The men’s and women’s crew teams both began their spring action on the right foot with a successful training trip to Florida. Both teams’ varsity eight entries cruised to easy wins over Rollins College, with the women also zooming past the University of Georgia.

The men’s varsity eight completed the 1,950-meter course in a time of 6:13.4, 16 seconds ahead of Rollins (6:29.4). The efforts of Gael Hagan ’09, Parker Cook ’10, Elliott Skopin ’11, Terrence Word ’11, Charlie Weiss ’09, Eric Spierer ’10, Ben Roberts ’09, stroke Ross Heinemann ’09, and coxswain Jenny Moyer ’11 helped the Cardinals improve to a 3-0 all-time against Rollins. The Wesleyan men also raced their second and third varsity eights against Georgia’s novice eight, and the Cardinals blew the Bulldogs out of the water. Wesleyan’s second eight clocked in at 6:31.0, with the third eight coming in at 7:16.7, nearly a full minute ahead of Georgia (8:16.6).

The Wesleyan women had similar success as the Cardinals’ varsity eight, consisting of Claire Treadwell ’11, Catie Steidl ’11, Emilie Kimball ’11, Becca Schofield ’11, Heather McCarrick ’10, Sofia Warner ’09, Beth Ogata ’09, stroke Elaine Lauriat ’09, and coxswain Sami Pop ’11, completed the Lake Maitland course in 7:02.4, 4.5 seconds ahead of Rollins (7:06.9) and well ahead of Georgia (7:39.2). Wesleyan also raced its second varsity eight and novice eight. The Cards’ second varsity eight came in at 7:39.6, ahead of Rollins (7:44.5) but behind Georgia (7:31.2). Both Georgia (8:06.2) and Rollins (8:13.2) defeated Wesleyan’s novice eight.

The teams return to the water on Saturday with races against the Coast Guard Academy and Holy Cross (with the women also racing Mount Holyoke) on Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, Mass.