Men's Crews Improves On Ranking At Eastern Sprints
May 11, 2003 | Men's Rowing
The Terrier men's varsity crews, headed by varsity heavyweight eight, rowed better than they were seeded at the Eastern Sprints Regatta held today (May 11tth) on Worcester's Lake Quinsigamond.
The varsity crew entered the competition ranked 12th out of 16 crews, as only Syracuse, Georgetown, Columbia, and MIT were ranked below the Terriers. Rowing in the petite final, the Terriers finished second only to Northeastern by less than a length. The Huskies rowed the 2,000-meter course in 6:20.02, while the Terriers were clocked in 6:21.77. Their second-place finish in the petites left them eighth overall, which is four places higher than their seed.
B.U. finished ahead of Cornell (6:24.05), Princeton (6:32.31), Yale (6:33.26), and Penn (6:34.11). Cornell was seeded fourth in the varsity heavyweight event, while Princeton was eighth. Yale was 11th and Penn was 10th.
"I was very pleased with how we rowed in the afternoon race," said Terrier head coach Rodney Pratt. "It is the first time in my 13 years at B.U. that we beat Princeton. We rowed through them (Princeton) by the middle of the race, and we were taking seats off Northeastern at the end."
It marked the second time during the day the Terriers and Northeastern rowed against each other as the two were in the same heat in the morning. In addition to the Terriers and Huskies, Harvard, which went on to win the grand final in the afternoon, Brown, and Syracuse were also in the morning heat.
From that field of five, two advanced to the grand final, while two qualified for the petite final, and the fifth rowed in the third level final.
"We really went after Brown and Northeastern in the morning race," said Pratt. "We rowed higher than we should have (38 strokes a minute) and the result was that we had a tussle to beat Syracuse."
Harvard won the heat in 5:49.94, while Brown was second in 5:51.47 as they both advanced to the grand finals. Northeastern was third in 5:52.26, while the Terriers finished eight seconds back in 6:00.32.
Intent on trying to advance to the grand final and rowing at a higher level than they had practiced, the Terriers were almost caught by Syracuse, who finished just .04 seconds behind the Terriers in 6:00.36. Had Syracuse caught B.U., then B.U. would have missed the petites and rowed in the third level final.
In the afternoon race, the Terriers benefited by a favorable lane assignment.
"We were in lane six," said Pratt. "Based on where the wind was coming, it was a good lane for us. This may be the first time in my 13 years that we got a good lane assignment."
It should be pointed out that Cornell, which finished three seconds slower than the Terriers rowed in lane five, which was right next to the Terriers, while Northeastern was in lane four.
"We also rowed at a lower level (36 strokes a minute), which was what we had been practicing," said Pratt. "It was good to see how we rowed against Northeastern and how we had closed the gap after they had doored us by eight seconds in the morning."
The second varsity, which was ranked 13th entering the Sprints, finished 11th overall as it was second in the third level final. In the morning heat, the Terriers finished fifth in a time of 6:15.17. Harvard, which also won the grand final in this event, won the heat in 6:01.76, followed by Dartmouth (6:03.33), Brown (6:06.75), and Northeastern (6:11.0). By virtue of its finish, B.U. advanced to the third level final where it lost to Georgetown, 6:51.61 to 6:52.05.
In the men's freshmen eight, the Terriers entered the Sprints ranked 10th and finished ninth but came within just 3.2 seconds of finishing seventh. In its morning heat, B.U., which rowed in 6:17.8, finished fourth behind Brown (6:06.62), Wisconsin (6:08.72), and Penn (6:12.41). With its fourth-place finish, the Terriers qualified for the petite final where it finished third in 6:33.45. Northeastern won the race in 6:30.25 with Penn second in 6:31.63.
