Before most college students are awake and the sun rises, the Sacramento State Men’s Rowing club starts its intense practice at the Aquatic Center.

The men have been practicing for over a month to get ready for their fall season. The fall season has two to three times more long races than in the spring and is similar to the races in the Olympics.

First, the men warm-up by running two laps around the aquatic center building and then stretch out their muscles. Then it’s time for the workout in Lake Natoma. The rowers try to get the boats in the water as quick as they can, otherwise the coach will make them do workouts on the ergometer rowing machines. Once the two eight-man and one four-man novice boats are in the water, the coach has the rowers do warm-up drills until the sun comes up.

Volunteer coach Jeremiah Renfro says that the darkness doesn’t affect their practices.

“The rowers should be able to do their individual stroke with their eyes closed,” said Renfro.

But there are some draw backs to practicing so early because during practice on Oct. 9, one boat hit a log that was floating in the water. The log ended up damaging the boat’s rudder and the coxswain had to use a paddle to steer back to the dock. This affected what boat they used in the Head of Port race against Davis Saturday.

During these drills the coach and coxswains work together and focus on the basics of rowing.

“We want to get them back into that mindset (of the basics) before we do more full pressure stuff,” said head coach Dustin Kraus.

Kraus will use this time to watch each individual rower and critique them on their technique. He’ll yell out things like: “Quite slouching. Sit back. Keep your oar nice and close to the water. Lengthen your stroke. Keep your shoulders forward as long as you can.” And during this time the men will row at a slower rate. Sometimes the stern pair and the bow pair take turns with keeping their oars in the water to balance the boat while the other six rowers work on their technique. The technique is very important to rowing, the coaches said, because if the rowers can’t get that down then the whole team is affected.

“Every little aspect of the entire body matters. If a rower loses inches on a stroke (by not following through) then it throws the boat off and those inches add up. Inches can win the race,” said Renfro.

After warming up, the rowers then do a few 2,000 meter drills and compete against each other. Sometimes the coxswains motivate their boat to get them to speed up and pass their competition.

“Pretend this is the Head of Port on Sunday. Do you want to pass people or do you want to get passed?” Coxswain Will Morthole said during a drill.

Morthole said sometimes he calls out individual rowers and tells them not to back down. He tries to encourage them and tell them what they’re doing well.

“I tell them not to let each other down,” said Morthole.

One technique used to pass a boat is what’s called a “Power 10 or 20.” This means the rowers’ stroke swings are harder for 10 or 20 strokes and is like a runner’s sprint.

Coxswain Kody Renfro said she tries to figure out what the rowers need and gets in their heads.

“I get them to think about the other boat and ask them how much they want it,” said Kody.

They start out the 2,000 meter drills at a lower rowing rate of 18 strokes per minute and eventually get up to more than 30 strokes per minute, which is the rate they race at. After each session the coach talks to each boat crew and tells them what they need to work on.

After a few of these drills, the men return to the dock and carry out a special tradition if it is a rower’s birthday. For Sean Rabourn’s birthday on Oct. 9, the men threw him into the water.

The men switch up their workouts every day from work

ing out on land and in the water. They have an intense schedule during the week and practice six days a week, twice on Friday. Land workouts involve using the ergometers that show how hard a rower can paddle. The men will work on the ergometers two days a week for 45 minutes a day.

“Sometimes a rower can be fast on the erg and slow in the water because technique doesn’t matter on the erg. But, others can be fast in the water and slow on the erg because they don’t have enough body weight to pull the erg,” said new club president Mike Brandt.

This fall season has had the best turn out during recruitment since 2004. Brandt, who’s been rowing for the club since 2004, said there was more than 40 people try out and about half of those men have stayed.

“Usually the colder it gets in the mornings and the harder the workouts the more people start to disappear, said Jeremiah.

The club’s goal this season is to raise enough money to buy a new boat that can cost up to $40,000. The last time the club has bought a boat was eight years ago and Brandt feels it’s time for a new one. The club has raised more than $20,000 to date and will be hosting an ergothon fundraiser in the quad at Sacramento State the third week in November. During the event there will be two ergometers set up and will have two rowers on the machines for 24 hours. The club still needs $6,000 more to buy a new boat and hopes this event will help.

“We want to show people what we do,” said Brandt.

The next race will be on Oct. 18 at the Aquatic Center against the alumni at 2 p.m. Following the event will be a build your own ice cream sundae bar from 3 to 4 p.m.

Taylor Collis can be reached at [email protected]