Rowers Disappoint Coach at Sprints
May 24, 2000 | Men's Rowing
The Terriers' varsity heavyweight crew put on a disappointing performance on Sunday (May 21st) at the Eastern Sprints, finishing 13th overall. In the meantime, the second varsity was 4th in the Petites and 10th overall, while the freshmen were 6th in the Petites and 12th overall.
I was very disappointed in how we rowed, Terrier head coach Rodney Pratt said of the varsity eight's performance.
Apart from our winning effort against Northeastern, we never rowed as fast as I thought we could all spring, the coach went on. We never showed what we were capable of doing.
I am just disappointed we never rowed to our potential at the Sprints, said the coach. In my 10 years as the B.U. coach, this is the first time our heavyweight boat was in the Third-Level Finals, and that was very disappointing.
In the morning heat, the Terriers were pitted against top-seeded Brown, sixth-seeded Penn, seventh-seeded Dartmouth, and 13th-seeded Yale.
Earlier in the season, the Terriers rowed against Brown, Dartmouth, and Yale and lost to all three. So, B.U. would have had to row a strong race if they had hoped to finish among the top two in the heat and thus earn a trip to the Grand Finals. If they had taken either third or fourth in the heat, they would have advanced to the Petites. As it turned out, the boat finished fifth with a time of 6:04.47 and was tabbed for the 3rd Level Finals. As expected, Brown won the morning heat with a time of 5:50.6. Dartmouth was second in 5:52.2 followed, in order, by Penn (5:52.33), and Yale (5:58.27).
Then, in the afternoon finals, the Terriers were clocked in 6:01.55 to win the 3rd Level Finals over Rutgers (6:03.86) and MIT (6:29.35).
We were seeded 13th and we finished 13th . So, we rowed as expected, said Pratt.
The second varsity was seeded 10th and finished 10th.
In the morning heat, the Terriers rowed against third-seeded Princeton, fourth-seeded Harvard, and 9th-seeded Penn as there were just four boats entered in the heat.
B.U. took fourth with a time of 6:10.61, only half-a-second behind Penn (6:10.11). Harvard won the heat with a time of 6:01.94, while Princeton was second in 6:04.63.
Then, in the afternoon's Petite Finals, the Terriers were fourth in 6:13.49. Yale won the heat in 6:07.31, while Navy was second (6:09.50) and Penn was third in 6:10.41. Finishing behind the Terriers were Dartmouth (6:17.6) and Syracuse (6:19.21).
The final event, the freshman eight, the Terriers, who were seeded 11th, were matched against second-seeded Princeton, fifth-seeded Syracuse, eighth-seeded Northeastern, and 14th-seeded Dartmouth.
B.U., which covered the 2000-meter course in 6:20.22, was fourth behind Princeton (6:07.15), Northeastern (6:09.46), and Syracuse (6:12.65), while Dartmouth was fifth (6:21.54).
Then, in the afternoon Petites, B.U. was sixth in 6:16.9. Syracuse won the event in 6:06.72, followed by Cornell (6:09.81), Penn (6:10.73), Yale (6:11.28), and Navy (6:16.64).
In the Grand Finals, Brown won both the varsity eight in 5:43.18 and the second varsity in 5:51.99, while Wisconsin won the freshman race in 6:00.50.
