Crew Team

Crew team practicing

The Simmons crew team was formed in 1978. They initially practiced at the Radcliffe Crew’s boathouse (Weld Boathouse today) and lifted weights at the Boston State College during the winter. They also did tank sessions at the Harvard Crew’s boathouse (Newell Boathouse today) in the winter. During that same year, they placed 22nd out of 40 in the Women’s Singles Division and 12th out of 40 in the Mixed Doubles Division at the Head of the Charles Regatta. In addition, they placed 6th and 12th at the Foot of the Charles Regatta. The following year, the team was coached by Carol Jean Crane, with Lucy Peck and Peggy McHugh as team captains, and tried to recruit more people for the team through the Janus student newspaper.

Crew team on dock

In 1982, the team was under the new direction of coaches Barbara Goodman and Mary Jo Darymple and placed 5th in the Head of the Charles and Train of the Charles. They also won gold at the New England championships, 1st place in the Head of the Charles Regatta, and placed 3rd and 5th in the Mount Holyoke Women’s Regatta in South Hadley. During the 1983 season, the two new coaches, Jude Muskett and Kevin Courtney did not get along and both of them disappointed the students with their performance. Nevertheless, the team won silver at the National Women’s Collegiate Rowing Regatta in Occoquan, Michigan that year.During 1986 and 1987, Pat Curnan returned as varsity head coach and Mary Robson as an assistant coach, which made the students very happy. Curnan was heavily involved in the planning of the Holmes Sports Center project, started a crew team newsletter sent to all Simmons Crew Alumnae, and acquired new equipment for the team. During the 1990s, there were several budget cuts to athletics. However, the crew team was still popular with the varsity team having 18 members and the novice team 35 members. They also won gold at the Petite Final Shaw and placed 10th place in the Head of the Charles Regatta.

Simmons College Crew banner along the Charles River

In 2008, the varsity team won silver at the Head of the Charles under the coaching of Nik Kurmakov. Then, in 2010, they won the Malden River Spirit Regatta. In that same year, the team hosted an ergathon, a competition using indoor rowing machines called ergs, as well as a bake sale to raise money for the team and charity causes like the Breast Cancer Fund.