Women's Crew "Disappointing" In Losses To Radcliffe
May 6, 2000 | Women's Rowing
The Terriers' women's crew, hoping to maintain its spot as the second-ranked crew in the region and thus solidify its chances of earning a bid to the NCAA's, had a "disappointing" day on The Charles River on May 6th in losing to Radcliffe.
Both the varsity and second varsity heavyweight boats lost by open water over the 2000-meter course.
In the varsity race, taking advantage of a gusty tailwind, Radcliffe was timed in 6:17.5, while the Terriers finished in 6:26.9. MIT was a distant third in 6:50.5.
Interestingly, both the winning and second-place times broke the women's record on The Charles. The previous mark was 6:27.2 set by Princeton in a 1993 race against Radcliffe.
In winning the race, Radcliffe rowed away with the Allen-DeWolfe Cup. It also marked the sixth straight season Radcliffe has defeated B.U. and improved its overall record to 10-4 against the Terriers.
In the second varsity race, B.U. lost to Radcliffe by just under 10 seconds, 6:37.6 to 6:47.5. MIT was third in 6:56.3.
"This was a major disappointment for us today," said Terrier head coach Holly Hatton.
The Terriers went into the morning races ranked second in the region behind Brown, and the losses in both the varsity and second varsity races might have dropped the team.out of contention for its second straight NCAA Championship bid.
"Radcliffe will probably move up to second," predicted Hatton. "That will move us down to either a tie with Northeastern or into fourth place. In all, 10 teams are selected for the NCAAs. Each of the top-ranked crews in the five regions gets an automatic bid, leaving five at-large invitations. Last year, our region received three invitations.
"I think it would be too much to expect one region to get four bids," continued the coach. "A lot will depend on how we do at the Eastern Sprints next weekend."
The outcome against Radcliffe was pretty much determined 500 meters into the race.
The Terriers got off to a good start rowing at just under 44 strokes a minute. They settled down to 38.3 strokes a minute at the 200-meter mark, but, by then, Radcliffe was already up two seats. They increased their lead to five seats at the 500-meter mark and had open water by the time the boats hit the 1000-meter mark and headed under the Mass Ave. Bridge.
"I really thought we were ready today," said Hatton. "We had a good week of practice, and I thought we were going to duke it out with them.
"Maybe it was a case of our having had too many hard races and we just didn't have anything left," said the coach.
The strong tailwind might have also played a factor.
"There was a substantial difference in the power application," said Hatton. "Radcliffe nailed it (the tailwind) well, and we just couldn't come together.
"I think a factor is the size of our boat," said the coach. "We have four women in the boat who are 5-7 and only two who are 5-10. Radcliffe has six rowers who are 5-9 or taller, with four of them being six feet or taller."
The only bright spot of the day for the Terriers was the continued outstanding performance by the first novice boat.
The Terriers outlasted Radcliffe, 6:37.0 to 6:42.7.
