An early morning practice schedule paid off for the St. Edward’s University Rowing Crew as members participated in the 27th annual PumpkinHead Regatta on Oct. 28.

The 5,000-meter race held on Lady Bird Lake was the crew’s first competition of the semester.  The team competed against the University of Texas, Rice University, Baylor University, Texas A&M University, Southern Methodist University, and different rowing centers not affiliated with universities, like the Texas Rowing Center.

With a team of 17 members, a major increase compared to last year’s four-person team, many new members learned a lot about rowing from this weekend.  

St. Edward’s placed fifth of seven in the Men’s Novice Four with Cox and Women’s Novice Four with Cox, 11th of 11 in Women’s Novice-1 Eight with Cox, and fifth and sixth of six in the Mixed Novice Eight with Cox events.  

The cox refers to the person on the boat that does not row, but is in charge of making sure everyone is keeping the same stroke rate and putting the same pressure into rowing, according to freshman Brandy Shigemot.

Despite many members only having a couple months of experience under their belts, the team fared well against the competition and made a good showing, sophomore Bethany Cuenod said.

“Going into it I didn’t know what to expect. I’d never done rowing or any sport in the water, ” Shigemot said.  “It was fun getting to hang out with everybody on the team and realizing how everything went.  It’s different than practice, it’s more competitive. It was definitely fun.”

Although 5:30 a.m. seems early, the beautiful sunrise and team camaraderie makes it worth the sacrifice, Cuenod said.

“There’s something about rowing that always makes me feel better. There’s always a nice sunrise, it’s nice being with a team in the morning,” Cuenod said.

The team is competing in various competitions and working to set up scrimmages against other Texas universities in November.  A possible scrimmage against Texas A&M may occur on Nov. 12, according to Cuenod.

The week after Thanksgiving break, Crew is working with Bon Appetit to host a Chili cook-off in which club sports teams, including Women’s Club Soccer, will compete to see who can make the best chili.  The winning team will sell their chili in Ragsdale and receive 20 percent of the profits. All other participants will receive 10 percent of the profits for participating in the cook-off. Prizes are based on having eight club teams participate, Cuenod said.