturday.
          The varsity crew will race in its final regatta of the fall on Nov. 13 when they will travel back to Boston, Mass., the site of the Head of the Charles two weeks ago, to compete in the Foot of the Charles Regatta.
          Stephen Hewitt can be reached at [email protected].