ECAC Honors Men's Freshman Heavyweight Crew
May 7, 2002 | Men's Rowing
The Terrier men's heavyweight freshman crew, which won three races within a span of eight days, has been named the ECAC Men's Crew of the Week. It marks the first time a B.U. crew has been so recognized by the ECAC.
The three-regatta win streak began on April 27th when the freshman boat rowed to a 10.4-second win over Columbia. The Terriers were timed in 6:26.1 to 6:36.5 for Columbia.
Then, just four days later, on Wednesday May 1st, the Terriers, who were ranked ninth in the ECAC coaches' poll at the time, stunned third-seeded Yale by nearly eight seconds. At the start of the race, it appeared the Elis would live up to their advanced billing as they took the lead off the start. In fact, at the 500-meter mark, the Terriers were down by about a length. At that point, they began to make their move and by the 1000 mark they had actually opened up a lead of about three seats. From there, through the rest of the course, B.U. opened the lead so the final margin was nearly eight seconds-6:48.8 to 6:56.6.
Then, on Sunday (May 5th), the Terriers capped off their busy week by beating Wisconsin for the first time ever. Their margin of victory was an impressive 12 seconds-6:14.3 to 6:26.4.
"I knew that we had the potential to be a good boat but it is better than I thought," said freshman coach Dave LeFebvre, who is in his fifth year with the Terriers.
"I got the first inkling they could be good during the winter workouts," the coach went on. "I could see how they responded to the work and how great their attitude was. It was like they had a chip on their shoulder because they felt they had to prove something to people."
Then, in the spring opener, the freshmen defeated Syracuse, 6:24.4 to 6:35.9.
"I knew we still had a long way to go," said LeFebvre. "But, it was good to see how hard they raced from wire to wire and never looked back."
The Terriers then lost their next three regattas-to Brown, Northeastern, and Dartmouth, before they rebounded with their current winning streak. With the wins, the freshmen moved up two spots in the ranking from ninth to seventh. There is still one more weekly ranking before the Eastern Sprints on Sunday, May 19th.
"We have two goals at the Sprints," said LeFebvre. "The first is to beat those boats that beat us during the year. The second is to medal. Those aren't my goals. They are the goals of the rowers.
"We have shown that if we have a good race we can hang with anyone," the coach went on. "But, the trick is to do it on race day."
Of the eight rowers in the boat, three bring international experience with them. Anders Holmberg (Falkenberg, Sweden) rowed in the Swedish fours without cox and was in the Swedish Army's elite Special Forces before he came to B.U. Martin Bahls (Sanitz, Germany) was in the German quad boat that won the event at last year's Nation's Cup, which is the official under-23 world championship. Finally, Adam Bright (Brisbane, Australia) was in the fours with cox that finished seventh at last year's World Junior Championships. The boat has been coxed by Joe Tita (Toledo, Ohio), who has also done an outstanding job.
"While they are three excellent rowers and Joe has done an excellent job as the cox, the strength of the boat is in the novices," said LeFebvre. "You need an entire crew to be successful."
